Welcome to this hands-on GitHub Actions workshop! This comprehensive guide will take you from complete beginner to confidently building and deploying applications with continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines.
By completing this workshop, you'll be able to:
- Understand core CI/CD concepts and why they matter
- Create and configure GitHub Actions workflows
- Automate testing, building, and deployment processes
- Debug workflow issues efficiently
- Implement security best practices with secrets management
- Build advanced workflows with matrix builds and caching
- Create reusable custom actions
Before starting this workshop, you should have:
- A GitHub account (create one at github.com)
- Basic Git knowledge (clone, commit, push, pull)
- Familiarity with command line/terminal
- Experience with at least one programming language (we use Node.js in examples)
- A text editor or IDE of your choice
No prior CI/CD or GitHub Actions experience required!
This workshop consists of 13 progressive lessons. Each lesson builds on previous concepts, so we recommend completing them in order.
Lessons 1-3 provide heavy scaffolding with detailed, copy-paste-friendly instructions to get you comfortable with the basics.
Lessons 4-7 introduce more independence, with some blanks to fill in and opportunities to reference earlier lessons.
Lessons 8-13 shift to problem-based learning where you'll apply previous knowledge with minimal hand-holding.
Click the "Fork" button at the top right of this repository. This creates your own copy where you'll complete all exercises.
git clone https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/github-actions-workshop.git
cd github-actions-workshopThis workshop includes a sample Node.js application for hands-on exercises:
npm installOpen lessons/001-getting-started.md and begin your journey!
| Lesson | Topic | Estimated Time | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | Getting Started with GitHub Actions | 30 min | Beginner |
| 002 | Understanding Workflow Anatomy | 30 min | Beginner |
| 003 | Events and Triggers | 45 min | Beginner |
| 004 | Working with Actions from Marketplace | 45 min | Beginner |
| 005 | Secrets and Environment Variables | 45 min | Intermediate |
| 006 | Speeding Up Workflows | 45 min | Intermediate |
| 007 | Debugging Workflows | 60 min | Intermediate |
| 008 | Running Tests Automatically | 60 min | Intermediate |
| 009 | Building and Deploying Applications | 75 min | Intermediate |
| 010 | Matrix Builds and Caching | 60 min | Intermediate |
| 011 | Multi-Job Workflows and Dependencies | 60 min | Advanced |
| 012 | Creating Custom Actions | 90 min | Advanced |
| 013 | Workflow Reusability and Best Practices | 75 min | Advanced |
Total estimated time: 13-16 hours
This repository includes a simple Node.js task manager application (src/ directory) that you'll use throughout the workshop. The app includes:
- Basic CRUD operations for tasks
- Unit tests
- A simple API
- Build configuration
You don't need to understand the application code in detail—it's just a realistic example for practicing CI/CD workflows.
Action: A reusable unit of code that can be shared and used in workflows. Can be created by GitHub, the community, or you.
Artifact: Files or collections of files produced during a workflow run that can be shared between jobs or downloaded after the workflow completes.
CI/CD: Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment/Delivery. Practices that automate testing and deployment of code changes.
Event: A specific activity that triggers a workflow run (e.g., push, pull request, schedule).
Job: A set of steps that execute on the same runner. Workflows can have multiple jobs that run in parallel or sequentially.
Runner: A server that runs your workflows when triggered. Can be GitHub-hosted or self-hosted.
Secret: Encrypted environment variables that store sensitive information (API keys, passwords, tokens).
Step: An individual task within a job that can run commands or actions.
Workflow: An automated process defined by a YAML file in .github/workflows/ that runs one or more jobs.
Workflow Run: An instance of your workflow that executes when the triggering event occurs.
YAML: A human-readable data serialization language commonly used for configuration files (Yet Another Markup Language).
- Experiment freely: You can't break anything! If something goes wrong, you can always fork the repository again.
- Read error messages carefully: GitHub Actions provides detailed logs that usually point you to the problem.
- Use the documentation: Link to official docs are provided throughout. Don't hesitate to explore them.
- Take breaks: Some lessons are long. Break them into smaller sessions if needed.
- Ask for help: If you get stuck, check the troubleshooting sections in each lesson or search GitHub's community forums.
If you create a workflow but don't see it in the Actions tab:
- Check that the file is in
.github/workflows/directory - Verify the YAML syntax is valid (use a YAML validator)
- Ensure you've pushed the file to GitHub
If you get permission errors:
- Check your repository settings under Settings → Actions → General
- Ensure workflow permissions are set appropriately
GitHub-hosted runners can sometimes be slow during peak times. This is normal and not a problem with your workflow.
After completing this workshop, continue your GitHub Actions journey with:
- Official Documentation: docs.github.com/actions
- GitHub Actions Marketplace: github.com/marketplace?type=actions - Explore thousands of pre-built actions
- GitHub Skills: skills.github.com - Interactive courses
- Awesome Actions: github.com/sdras/awesome-actions - Curated list of awesome actions
- Security Best Practices: docs.github.com/en/actions/security-guides
Found a typo or have a suggestion? Feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request!
This workshop is provided as-is for educational purposes. Feel free to use and adapt it for your learning or teaching needs.
Ready to begin? Head to Lesson 1: Getting Started with GitHub Actions and let's automate all the things!