GitHub Actions vs GitLab CI/CD: Which CI/CD Tool You Choose?
Continuous integration and continuous deployment or CI/CD, is now a need rather than a luxury in the quick paced world of software development. One of the most effective and adaptable tools for putting strong CI/CD pipelines into place is GitHub Actions.
We’ll go over how to create a production grade pipeline in this article that automates your testing and deployment processes while keeping security and dependability in mind.
GitHub Actions: Why Use It?
GitHub Actions provides a vast ecosystem of pre-made actions, a versatile YAML based configuration system and close connectivity with your GitHub repository. It is ideal for both startups and large organizations because it is free for public repositories and offers more than 2000 free build minutes per month for private repositories.
Step 1: Establish Your Workflow Document
A.yml file located in the.github/workflows/ directory serves as the initial step for every GitHub Actions pipeline. Here is a simple template to get you started:
name: CI/CD Pipeline
on:
push:
branches: [main]
pull_request:
branches: [main]
jobs:
build:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
– name: Checkout Code
uses: actions/checkout@v3
– name: Setup Node.js
uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: 20
– name: Install Dependencies
run: npm install
– name: Run Tests
run: npm test
This pipeline installs dependencies, does tests and starts whenever a push or pull request is sent to the main branch.
Step 2: Include Quality Gates for Code
Make sure your code complies with requirements before deploying:
- Linting: Include a step to launch the linter for your language, ESLint or Prettier.
- Code Coverage: To monitor test coverage incorporate tools such as Coveralls.
- Static Analysis: For security and maintainability assessments use technologies
name: Lint Code
run: npm run lint
name: Upload Coverage Report
uses: codecov/codecov-action@v3
Step 3: Put into Production (or Stage)
Set up your deployment step now. For safe credentials use environment variables and secrets. To deploy to Vercel for instance:
– name: Deploy to Vercel
uses: amondnet/vercel-action@v25
with:
vercel-token: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_TOKEN }}
vercel-org-id: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_ORG_ID }}
vercel-project-id: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_PROJECT_ID }}
working-directory: ./
Step 4: Make Your Pipeline Secure
Production pipeline security is crucial:
- For API keys, tokens and passwords, use GitHub Secrets.
- To enforce PR reviews and stop unintentional pushes enable branch protection rules.
- Use dependabot to automate dependency changes and sign releases using GPG keys.
Step 5: Include Monitoring and Observability
Use observability techniques to identify problems after deployment:
- Deliver deployment alerts to Discord or Slack.
- Use GitHub’s Checks API to record pipeline status.
- Use tools like Grafana Cloud, StatusCake or Pingdom to keep an eye on uptime.
– name: Notify Slack
uses: 8398a7/action-slack@v3
with:
status: ${{ job.status }}
env:
SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK }}
Last Words on a Production-Grade Configuration
- To test across environments (e.g. Node 18 vs. Node 20) use Matrix Builds.
- To speed up builds, use actions/cache to cache dependencies.
- Use GitHub Environments to keep production and staging processes apart.
- For critical deployments include manual approval gates.
In conclusion
Using GitHub Actions to set up a production grade CI/CD pipeline doesn’t have to be difficult. You can efficiently automate and grow your development workflow with the correct setup security procedures and deployment plans. GitHub Actions gives you the freedom and capability to release software more quickly and securely regardless of whether you’re launching a containerized service a Node.js application or a JAMstack website.
