6 Essential GitHub Actions Workflows for Development Teams

As development teams grow and become more complex, the need for automated workflows becomes increasingly important. GitHub Actions is a powerful tool that allows you to automate your software delivery process with ease. In this article, we’ll explore six essential GitHub Actions workflows that every development team should consider implementing.

Workflow 1: Continuous Integration (CI)

A CI workflow automates the building and testing of your code on every push or pull request. This ensures that your code is always in a deployable state and catches bugs early on.

“`yaml
name: CI

on:
push:
branches: [main]

jobs:
build-and-test:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
– name: Checkout code
uses: actions/checkout@v2
– name: Install dependencies
run: npm install
– name: Run tests
run: npm test
“`

Workflow 2: Continuous Deployment (CD)

A CD workflow automates the deployment of your code to a production environment. This ensures that your code is always live and up-to-date.

“`yaml
name: CD

on:
push:
branches: [main]

jobs:
deploy:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
– name: Checkout code
uses: actions/checkout@v2
– name: Install dependencies
run: npm install
– name: Build and deploy
uses: actions/deploy@v1
“`

Workflow 3: Code Analysis

A code analysis workflow runs tools like SonarQube or Codacy to analyze your code for quality issues.

“`yaml
name: Code Analysis

on:
push:
branches: [main]

jobs:
analyze:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
– name: Checkout code
uses: actions/checkout@v2
– name: Run SonarQube analysis
run: sonar-scanner
“`

Workflow 4: Security Scanning

A security scanning workflow runs tools like Dependabot or Snyk to identify vulnerabilities in your dependencies.

“`yaml
name: Security Scanning

on:
push:
branches: [main]

jobs:
scan:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
– name: Checkout code
uses: actions/checkout@v2
– name: Run Dependabot security scan
run: dependabot-scan
“`

Workflow 5: Code Formatting

A code formatting workflow runs tools like Prettier or ESLint to ensure that your code is formatted consistently.

“`yaml
name: Code Formatting

on:
push:
branches: [main]

jobs:
format:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
– name: Checkout code
uses: actions/checkout@v2
– name: Run Prettier formatting
run: prettier –write .
“`

Workflow 6: Release Management

A release management workflow automates the creation of releases and associated tasks, such as updating changelogs or creating release notes.

“`yaml
name: Release Management

on:
push:
branches: [main]

jobs:
release:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
– name: Checkout code
uses: actions/checkout@v2
– name: Run changelog generator
run: npm run changelog
“`

In conclusion, these six essential GitHub Actions workflows provide a solid foundation for automating various aspects of your software delivery process. By implementing these workflows, you can ensure that your code is always in a deployable state, catch bugs early on, and automate release management tasks with ease.