An overview of when to use Docker container actions over JavaScript actions in GitHub and a deep dive into how to build one
In my previous article, I described in detail the motivation behind GitHub Actions, their architecture, how events flow through GitHub, and how to create a custom GitHub Action from scratch using JavaScript.
I went over the two types of actions: JavaScript actions and Docker container actions. A lot of the open source actions I’ve explored are built using Javascript actions — perhaps for these reasons:
- They can make use of a handy GitHub toolkit that provides libraries access to the action inputs and a GitHub client that can be configured with a token.
- All GitHub Runners support Node 12 out…
Learn about the architecture of actions, the two types of actions, and how to build a JavaScript action
In my last article, I did an overview of GitHub Actions and demonstrated how to use an existing action to deploy a Gatsby site to GitHub Pages. In this post, I’d like to dive deeper into GitHub Actions exploring the underlying motivation behind them, the architecture, and the steps involved in building a custom action.
Before getting into the specifics of GitHub Actions, let’s understand the value they bring by first delving into GitHub events and how GitHub has been supporting the handling of these events.
GitHub Events
GitHub provides hosting for software projects and version control using Git. It has formed…
How to search for actions, keep the actions you depend on up to date, and release your own actions
In my previous posts exploring GitHub Actions, I’ve delved into how to use public Actions on the GitHub Marketplace. In this post, I’d like to go over how to efficiently navigate the Marketplace as a developer.
Searching for Actions
There are two ways to search for public GitHub Actions.
Directly in the GitHub Marketplace
The GitHub Marketplace is home to two kinds of tools that extend GitHub’s core functionality:
- Apps
- Actions
To search for Actions directly in the GitHub Martketplace, you can filter by the Actions Type in the Sidebar.
Migrating a Travis CI deployment platform to GitHub Actions
I’ve been on a fun learning journey with Gatsby over the last few weeks. So far, I’ve migrated my old Jekyll blog to Gatsby and created a pipeline that continuously deploys it to GitHub Pages. To create the CD pipeline, I used Travis CI, which I talked about at length in my previous article.
Introducing… GitHub Actions
GitHub has been putting a lot of effort into extending its platform to support repository workflows out of the box.
“GitHub Actions is your workflow: built by you, run by us.” — The GitHub Blog
What this means is that instead of having my builds run…
Deborah Digges
Software Engineer, writer, and artist.
