Magic of GitHub Actions: Automating Tasks

Seyyed Ali Mohammadiyeh (Max Base)

Tehran Lug - 27 Feb 2027

About me

Seyyed Ali Mohammadiyeh (Max Base)

Open-source Maintainer, GitHub
Software Engineer
CTO, asrez

maxbasecode@gmail.com

About me

Seyyed Ali Mohammadiyeh (Max Base)

• GitHub: https://github.com/basemax
• Experience: Over 10 years in software development and programming
• Background: Pure-mathematics and applied mathematics, with research experience

What is GitHub Actions?

• A CI/CD service by GitHub
• Automates workflows directly in GitHub repositories

Why Use GitHub Actions?

• Automates testing, deployment, and workflows
• Reduces manual work
• Provides seamless integration with GitHub repositories

What is CI/CD?

• CI (Continuous Integration): Merging code frequently & running tests automatically
• CD (Continuous Deployment/Delivery): Automatically deploying tested code to development/production/server

Benefits of CI/CD

• Faster development cycles
• Improved code quality
• Automatic rollback in case of failure

GitHub Actions != CI/CD

Automate your workflow from idea to production

Components of GitHub Actions

• Workflows: Define automation process
  • Events: Triggers for workflows (push, pull request, etc.)
  • Jobs: Tasks running in parallel or sequentially
  • Steps: Individual commands within a job
  • Actions: Pre-built or custom scripts

Workflow Example

name: CI
on: [push]
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Run a script
        run: echo "Hello, GitHub Actions!"

Events That Trigger Workflows

• push or pull_request
• Issues and comments
• Scheduled CRON jobs
• Manual trigger (workflow_dispatch)

Understanding Jobs

• A workflow can have multiple jobs
• Jobs can run in parallel or sequentially (needs)
• Example:

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: npm test
  deploy:
    needs: test
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: npm run deploy

Deploying with GitHub Actions

• Example deployment job:

name: Deploy
on: push
to:
  branches: [main]
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: ./deploy.sh

Using Secrets in GitHub Actions

• Store API keys, passwords securely
• Access them using ${{ secrets.SECRET_NAME }}
• Example:

jobs:
  deploy:
    steps:
      - run: echo "Deploying with ${{ secrets.API_KEY }}"

Matrix Strategy for Multiple Environments

jobs:
  test:
    strategy:
      matrix:
        os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, macos-latest]
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    steps:
      - run: echo "Running on ${{ matrix.os }}"

Advanced Workflow Features

• Caching dependencies
• Running workflows conditionally
• Handling workflow concurrency

Security Best Practices

• Use GitHub’s OIDC authentication for cloud providers
• Rotate secrets regularly
• Restrict permissions of GitHub tokens

Monitoring Workflow Execution

• View logs in GitHub Actions UI
• Use job.status for conditional steps

jobs:
  test:
    steps:
      - run: echo "Running tests"
      - if: failure()
        run: echo "Tests failed!"

What are GitHub Runners?

• Machines that execute workflows
• Two types:
  • GitHub-hosted (Linux, macOS, Windows)
  • Self-hosted (Custom machine or cloud server)

How to Create a Self-hosted Runner

1. Go to GitHub repository settings
2. Navigate to Actions > Runners
3. Download and configure the runner
4. Start the runner and register it with GitHub

Example Use Cases

• Running automated tests
• Deploying applications
• Deploy Previews for Every Pull Request

???

Example Use Cases

• Automated UI Demo Creation (GIFs & Videos)
• Auto-Generate Custom Avatars for Users
• Automated Web Scraping and Data Collection
• Auto-Sync Forked Repositories
• Run Auto-Refactoring Scripts
• Auto-update Dependencies Across Multiple Repositories

Example Use Cases

• Automate Image Optimization
• Run Custom AI/ML Model Inference
• Check for Broken Links in Documentation
• Generate Graphs and Analytics
• Detect Duplicate Code and Generate Reports
• Enforce Coding Standards

Example Use Cases

• Run Code Quality Analysis on Each Pull Request
• Monitor and Report Code Vulnerabilities
• Automated Feature Flag Management
• Create or Update GitHub Pages Automatically
• Deploy to Multi-Cloud Environments
• Run Stress Tests on the Codebase

Example Use Cases

• Create a Performance Benchmarking Pipeline
• Automated Merge Conflict Detection
• Personalized Onboarding for New Contributors
• Convert Documentation to Different Formats
• Sending notifications (Slack, Email)
• Trigger a Workflow on a Specific Day or Time

Example Use Cases

• Trigger Auto-Deploys Based on Custom Labels
• Automating documentation generation
• Enforce Versioning Standards
• Automate Software Licensing Checks
• Auto-generate Release Notes
• Run Cryptocurrency or Blockchain-related Jobs

Example Use Cases

• Running security scans
• Auto release Android(apk) and iOS release

GitHub Actions != CI/CD

GitHub Actions is often viewed primarily as a CI/CD tool, It can automate all sorts of tasks throughout the software development lifecycle, from ideation to production and even beyond.

Brew Coffee by GitHub Actions

Brew a coffee as a gift once the official developers of the project make a successful, error-free commit.

Cool builds

Using GitHub Actions to Brew Coffee
Hacking Bluetooth to Brew Coffee on GitHub Actions Part 1

Real-World Examples

1. https://github.com/BaseMax/React-Auto-Build-GitHub-Actions
2. https://github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-nextjs-build-deploy
3. https://github.com/BaseMax/AndroidAutoBuildAPK
4. https://github.com/BaseMax/GitHubAction-Jekyll-SFTP-Deploy-Password
5. https://github.com/BaseMax/GitHubAction-SFTP-Deploy-Password
6. https://github.com/BaseMax/AutoInviteToOrgByIssueComment

Real-World Examples

7. https://github.com/BaseMax/AutoInviteToOrgByStar
8. https://github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-cpanel-php-ftp
9. https://github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-compile-golang
10. https://github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-compile-c
11. https://github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-update-push
12. https://github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-create-tag

Real-World Examples

13. https://github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-upload-temp-file
14. https://github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-create-release
15. https://github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-monitor-issues
16. https://github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-run-docker-compose
17. https://github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-run-dockerfile
18. https://github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-compile-rust

Real-World Examples

19. https://github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-react-deploy-tailwindcss-sftp
20. https://github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-react-deploy-linux-sftp
21. https://github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-react-build-linux-sftp
22. https://github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-file-linux-ssh-sftp

Q&A

Let's discuss!

Repository: github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-tehlug

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/maxbase

Email: maxbasecode@gmail.com

Telegram: t.me/MAX_BASE