Setting Up GitHub Actions for Auto-Deployment

Your team is growing. You can no longer just run scripts from your laptop to update the production database. You need a centralized, automated method for testing and releasing code: Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD).

The Power of GitHub Actions

Instead of relying on third-party Jenkins servers, GitHub Actions allows you to perform scripts the moment code is pushed to your repository or a pull request is created.

Example: Test Before Merge

Create a file at `.github/workflows/test.yml`:

name: Node.js CI
on:
  pull_request:
    branches: [ "main" ]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v3
    - name: Use Node.js
      uses: actions/setup-node@v3
    - run: npm ci
    - run: npm test

Now, whenever a developer makes a Pull Request perfectly styled to `main`, this action downloads their code and runs `npm test` automatically. If the test fails, GitHub prevents the code from merging.

The "CD" in CI/CD

If the tests pass and code is merged into `main`, what happens next? If you are utilizing a PaaS like Remoud, the Continuous Deployment is handled for you! Remoud listens to your `main` branch merging via webhooks, and instantly spins up a new container without you needing to write a single line of deployment YAML.