name: github-actions-templates
description: Create production-ready GitHub Actions workflows for automated testing, building, and deploying applications. Use when setting up CI/CD with GitHub Actions, automating development workflows, or creating reusable workflow templates.
GitHub Actions Templates
Production-ready GitHub Actions workflow patterns for testing, building, and deploying applications.
Purpose
Create efficient, secure GitHub Actions workflows for continuous integration and deployment across various tech stacks.
When to Use
- Automate testing and deployment
- Build Docker images and push to registries
- Deploy to Kubernetes clusters
- Run security scans
- Implement matrix builds for multiple environments
Common Workflow Patterns
Pattern 1: Test Workflow
name: Test
on:
push:
branches: [main, develop]
pull_request:
branches: [main]
jobs:
test:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
strategy:
matrix:
node-version: [18.x, 20.x]
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Use Node.js ${{ matrix.node-version }}
uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
cache: "npm"
- name: Install dependencies
run: npm ci
- name: Run linter
run: npm run lint
- name: Run tests
run: npm test
- name: Upload coverage
uses: codecov/codecov-action@v4
with:
files: ./coverage/lcov.info
Pattern 2: Build and Push Docker Image
name: Build and Push
on:
push:
branches: [main]
tags: ["v*"]
env:
REGISTRY: ghcr.io
IMAGE_NAME: ${{ github.repository }}
jobs:
build:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
permissions:
contents: read
packages: write
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Log in to Container Registry
uses: docker/login-action@v3
with:
registry: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}
username: ${{ github.actor }}
password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
- name: Extract metadata
id: meta
uses: docker/metadata-action@v5
with:
images: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}
tags: |
type=ref,event=branch
type=ref,event=pr
type=semver,pattern={{version}}
type=semver,pattern={{major}}.{{minor}}
- name: Build and push
uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
with:
context: .
push: true
tags: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}
labels: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.labels }}
cache-from: type=gha
cache-to: type=gha,mode=max
Pattern 3: Deploy to Kubernetes
name: Deploy to Kubernetes
on:
push:
branches: [main]
jobs:
deploy:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Configure AWS credentials
uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4
with:
aws-access-key-id: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
aws-secret-access-key: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
aws-region: us-west-2
- name: Update kubeconfig
run: |
aws eks update-kubeconfig --name production-cluster --region us-west-2
- name: Deploy to Kubernetes
run: |
kubectl apply -f k8s/
kubectl rollout status deployment/my-app -n production
kubectl get services -n production
- name: Verify deployment
run: |
kubectl get pods -n production
kubectl describe deployment my-app -n production
Pattern 4: Matrix Build
name: Matrix Build
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
build:
runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
strategy:
matrix:
os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest]
python-version: ["3.9", "3.10", "3.11", "3.12"]
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Set up Python
uses: actions/setup-python@v5
with:
python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
- name: Install dependencies
run: |
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
pip install -r requirements.txt
- name: Run tests
run: pytest
Workflow Best Practices
- Use specific action versions (@v4, not @latest)
- Cache dependencies to speed up builds
- Use secrets for sensitive data
- Implement status checks on PRs
- Use matrix builds for multi-version testing
- Set appropriate permissions
- Use reusable workflows for common patterns
- Implement approval gates for production
- Add notification steps for failures
- Use self-hosted runners for sensitive workloads
Reusable Workflows
# .github/workflows/reusable-test.yml
name: Reusable Test Workflow
on:
workflow_call:
inputs:
node-version:
required: true
type: string
secrets:
NPM_TOKEN:
required: true
jobs:
test:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: ${{ inputs.node-version }}
- run: npm ci
- run: npm test
Use reusable workflow:
jobs:
call-test:
uses: ./.github/workflows/reusable-test.yml
with:
node-version: "20.x"
secrets:
NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
Security Scanning
name: Security Scan
on:
push:
branches: [main]
pull_request:
branches: [main]
jobs:
security:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Run Trivy vulnerability scanner
uses: aquasecurity/trivy-action@0.28.0
with:
scan-type: "fs"
scan-ref: "."
format: "sarif"
output: "trivy-results.sarif"
- name: Upload Trivy results to GitHub Security
uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@v3
with:
sarif_file: "trivy-results.sarif"
- name: Run Snyk Security Scan
uses: snyk/actions/node@0.4.0
env:
SNYK_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SNYK_TOKEN }}
Deployment with Approvals
name: Deploy to Production
on:
push:
tags: ["v*"]
jobs:
deploy:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
environment:
name: production
url: https://app.example.com
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Deploy application
run: |
echo "Deploying to production..."
# Deployment commands here
- name: Notify Slack
if: success()
uses: slackapi/slack-github-action@v1
with:
webhook-url: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK }}
payload: |
{
"text": "Deployment to production completed successfully!"
}
Related Skills
gitlab-ci-patterns - For GitLab CI workflowsdeployment-pipeline-design - For pipeline architecturesecrets-management - For secrets handling