GitHub Actions: complete CI/CD for your project

What is GitHub Actions?

GitHub Actions is the CI/CD platform integrated into GitHub. It lets you automate builds, tests, and deployments directly from your repository using YAML files in .github/workflows/.

Workflow structure

Each workflow is defined in a YAML file with three main sections: on (when to run), jobs (what to do), and steps (how to do it).

name: CI
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm test

Reusable actions

The GitHub Actions marketplace offers pre-built actions. Instead of writing complex scripts, combine actions like actions/setup-node, docker/login-action, or aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials.

Multi-environment CI/CD

Configure separate workflows for dev, staging, and production. Use environments to protect branches and require manual approvals before deploying to production.

Matrix strategies

Run tests across multiple Node.js versions, OS, or configurations using matrix strategies. Ensure compatibility without duplicating code.

strategy:
  matrix:
    node-version: [18, 20, 22]

Dependency caching

Speed up your pipelines by caching node_modules. The actions/cache action drastically reduces installation times.

Need help with your GitHub Actions CI/CD? At Vynta we design robust pipelines for your team.