GitHub Actions Skill

This skill helps you create and maintain GitHub Actions workflows for continuous integration and deployment.

When to Use This Skill

Setting up CI/CD pipelines
Automating tests and builds
Configuring deployment workflows
Creating release automation
Running scheduled jobs
Automating dependency updates
Setting up code quality checks

Workflow Structure

.github/ ├── workflows/ │ ├── test.yml # Run tests on PR/push │ ├── deploy-staging.yml # Deploy to staging │ ├── deploy-prod.yml # Deploy to production │ ├── release.yml # Create releases │ ├── security.yml # Security audits │ └── cron-jobs.yml # Scheduled tasks ├── actions/ │ └── setup/ # Reusable actions │ └── action.yml └── dependabot.yml # Dependency updates

Basic Workflow

Test Workflow

.github/workflows/test.yml

on: push: branches: [main, develop] pull_request: branches: [main, develop]

jobs: test: runs-on: ubuntu-latest

steps:
  - name: Checkout code
    uses: actions/checkout@v4

  - name: Setup pnpm
    uses: pnpm/action-setup@v2

  - name: Setup Node.js
    uses: actions/setup-node@v4
    with:
      node-version: 20
      cache: "pnpm"

  - name: Install dependencies
    run: pnpm install

  - name: Run linter
    run: pnpm biome check .

  - name: Type check
    run: pnpm tsc --noEmit

  - name: Run tests
    run: pnpm test

  - name: Upload coverage
    uses: codecov/codecov-action@v3
    with:
      files: ./coverage/lcov.info

Deployment Workflows

Deploy to Staging

.github/workflows/deploy-staging.yml

on: push: branches: [develop] workflow_dispatch:

jobs: deploy: runs-on: ubuntu-latest environment: name: staging url: https://staging.sgcarstrends.com

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v4
  - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v2
  - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
    with:
      node-version: 20
      cache: "pnpm"

  - name: Install dependencies
    run: pnpm install

  - name: Run tests
    run: pnpm test

  - name: Build
    run: pnpm build

  - name: Deploy API
    run: pnpm -F @sgcarstrends/api deploy:staging
    env:
      AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
      AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}

  - name: Deploy Web
    run: pnpm -F @sgcarstrends/web deploy:staging
    env:
      AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
      AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}

  - name: Run migrations
    run: pnpm db:migrate
    env:
      DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.STAGING_DATABASE_URL }}

  - name: Notify Slack
    if: always()
    uses: slackapi/slack-github-action@v1
    with:
      webhook-url: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL }}
      payload: |
        {
          "text": "Staging deployment ${{ job.status }}"
        }

Deploy to Production

.github/workflows/deploy-prod.yml

on: push: branches: [main] workflow_dispatch: inputs: confirm: description: "Type 'deploy' to confirm" required: true

jobs: confirm: if: github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - name: Confirm deployment run: | if [ "${{ github.event.inputs.confirm }}" != "deploy" ]; then echo "Deployment not confirmed" exit 1 fi

deploy: needs: [confirm] if: always() && (needs.confirm.result == 'success' || github.event_name == 'push') runs-on: ubuntu-latest environment: name: production url: https://sgcarstrends.com

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v4
  - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v2
  - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
    with:
      node-version: 20
      cache: "pnpm"

  - name: Install dependencies
    run: pnpm install

  - name: Run tests
    run: pnpm test

  - name: Run security audit
    run: pnpm audit --audit-level=high

  - name: Build
    run: pnpm build

  - name: Deploy API
    run: pnpm -F @sgcarstrends/api deploy:prod
    env:
      AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
      AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}

  - name: Deploy Web
    run: pnpm -F @sgcarstrends/web deploy:prod
    env:
      AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
      AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}

  - name: Run migrations
    run: pnpm db:migrate
    env:
      DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.PRODUCTION_DATABASE_URL }}

  - name: Create deployment
    uses: chrnorm/deployment-action@v2
    with:
      token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      environment: production
      state: success

  - name: Notify team
    if: always()
    uses: slackapi/slack-github-action@v1
    with:
      webhook-url: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL }}
      payload: |
        {
          "text": "🚀 Production deployment ${{ job.status }}",
          "blocks": [
            {
              "type": "section",
              "text": {
                "type": "mrkdwn",
                "text": "*Production Deployment*\nStatus: ${{ job.status }}\nCommit: ${{ github.sha }}\nAuthor: ${{ github.actor }}"
              }
            }
          ]
        }

Release Workflow

Automated Release

.github/workflows/release.yml

on: push: branches: [main]

permissions: contents: write issues: write pull-requests: write

jobs: release: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 with: fetch-depth: 0 persist-credentials: false

  - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v2
  - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
    with:
      node-version: 20
      cache: "pnpm"

  - name: Install dependencies
    run: pnpm install

  - name: Release
    env:
      GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
    run: npx semantic-release

  - name: Get new version
    id: version
    run: |
      VERSION=$(node -p "require('./package.json').version")
      echo "version=$VERSION" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

  - name: Create GitHub Release
    uses: actions/create-release@v1
    env:
      GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    with:
      tag_name: v${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}
      release_name: Release v${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}
      draft: false
      prerelease: false

Reusable Workflows

Shared Setup Action

.github/actions/setup/action.yml

name: "Setup Project" description: "Setup Node.js, pnpm, and install dependencies"

inputs: node-version: description: "Node.js version" required: false default: "20"

runs: using: "composite" steps: - name: Setup pnpm uses: pnpm/action-setup@v2 with: version: 8

- name: Setup Node.js
  uses: actions/setup-node@v4
  with:
    node-version: ${{ inputs.node-version }}
    cache: "pnpm"

- name: Install dependencies
  shell: bash
  run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

- name: Cache Turbo
  uses: actions/cache@v3
  with:
    path: .turbo
    key: ${{ runner.os }}-turbo-${{ github.sha }}
    restore-keys: |
      ${{ runner.os }}-turbo-

Use Reusable Workflow

.github/workflows/test.yml

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs: test: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4

  - name: Setup project
    uses: ./.github/actions/setup

  - name: Run tests
    run: pnpm test

Matrix Strategy

Test Multiple Versions

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs: test: runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }} strategy: matrix: os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, macos-latest] node: [18, 20, 21] exclude: - os: windows-latest node: 18

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v4
  - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v2
  - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
    with:
      node-version: ${{ matrix.node }}
      cache: "pnpm"

  - run: pnpm install
  - run: pnpm test

Conditional Execution

Run Jobs Conditionally

on: push: branches: [main]

jobs: deploy-api: if: contains(github.event.head_commit.message, '[deploy-api]') runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 - run: pnpm -F @sgcarstrends/api deploy:prod

deploy-web: if: contains(github.event.head_commit.message, '[deploy-web]') runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 - run: pnpm -F @sgcarstrends/web deploy:prod

deploy-all: if: | !contains(github.event.head_commit.message, '[deploy-api]') && !contains(github.event.head_commit.message, '[deploy-web]') runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 - run: pnpm deploy:prod

Caching

Cache Dependencies

name: Cache pnpm store uses: actions/cache@v3 with: path: ~/.pnpm-store key: ${{ runner.os }}-pnpm-${{ hashFiles('**/pnpm-lock.yaml') }} restore-keys: | ${{ runner.os }}-pnpm-
name: Cache Turbo uses: actions/cache@v3 with: path: .turbo key: ${{ runner.os }}-turbo-${{ github.sha }} restore-keys: | ${{ runner.os }}-turbo-
name: Cache Next.js uses: actions/cache@v3 with: path: apps/web/.next/cache key: ${{ runner.os }}-nextjs-${{ hashFiles('**/pnpm-lock.yaml') }}

Secrets Management

Using Secrets

name: Deploy env: AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }} AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }} DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.DATABASE_URL }} REDIS_URL: ${{ secrets.REDIS_URL }} run: pnpm deploy:prod

Environment-Specific Secrets

jobs: deploy: environment: production steps: - name: Deploy env: DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.PRODUCTION_DATABASE_URL }} run: pnpm deploy:prod

Scheduled Workflows

Cron Jobs

.github/workflows/cron-jobs.yml

on: schedule: # Run every day at 2 AM UTC - cron: "0 2 * * *" workflow_dispatch:

jobs: update-data: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 - uses: ./.github/actions/setup

  - name: Update car data
    run: pnpm -F @sgcarstrends/api run-workflow update-car-data
    env:
      DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.DATABASE_URL }}
      LTA_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.LTA_API_KEY }}

cleanup: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 - uses: ./.github/actions/setup

  - name: Clean old data
    run: pnpm -F @sgcarstrends/api run-script cleanup-old-data
    env:
      DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.DATABASE_URL }}

Notifications

Slack Notifications

name: Notify Slack on success if: success() uses: slackapi/slack-github-action@v1 with: webhook-url: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL }} payload: | { "text": "✅ Deployment successful", "blocks": [ { "type": "section", "text": { "type": "mrkdwn", "text": "Deployment Successful\nCommit: ${{ github.sha }}\nAuthor: ${{ github.actor }}" } } ] }
name: Notify Slack on failure if: failure() uses: slackapi/slack-github-action@v1 with: webhook-url: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL }} payload: | { "text": "❌ Deployment failed", "blocks": [ { "type": "section", "text": { "type": "mrkdwn", "text": "Deployment Failed\nCommit: ${{ github.sha }}\nAuthor: ${{ github.actor }}\nWorkflow: ${{ github.workflow }}" } } ] }

Artifacts

Upload and Download

Upload artifacts

name: Upload build artifacts uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3 with: name: build-output path: | dist/ .next/ retention-days: 7

Download artifacts in another job

name: Download build artifacts uses: actions/download-artifact@v3 with: name: build-output

Best Practices

Use Specific Versions

❌ Using latest

uses: actions/checkout@latest

✅ Using specific version

uses: actions/checkout@v4

Pin Action Versions

✅ Good: Pinned to major version

uses: actions/checkout@v4
uses: actions/setup-node@v4

✅ Better: Pinned to commit SHA (most secure)

uses: actions/checkout@b4ffde65f46336ab88eb53be808477a3936bae11 # v4.1.1

Use Concurrency Controls

on: push: branches: [main]

concurrency: group: deploy-${{ github.ref }} cancel-in-progress: false # Don't cancel in-progress deployments

Fail Fast

jobs: test: strategy: fail-fast: true # Stop all jobs if one fails matrix: node: [18, 20, 21]

Troubleshooting

Workflow Not Triggering

Issue: Workflow not running

Solution: Check triggers and permissions

on: push: branches: [main] # Ensure branch name matches pull_request: branches: [main]

permissions: contents: read pull-requests: write

Secret Not Found

Issue: Secret not available

Solution: Check secret name and environment

name: Deploy environment: production # Ensure environment exists env: SECRET: ${{ secrets.MY_SECRET }} # Check secret name

Cache Not Working

Issue: Cache not restoring

Solution: Verify cache key

uses: actions/cache@v3 with: path: ~/.pnpm-store key: ${{ runner.os }}-pnpm-${{ hashFiles('**/pnpm-lock.yaml') }}
Ensure lockfile exists and path is correct

References

GitHub Actions Documentation: https://docs.github.com/en/actions
Workflow Syntax: https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions
Actions Marketplace: https://github.com/marketplace?type=actions
Related files:
.github/workflows/
Workflow files
Root CLAUDE.md - CI/CD guidelines

Best Practices Summary

Pin Versions: Use specific action versions
Cache Dependencies: Cache pnpm, Turbo, Next.js
Parallel Jobs: Run independent jobs in parallel
Fail Fast: Stop on first failure in matrix
Secrets Management: Use GitHub Secrets for sensitive data
Notifications: Alert team on deployment status
Reusable Workflows: Share common setup steps
Environment Protection: Use environment rules for production

github-actions

Safety Notice

Copy this and send it to your AI assistant to learn

.github/workflows/test.yml

.github/workflows/deploy-staging.yml

.github/workflows/deploy-prod.yml

.github/workflows/release.yml

.github/actions/setup/action.yml

.github/workflows/test.yml

.github/workflows/cron-jobs.yml

Upload artifacts

Download artifacts in another job

❌ Using latest

✅ Using specific version

✅ Good: Pinned to major version

✅ Better: Pinned to commit SHA (most secure)

Issue: Workflow not running

Solution: Check triggers and permissions

Issue: Secret not available

Solution: Check secret name and environment

Issue: Cache not restoring

Solution: Verify cache key

Ensure lockfile exists and path is correct

Source Transparency

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