Example GitHub action for general data processing. Full article at https://victoronsoftware.com/posts/use-github-actions-for-general-purpose-tasks/

example-github-action.yml

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master
  schedule:
    - cron: "40 * * * *"
  workflow_dispatch: # Manual

permissions:
  contents: write

jobs:
  security_artifacts:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout NVD repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          ref: release
          
      - name: Checkout Fleet
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          repository: fleetdm/fleet
          fetch-depth: 1
          ref: main
          token: ${{ github.token }}
          path: fleet

      - name: Setup Go
        uses: actions/setup-go@v4.1.0
        with:
          cache: false
          go-version: '^1.21.4'

      - name: Generate security artifacts
        uses: nick-fields/retry@943e742917ac94714d2f408a0e8320f2d1fcafcd # v2.8.3
        with:
          timeout_minutes: 180
          max_attempts: 3
          retry_wait_seconds: 120
          command: |
            cd fleet
            go mod download
            go run -tags fts5 cmd/cve/generate.go --db_dir ./vulndb --debug

      - name: Current date
        id: date
        run: |
          echo "date=$(date +'%Y%m%d%H%M')" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

      # Note that a new commit must be made for each release, otherwise GitHub does not order
      # the releases properly.
      - name: Tag
        run: |
          git config --global user.email ""
          git config --global user.name "GitHub Actions Bot"
          git pull
          git commit --allow-empty -m 'Release ${{ steps.date.outputs.date }}'
          git push origin release

      - name: Release
        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@de2c0eb89ae2a093876385947365aca7b0e5f844 # v0.1.15
        with:
          files: |
            fleet/vulndb/*
          tag_name: ${{ steps.date.outputs.date }}
          target_commitish: release
          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

      - name: Delete Old Releases
        uses: dev-drprasad/delete-older-releases@v0.3.2
        with:
          keep_latest: 60
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}