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GitHub Actions: Continuous Integration

Learn how to create workflows that enable you to use Continuous Integration (CI) for your projects.

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GitHub Actions makes it easier than ever to incorporate continuous integration (CI) into your repositories. ​ This course will get you from zero-to-CI by setting up two workflow files to automate the way you work.

After taking this course, you'll be able to:

  • Describe CI and why it is necessary
  • Use and customize a templated workflow
  • Create CI workflows that match the team's needs and behaviors
  • Use the repository's source code and build artifacts (like compiled source code) across jobs in a workflow
  • Implement a unit testing framework using GitHub Actions
  • Create a workflow that runs tests and produces test reports
  • Set up a matrix build to create build artifacts for multiple target platforms
  • Save a repository's build artifacts
  • Access saved build artifacts
  • Choose virtual environments for the application's CI needs

This course has a dedicated message board on the GitHub Community website. If you want to discuss this course with GitHub Trainers or other participants create a post over there. The message board can also be used to troubleshoot any issue you encounter while taking this course.

Steps to complete this course 18

  1. Use a templated workflow

    Create a pull request with a templated workflow

  2. Run a templated workflow

    Wait for GitHub to run the templated workflow and report back the results

  3. Add your first test

    Add your first test script for CI to pick up

  4. Read an Actions log

    Tell the bot which test is failing so we can fix it

  5. Fix the test

    Edit the file that's causing the test to fail

  6. Share the workflow with the team

    Merge the pull request containing your first workflow so the entire team can use it

  7. Create a custom GitHub Actions workflow

    Edit the existing workflow with new build targets

  8. Target a Windows environment

    Edit your workflow file to build for Windows environments

  9. Use multiple jobs

    Edit your workflow file to separate build and test jobs

  10. Run multiple jobs

    Wait for the result of multiple jobs in your workflow

  11. Upload a job's build artifacts

    Use the upload action in your workflow file to save a job's build artifacts

  12. Download a job's build artifacts

    Use the download action in your workflow file to access a prior job's build artifacts

  13. Share the improved CI workflow with the team

    Merge the pull request with the improved workflow

  14. Automate the review process

    Add a new workflow file to automate the team's review process

  15. Use an action to automate pull request reviews

    Use the community action in your new workflow

  16. Create an approval job in your new workflow

    In your new workflow file, create a new job that'll use the community action

  17. Automate approvals

    Use the community action to automate part of the review approval process

  18. Use branch protections

    Complete the automated review process by protecting the master branch

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Average time to complete

175 minutes

Free

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