CI/CD

GitHub Actions for Smarter

GitHub Actions is a powerful automation platform integrated directly into GitHub. It enables you to automate, customize, and execute your software development workflows right in your repository. For Smarter, GitHub Actions is used to build, test, and deploy the application automatically whenever code is pushed or a pull request is opened.

What is a Workflow?

A workflow is a configurable automated process made up of one or more jobs. Workflows are defined in YAML files stored in the .github/workflows directory of the repository. Each workflow can be triggered by specific GitHub events (like push, pull_request, or on a schedule).

What is an Action?

An action is a reusable unit of code that performs a specific task. Actions can be combined as steps within a job in a workflow. You can use actions created by the GitHub community, or write your own.

Workflow vs. Action

  • Workflow: The overall automation pipeline (e.g., build, test, deploy).

  • Action: A single step or task within a workflow (e.g., checking out code, setting up Python, uploading artifacts).

Smarter’s Use of GitHub Actions

Smarter’s repository includes workflows for:

  • Building the application (installing dependencies, running linters, running tests).

  • Deploying to production or staging environments.

  • Continuous Integration (CI): Ensuring code quality and correctness on every change.

These workflows are defined in YAML files such as .github/workflows/build.yml and .github/workflows/deploy.yml. Each file specifies the jobs and steps required for that part of the CI/CD process.

Example Workflow Structure:

name: Build and Test
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v6
        with:
          python-version: '3.13'
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: pip install -r requirements.txt
      - name: Run tests
        run: pytest

GitHub Actions workflows run on GitHub’s servers (eg, inside Azure). These in point of fact are Kubernetes pods running ephemeral containers spun up on demand to execute the jobs defined in the workflows. At the point of instantiation of the pod the container image contains only the base OS (eg, the latest Linux Ubuntu in the case of the example above) and afterwards, any software explicitly declared by the workflow itself. Also note that it is necessary to explicitly check out the repository code using the actions/checkout action, as shown in the example above.

Important

You must explicitly declare everything you need in the workflow, as the environment starts out completely blank. Once the workflow completes, the pod and container are destroyed, so no state is preserved between runs. However, artifacts can be uploaded and downloaded between jobs within a workflow if needed, and, GitHub provides caching mechanisms that you can optionally use to speed up dependency installation between workflow runs.

GitHub Actions Secrets

Some workflows may require sensitive information (like API keys, tokens, or passwords) to function correctly. GitHub Actions provides a secure way to store and access these secrets using GitHub Secrets. Secrets are encrypted environment variables that can be used in your workflows without exposing their values in the code

See GitHub Secrets Configuration for the list of currently configured GitHub Secrets in the main Smarter repository. of the workflows.

Further Reading and References

For more details, see the actual workflow files in the .github/workflows/ directory of the Smarter repository.