Advanced GitHub Actions Workflows

Master CI/CD automation with advanced GitHub Actions patterns and techniques.

Introduction

GitHub Actions has become the de-facto CI/CD tool for many developers. While basic "build and test" workflows are common, Actions is capable of much more complex orchestration.

Matrix Builds

Matrix builds allow you to run the same job across multiple configurations (e.g., different Node.js versions or operating systems) in parallel.

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        node-version: [14.x, 16.x, 18.x]
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v3
    - name: Use Node.js ${{ matrix.node-version }}
      uses: actions/setup-node@v3
      with:
        node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
    - run: npm ci
    - run: npm test

Reusable Workflows

You can define a workflow in one repository and reuse it in others. This is great for maintaining standard deployment pipelines across an organization.

Caller Workflow:

jobs:
  call-workflow:
    uses: my-org/my-repo/.github/workflows/deployment.yml@main
    with:
      environment: production
    secrets:
      token: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_TOKEN }}

Custom Actions

If you find yourself copying and pasting the same steps, consider creating a composite action.

action.yml:

name: 'Hello World'
description: 'Greet someone'
inputs:
  who-to-greet:
    description: 'Who to greet'
    required: true
    default: 'World'
runs:
  using: "composite"
  steps:
    - run: echo Hello ${{ inputs.who-to-greet }}.
      shell: bash

Conclusion

By mastering these advanced features, you can build robust, scalable, and maintainable CI/CD pipelines that save your team hours of manual work.