Automate tasks, such as running unit tests or lint code, whenever code is committed to a GitHub repository.
GitHub Actions can run one or more tasks after specific events, such as commits, raising issues or pull requests.
An event triggers a configured workflow which contains one or more jobs. A job contains a one or more steps which defines actions to run.
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| Event | Triggers a workflow, e.g. Create pull request, push commit, etc. |
| Workflow | Tope level configuration containing one or more jobs, triggered by a specific event |
| Job | Set of steps executed in the same runner, multiple jobs execute in parallel within their own instance of a runner |
| Step | Individual task that runs commands (actions), sharing data with other steps |
| Action | Standalone commands defined within a step, custom commands or GitHub community |
| Runner | A GitHub Actions server, listening for available jobs |
Defining a workflow
.github/workflows/workflow-name.yml
name: learn-github-actions
on: [push]
jobs:
check-bats-version:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- uses: actions/setup-node@v1
- run: npm install -g bats
- run: bats -v