Features
- Workflow automation triggered by Git events
- Massive marketplace of community actions
- Matrix builds for cross-platform testing
- Reusable workflows for DRY CI pipelines
Pros
- Native GitHub integration with zero setup
- Generous free tier for public repositories
- Largest marketplace of pre-built actions
Cons
- YAML syntax can become complex for large workflows
- Debugging failed workflows is cumbersome
- Runner minutes are limited on free tier for private repos
Overview
GitHub Actions is a CI/CD and workflow automation platform built directly into GitHub. It allows you to automate builds, tests, deployments, and other workflows triggered by Git events like pushes, pull requests, releases, and scheduled cron jobs.
Workflows are defined in YAML files within your repository’s .github/workflows directory. The platform provides hosted runners for Linux, macOS, and Windows, or you can use self-hosted runners for custom environments. The Actions Marketplace contains thousands of community-contributed actions for common tasks like caching, deployments, notifications, and code quality checks.
GitHub Actions has become the dominant CI/CD platform for open-source projects due to its free tier for public repositories and native GitHub integration.
When to Use
Choose GitHub Actions for any project hosted on GitHub. It is the default CI/CD choice when your code lives on GitHub, providing the tightest integration and simplest setup.
Getting Started
# .github/workflows/ci.yml
name: CI
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
test:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: 20
- run: npm ci && npm test