Modern CI/CD Pipelines with GitHub Actions

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) are essential practices for modern software development. In this post, I'll show you how to set up a robust pipeline using GitHub Actions.

The Pipeline Overview

Our pipeline will: 1. Run tests on every push 2. Build Docker images 3. Deploy to staging automatically 4. Deploy to production with manual approval

Basic Workflow Structure

# .github/workflows/ci.yml
name: CI/CD Pipeline

on:
  push:
    branches: [main, develop]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          cache: 'npm'
      
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci
      
      - name: Run tests
        run: npm test
      
      - name: Run linting
        run: npm run lint

Building and Pushing Docker Images

build:
    needs: test
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
      
      - name: Login to Container Registry
        uses: docker/login-action@v3
        with:
          registry: ghcr.io
          username: ${{ github.actor }}
          password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      
      - name: Build and push
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
        with:
          context: .
          push: true
          tags: ghcr.io/${{ github.repository }}:${{ github.sha }}
          cache-from: type=gha
          cache-to: type=gha,mode=max

Deployment with Environment Protection

deploy-production:
    needs: build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment: production
    steps:
      - name: Deploy to Kubernetes
        run: |
          kubectl set image deployment/app \
            app=ghcr.io/${{ github.repository }}:${{ github.sha }}

Best Practices

1. Cache Dependencies: Use caching to speed up builds 2. Use Matrix Builds: Test across multiple Node.js versions 3. Implement Environment Protection: Require approvals for production 4. Keep Secrets Secure: Never hardcode credentials

A well-designed CI/CD pipeline can dramatically improve your team's productivity and deployment confidence.