GitHub Actions Cheat Sheet

GithubActions.md

Github Actions Cheat Sheet

Useful References

Dynamically linking Github objects is immensely useful. This table contains some good examples:

Linking Github Objects

Reference	Link Composition
User	https://github.com/${{ github.actor }}
User Avatar	https://github.com/${{ github.actor }}.png Accepts the 'size' query string with av value up to '460'
Actions URL	${{ github.server_url }}/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }}|${{ github.workflow }}
Commit SHA	${{ github.server_url }}/${{ github.repository }}/commit/${{ github.sha }}|${{ github.sha }}

💡 Note that these can be constructed with Github Variables as well, if used within a run context.

Triggers

Run on Merged Pull Requests

Github Actions DOES NOT have a great way to avoid triggering on closed but not merged PRs. This example demonstrates their solution. Note that making the remaining jobs depend on init will prevent them from running in a slightly more elegant way. Unfortunately this still results in a Run entry by the Github Action, though the jobs will be skipped.

Skipped Run

Skipped Job

Actions Workflow Snippet

name: Build
on:
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - main
    types:
      - closed

jobs:
  init:
    if: github.event.pull_request.merged == true
    name: Initialize
    ...

Templates

General Version, Build, Release

name: Build
on:
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - main
    types:
      - closed

jobs:
  init:
    if: github.event.pull_request.merged == true
    name: Initialize
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - name: Checkout Source
      uses: actions/checkout@v4
      with:
        lfs: true
        fetch-depth: 0
    - name: Initialize
      id: init
      run: |
        REPOSITORY=${PWD##*/}
        echo "REPOSITORY=$REPOSITORY" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
        #PRODUCT=$(cut -d- -f3- <<< ${PWD##*/})
        PRODUCT="recreation-secrets-management"
        echo "PRODUCT=$PRODUCT" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
        PRODUCT_LOWER=${PRODUCT,,}
        echo "PRODUCT_LOWER=$PRODUCT_LOWER" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
    - name: GitOps Automatic Versioning
      id: gitops-autover
      uses: AlexAtkinson/github-action-gitops-autover@0.3.0
    outputs:
      REPOSITORY: ${{ steps.init.outputs.REPOSITORY }}
      PRODUCT: ${{ steps.init.outputs.PRODUCT }}
      PRODUCT_LOWER: ${{ steps.init.outputs.PRODUCT_LOWER }}
      NEW_VERSION: ${{ steps.gitops-autover.outputs.new-version }}
      PREVIOUS_VERSION: ${{ steps.gitops-autover.outputs.previous-version }}
  github-release:
    name: Github Release
    needs: [init]
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: GitHub Release
        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        with:
          name: "${{ needs.init.outputs.PRODUCT }} ${{ needs.init.outputs.NEW_VERSION }}"
          tag_name: "apps_${{ needs.init.outputs.NEW_VERSION }}"
          prerelease: false
          generate_release_notes: true