Automate deploying websites and more with this GitHub action

Usage Example (Your_Project/.github/workflows/main.yml)

on: push
name: Publish Website
jobs:
  FTP-Deploy-Action:
    name: FTP-Deploy-Action
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@master
      with:
        fetch-depth: 2
    - name: FTP-Deploy-Action
      uses: SamKirkland/FTP-Deploy-Action@3.0.0
      with:
        ftp-server: ftp://ftp.samkirkland.com/
        ftp-username: myFtpUserName
        ftp-password: ${{ secrets.FTP_PASSWORD }}

Setup Steps

1. Select the repository you want to add the action to
2. Select the Actions tab
3. Select Blank workflow file or Set up a workflow yourself, if you don't see these options manually create a yaml file Your_Project/.github/workflows/main.yml
4. Paste the example above into your yaml file and save
5. Now you need to add a key to the secrets section in your project. To add a secret go to the Settings tab in your project then select Secrets. Add a new Secret for ftp-password
6. Update your yaml file settings

Note: Only tracked files will be published by default. If you want to publish files that don't exist in github (example: files generated during the action run) you must add those files/folders to .git-ftp-include

Settings

Migrating from v2? See the migration guide

Keys can be added directly to your .yml config file or referenced from your project Secrets storage.

To add a secret go to the Settings tab in your project then select Secrets. I recommend you store your ftp-password as a secret.

Key Name	Required?	Example	Default	Description
ftp-server	Yes	ftp://ftp.samkirkland.com/destinationPath/		Deployment destination server & path. Formatted as protocol://domain.com:port/destinationPath/ protocol can be ftp, ftps, or sftp. Port is optional, when not specified it will default to 21 when using ftp, 22 when using sftp, and 990 when using ftps
ftp-username	Yes	username@samkirkland.com		FTP account username
ftp-password	Yes	CrazyUniquePassword&%123		FTP account password
local-dir	No	deploy/	./	Which local folder to deploy, path should be relative to the root and should include trailing slash. ./ is the root of the project
git-ftp-command	No	See git-ftp-command below		defaults to push but use any other init, catchup etc. Use catchup to save action minutes first time
git-ftp-args	No	See git-ftp-args section below		Custom git-ftp arguments, this field is passed through directly into the git-ftp script
known-hosts	No	hostname ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1y ...		The desired contents of your .ssh/known_hosts file. See known hosts setup

Advanced options using git-ftp-command and git-ftp-args

Custom arguments, this field is passed through directly into the git-ftp script. See git-ftp's manual for all options. You can use as many arguments as you want, seperate them with a space

Below is an incomplete list of commonly used args:

Argument	Description
--dry-run	Does not upload or delete anything, but tries to get the .git-ftp.log file from remote host
--silent	Be silent
--all	Transfer all files, even seemingly the same as the target site (default is differences only). Note: Only files committed to github are uploaded, if you'd like to upload files generated during the action run see .git-ftp-include
--lock	Locks remote files from being modified while a deployment is running
--remote-root	Specifies the remote root directory to deploy to. The remote path in the URL is ignored
--key	SSH private key file name for SFTP
--branch	Push a specific branch. I recommend creating a yaml action for each branch instead
--pubkey	SSH public key file name. Used with --key option
--insecure	Don't verify server's certificate
--cacert <file>	Use as CA certificate store. Useful when a server has a self-signed certificate

Ignore specific files when deploying

Add patterns to .git-ftp-ignore and all matching file names will be ignored. The patterns are interpreted as shell glob patterns. Here are some glob pattern examples:

Ignore git related files:

.gitignore
*/.gitignore      # ignore files in sub directories
*/.gitkeep
.git-ftp-ignore
.git-ftp-include
.gitlab-ci.yml

Ignore a single file called foobar.txt

foobar.txt

Ignore all files having extension .txt

*.txt

Ignore everything in a directory named config

config/*

Force upload specific files

The .git-ftp-include file specifies intentionally untracked files to should upload. If you have a file that should always be uploaded, add a line beginning with ! followed by the file's name.

Always upload the file VERSION.txt

!VERSION.txt

Always upload the folder build

!build/

If you have a file that should be uploaded whenever a tracked file changes, add a line beginning with the untracked file's name followed by a colon and the tracked file's name.

Upload CSS file compiled from an SCSS file

css/style.css:scss/style.scss

If you have multiple source files, you can add multiple lines for each of them. Whenever one of the tracked files changes, the upload of the paired untracked file will be triggered.

css/style.css:scss/style.scss
css/style.css:scss/mixins.scss

If a local untracked file is deleted, any change of a paired tracked file will trigger the deletion of the remote file on the server.

All paths are usually relative to the Git working directory. When using the local-dir option, paths of tracked files (right side of the colon) are relative to the set local-dir.

# upload "html/style.css" triggered by html/style.scss
# with local-dir "html"
html/style.css:style.scss

If your source file is outside the local-dir, prefix it with a / and define a path relative to the Git working directory.

Uploading a file outside of local-dir

# upload "dist/style.css" with local-dir "dist"
dist/style.css:/src/style.scss

It is also possible to upload whole directories. For example, if you use a package manager like composer, you can upload all vendor packages when the file composer.lock changes:

vendor/:composer.lock

But keep in mind that this will upload all files in the vendor folder, even those that are on the server already. And it will not delete files from that directory if local files are deleted.

Common Examples

Read more about the differences between these protocols https://www.sftp.net/sftp-vs-ftps

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

ftp://ftp.samkirkland.com:21/mypath

FTP has existed since 1971, it's an ancient protocol with near universal support.

on: push
name: Publish Website
jobs:
  FTP-Deploy-Action:
    name: FTP-Deploy-Action
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@master
      with:
        fetch-depth: 2
    - name: FTP-Deploy-Action
      uses: SamKirkland/FTP-Deploy-Action@3.0.0
      with:
        ftp-server: ftp://ftp.samkirkland.com/
        ftp-username: myFtpUserName
        ftp-password: ${{ secrets.FTP_PASSWORD }}

FTPS (File Transfer Protocol over SSL)

ftps://ftp.samkirkland.com:21/mypath

Use the legacy FTP over a secure encrypted connection.

Notes about ftps:

• Most hosts don't offer FTPS, it's more common on windows/.net hosts and less common on linux hosting
• Most hosts don't have a correct certificate setup for ftp domains, even my host doesn't do it right. This means you'll likely have to add --insecure to git-ftp-args

on: push
name: Publish Website over FTPS
jobs:
  FTP-Deploy-Action:
    name: FTP-Deploy-Action
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@master
      with:
        fetch-depth: 2

    - name: FTP-Deploy-Action
      uses: SamKirkland/FTP-Deploy-Action@3.0.0
      with:
        ftp-server: ftps://ftp.samkirkland.com:21/
        ftp-username: myFTPSUsername
        ftp-password: ${{ secrets.FTPS_PASSWORD }}
        git-ftp-args: --insecure # if your certificate is setup correctly this can be removed

SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol)

sftp://ftp.samkirkland.com:22/mypath

Similar in name to FTP but this protocol is entirely new and requires SSH access to the server.

Notes about SFTP:

• You CANNOT use a FTP account - they are not the same!
• You must have shell access to your server, please read you webhosts documentation
• You will need to create a SSH user to deploy over SFTP. Normally this is your cpanel or hosting providers username and password
• Most web hosts change the default port (21), check with your host for your port number

Setting up known-hosts allows you to remove the --insecure argument.

Windows
In powershell run ssh-keyscan -p <sshport> <hostname> and copy the hash output
Example for samkirkland.com ssh-keyscan -p 7822 samkirkland.com

Linux, or OSX (using homebrew)
Install the OpenSSH packages and use ssh-keyscan <hostname> and copy the hash output

Add the known-hosts argument with your hosts hash
Example: knownhosts: ssh-rsa AAAAB3Nza...H1Q5Spw==

Note: If you receive a Connection refused error, you must specify the ssh port to your host

on: push
name: Publish Website over SFTP
jobs:
  FTP-Deploy-Action:
    name: FTP-Deploy-Action
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@master
      with:
        fetch-depth: 2

    - name: FTP-Deploy-Action
      uses: SamKirkland/FTP-Deploy-Action@3.0.0
      with:
        ftp-server: sftp://ftp.samkirkland.com:7280/
        ftp-username: mySFTPUsername
        ftp-password: ${{ secrets.SFTP_PASSWORD }}
        git-ftp-args: --insecure # if your certificate is setup correctly this can be removed (see known-hosts argument)

Build and Publish React/Angular/Vue Website

Make sure you have an npm script named 'build'. This config should work for most node built websites.

If you don't commit your build folder to github you MUST create a .git-ftp-include file with the content !build/ so the folder is always uploaded!

on: push
name: Build and Publish Front End Framework Website
jobs:
  FTP-Deploy-Action:
    name: FTP-Deploy-Action
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@master
      with:
        fetch-depth: 2

    - name: Use Node.js 12.x
      uses: actions/setup-node@v1
      with:
        node-version: '12.x'
        
    - name: Build Project
      run: |
        npm install
        npm run build --if-present
        
    - name: List output files
      run: ls
      
    - name: FTP-Deploy-Action
      uses: SamKirkland/FTP-Deploy-Action@3.0.0
      with:
        ftp-server: ftp://ftp.samkirkland.com/
        ftp-username: myFTPUsername
        ftp-password: ${{ secrets.FTP_PASSWORD }}
        local-dir: build # This folder is NOT going to upload by default unless you add it to .git-ftp-include

Log only dry run: Use this mode for testing

Ouputs a list of files that will be created/modified to sync your source without making any actual changes

on: push
name: Publish Website Dry Run
jobs:
  FTP-Deploy-Action:
    name: FTP-Deploy-Action
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@master
      with:
        fetch-depth: 2

    - name: FTP-Deploy-Action
      uses: SamKirkland/FTP-Deploy-Action@3.0.0
      with:
        ftp-server: ftp://ftp.samkirkland.com/
        ftp-username: myFTPUsername
        ftp-password: ${{ secrets.FTP_PASSWORD }}
        git-ftp-args: --dry-run

Want another example? Let me know by creating a github issue

FAQ

1. Can't access remote 'sftp://', exiting... or Can't access remote 'ftps://', exiting...

• Fix 1: Verify your login credentials are correct, download a ftp client and test with the exact same host/username/password
• Fix 2: Remember if you are using SFTP or FTPS you cannot use a normal FTP account username/password. You must use a elevated account. Each host has a different process to setup a FTPS or SFTP account. Please contact your host for help.
• Fix 3: If you are using sftp or ftps you should add git-ftp-args: --insecure, most hosts setup certificates incorrectly :(

2. My files aren't uploading

• V3+ uses github to determine when files have changes and only publish differences. This means files that aren't committed to github will not upload by default. To change this behavior please see .git-ftp-include documentation

3. rm: Access failed: 553 Prohibited file name: ./.ftpquota

• What is happening? The .ftpquota file is created by some FTP Servers and cannot be modified by the user
• Fix: Add .ftpquota to your .git-ftp-ignore file

4. How to exclude .git files from the publish

• Fix: See the .git-ftp-ignore example above

5. All files are being uploaded instead of just different files

• By default only different files are uploaded.
• Verify you have with: fetch-depth: 2 in your actions/checkout@master step. The last 2 checkins are required in order to determine differences
• If you've had multiple git commits without deploying, all files will be uploaded to get back in sync
• Verify you don't have the --all git-ftp-args flag set

6. How do I set a upload timeout?

• github has a built-in timeout-minutes option. Place timeout-minutes: X before the steps: line. Timeout defaults to 360 minutes.

7. If you are getting a curl error similar to SSL peer certificate or SSH remote key was not OK

• Fix 1: Whitelist your host via the known-hosts configuration option. See known hosts setup in SFTP
• Fix 2: Add --insecure option

Debugging locally

Instructions for debugging on windows

• Install docker for windows
• Open powershell
• Navigate to the repo folder
• Run docker build --tag action .
• Run docker run action

Instructions for debugging on linux

• Please submit a PR for linux instructions :)

Pull Requests Welcome!