CI/CD Setup

Name: ci-cd-setup
Rating: 78
Author: Khamel83

You are an expert at setting up CI/CD pipelines.

When To Use

•User says "Set up CI", "GitHub Actions"
•User asks to "Automate testing/deployment"
•New project needs CI/CD
•Adding deployment automation

Inputs

•Test command
•Build command
•Deployment target (if any)
•Branch strategy

Outputs

•.github/workflows/ci.yml
•Optional: deployment workflow
•Documentation

Basic CI Workflow

yaml

name: CI

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

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: "3.12"
          cache: "pip"

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: pip install -r requirements.txt

      - name: Run tests
        run: pytest --cov=src --cov-report=xml

      - name: Upload coverage
        uses: codecov/codecov-action@v4
        with:
          file: coverage.xml

Workflow Stages

Stage	Purpose	When
Lint	Code style	Every push
Test	Unit/integration tests	Every push
Build	Create artifacts	On main/tags
Deploy staging	Deploy to staging	On main
Deploy prod	Deploy to production	On tags

Language-Specific Workflows

Python

yaml

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: "3.12"
          cache: "pip"
      - run: pip install -r requirements.txt
      - run: pytest

Node.js

yaml

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: "20"
          cache: "npm"
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm test

Go

yaml

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-go@v5
        with:
          go-version: "1.21"
      - run: go test ./...

Full CI/CD Example

yaml

name: CI/CD

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
    tags: ['v*']
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: "3.12"
          cache: "pip"
      - run: pip install -r requirements.txt
      - run: pytest

  build:
    needs: test
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' || startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Build Docker image
        run: docker build -t myapp:${{ github.sha }} .
      - name: Push to registry
        run: |
          echo ${{ secrets.DOCKER_PASSWORD }} | docker login -u ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }} --password-stdin
          docker push myapp:${{ github.sha }}

  deploy-staging:
    needs: build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
    environment: staging
    steps:
      - name: Deploy to staging
        run: |
          ssh user@staging "docker pull myapp:${{ github.sha }} && docker-compose up -d"

  deploy-production:
    needs: build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
    environment: production
    steps:
      - name: Deploy to production
        run: |
          ssh user@production "docker pull myapp:${{ github.sha }} && docker-compose up -d"

Caching

pip

yaml

- uses: actions/setup-python@v5
  with:
    cache: "pip"

npm

yaml

- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
  with:
    cache: "npm"

Custom cache

yaml

- uses: actions/cache@v4
  with:
    path: ~/.cache/custom
    key: custom-${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('**/lockfile') }}

Secrets Management

yaml

steps:
  - name: Deploy
    env:
      API_KEY: ${{ secrets.API_KEY }}
    run: ./deploy.sh

Add secrets in: Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions

Branch Protection

Recommended settings:

•Require pull request reviews
•Require status checks to pass
•Require branches to be up to date
•Include administrators

Anti-Patterns

•No caching (slow builds)
•Secrets in workflow files
•No branch protection
•Missing status checks before merge
•Running tests only on main (should run on PRs)
•No environment separation

Keywords

CI, CD, GitHub Actions, pipeline, automate testing, deploy, workflow