GitHub Action for AWS ECS Deployment

This action updates an ECS task definition with a new Docker image and triggers a service deployment.

Usage

- name: Deploy to ECS
  uses: TheCloudConnectors/action-ecs@v1.0
  with:
    cluster: 'your-cluster-name'
    service: 'your-service-name'
    task-definition: 'your-task-definition-family'
    image: 'your-image-uri'
    region: 'us-east-2'  # Optional

Required Inputs

Input	Description
cluster	Name of the ECS cluster
service	Name of the service to update
task-definition	Task definition family name (without version number)
image	Full Docker image URI (e.g., account.dkr.ecr.region.amazonaws.com/repo:tag)
region	AWS region (default: us-east-2)

Complete Example

name: Deploy to ECS

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment: production
    
    steps:
    - name: Deploy to ECS
      uses: TheCloudConnectors/action-ecs@v1.0
      with:
        cluster: 'prod-cluster'
        service: 'api-service'
        task-definition: 'api-task'
        image: '123456789.dkr.ecr.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/repository:1.0.0'

Prerequisites

1. AWS Permissions:
   The AWS user must have these permissions:

   {
       "Version": "2012-10-17",
       "Statement": [
           {
               "Effect": "Allow",
               "Action": [
                   "ecs:DescribeTaskDefinition",
                   "ecs:RegisterTaskDefinition",
                   "ecs:UpdateService"
               ],
               "Resource": "*"
           }
       ]
   }

2. Dependencies:

   • AWS CLI installed
   • jq installed in the Docker image

How It Works

1. Fetches current task definition
2. Updates the container image
3. Registers new task definition version
4. Updates service with new task definition
5. Triggers force deployment

Local Testing

docker build -t action-ecs .
docker run --rm \
  -e INPUT_CLUSTER=prod_cluster \
  -e INPUT_SERVICE=api-service \
  -e INPUT_TASK_DEFINITION=api-task \
  -e INPUT_IMAGE=123456789.dkr.ecr.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/repository:1.0.0 \
  -e AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID= \
  -e AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="" \
  -e AWS_REGION=us-east-2 \
  action-ecs
  

Publish

Tag new version and publish release

git tag -a -m "Release notes" v1.0
git push --follow-tags

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Note: Always test with non-production environments first. Maintain proper IAM role permissions following least privilege principles.