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GitHub Actions Tips & Tricks

Security​

https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/managing-your-repositorys-settings-and-features/enabling-features-for-your-repository/managing-github-actions-settings-for-a-repository

https://docs.github.com/en/actions/security-guides/security-hardening-for-github-actions

Tips & Tricks​

Write Complex Steps in github-script​

Rather than try some impossible concoction of YAML, use typescript to define your CI/CD logic.

https://github.com/actions/github-script

Easily Write Files in Workflows​

The 1arp/create-a-file-action action is convenient for writing files.

    - name: Create ${{ steps.vars.outputs.argocd_app_root }}/config.yaml
      uses: 1arp/create-a-file-action@0.2
      with:
        path: "some/dir"
        file: config.yaml
        content: |
          name: "${{ github.event.deployment.payload.app }}"
          manifests: "${{ steps.vars.outputs.argocd_app_manifests }}"
          namespace: "${{ inputs.namespace }}"

Checkout and Run Private GitHub Actions​

info

GitHub Enterprise users can now use private actions natively within the organization.

https://github.blog/changelog/2022-01-21-share-github-actions-within-your-enterprise/

      - name: Checkout Shared Actions
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
        with:
          repository: acme/actions
          path: ./.github/actions
          token: ${{ secrets.CROSS_REPO_TOKEN }}

      - name: Hello World
        uses: ./.github/actions/hello-world
        id: hello-world

Use Empty Commits to Trigger Actions​

git commit --allow-empty --message 'bump'

Use workflow_dispatch to Manually Trigger Workflows​

In this example, the workflow will trigger on workflow_dispatch and prompt the user to enter the required input for delete. Note, delete is just an example; the input parameters can be whatever you want.

on:
  # Enable manual runs
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      delete:
        description: 'Set to "true" to actually delete stuff'
        required: true
        default: 'false'

Known Limitations​

There are a lot of non-obvious limitations when working with GitHub Actions. Here are the ones we’ve been bit by in developing workflows. Also, make sure to check out the Public Roadmap for GHA.

Roadmap Items​

These are some roadmap items we’re excited to see implemented:

General​

https://github.com/github/roadmap/issues/74

Composite Actions​

Shared Workflows​

References​