CI/CD with Github Actions

In terms of CI, GitHub Actions, which is the CI/CD framework provided by GitHub, allows you to automate the build, test, and validation processes for your software projects. With GitHub Actions, you can define workflows that execute various tasks, such as compiling code, running tests, performing code analysis, and generating build artifacts. It supports a wide range of programming languages and provides flexibility in customizing and configuring your CI pipeline.

Regarding CD, GitHub Actions also facilitates continuous deployment by integrating with various deployment strategies and environments. It allows you to automate the deployment of your application to different platforms and hosting services, such as cloud providers or dedicated servers. You can define deployment workflows that automatically trigger when specific conditions are met, ensuring a seamless and automated release process.

Let’s use workflows to have automatic CI/CD Pipelines in our Github Repository for free.

Github Workflows

This Github Feature will help us to create automatically Docker containers whenever the repository received a new push.

In your repository, you will see the button Actions, then New workflow.

You can select the type of workflow most suitable for your project or just use my recommendation from the following steps as the .yml file.

Building Docker images on Push

name: CI/CD Pipeline

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  build-and-push:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - name: Checkout repository
      uses: actions/checkout@v2

    - name: Set up Docker Buildx
      uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v1

Pushing Containers to ghcr

You will need to include the following code chunk below the build, to push the created container to Github Container Repository:

    - name: Login to GitHub Container Registry
      uses: docker/login-action@v1
      with:
        registry: ghcr.io
        username: ${{ github.actor }}
        password: ${{ secrets.CICD_DASH_TOKEN }}

    - name: Build and push Docker image
      uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
      with:
        context: .
        push: true
        tags: ghcr.io/jalcocert/slider_crank:${{ github.sha }}

Remember that you will need the secret CICD_DASH_TOKEN so that Github can act on your behalf for this action. This can be obtained from Github Settings -> Developer Settings -> Personal Access Tokens

Pushing Docker Containers to DockerHub

If you prefer to have your containers in DockerHub, you will need the following code included in your .yml file:

    - uses: actions/checkout@v1
    - name: Build & Push Image to DockerHub
      run: |
        echo "${{ secrets.CICD_DASH_TOKEN_DOCKERHUB }}" | docker login -u "your_DockerHubUser" --password-stdin
        docker image build -t reisikei/slider_crank:latest .
        docker push reisikei/slider_crank:latest

In this case, you will need the secret CICD_DASH_TOKEN_DOCKERHUB so that Github can act on your behalf for this action, you can create your PAT from the Settings in DockerHub.

FAQ

Github Actions CI/CD Examples

Github Actions Resources