Github Actions on Sander Knape

Go crazy with GitHub Actions

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 16:32:12 +0200

GitHub Actions is a component of GitHub that allows you to create automated workflows. Through the many different events that can trigger workflows you are free to build whatever automation you want. While the most common use case is building CI/CD pipelines, the possibilities are pretty much endless. Check out this list of awesome actions to get some inspiration.

Having spent quite a bit of time with GitHub Actions in the last few months I came across some features that aren’t very well documented. It’s therefore very well possible that not everyone is familiar with these capabilities. Let’s dive into five neat features that you can go crazy with.

Deploy your pull requests with GitHub Actions and GitHub Deployments

Wed, 06 May 2020 12:49:31 +0200

Performing (automated) tests on pull requests is a powerful mechanism to reduce the feedback loop on code changes. Known as shift left, the idea is that the earlier you find an issue with your code, the easier it is to fix it. For one, as you wrote the code recently it’s easier to get back into it. And of course, any code issue that doesn’t hit production is another potential issue for your end-users prevented.

Running self-hosted GitHub Actions runners in your Kubernetes cluster

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 09:23:33 +0200

Last year November GitHub released GitHub Actions, a CI/CD solution build on top of GitHub’s Source Code Management. GitHub Actions is very convenient to use when your source code is already stored in GitHub as no additional tool is required for your CI/CD requirements. This blog is for example updated through a GitHub Actions workflow whenever I push an update to my GitHub repository (like I just did with this post).

Earlier this year GitHub released support for self-hosted runners. These runners run in your own infrastructure which has several advantages. Especially useful is the fact that these runners can access any private resources in your infrastructure such as staging environments for automated testing or secret/artifact management solutions not exposed publicly.