Overview
GitHub Actions allows you to create custom software development lifecycle workflows directly in your GitHub repository. Workflows are defined in YAML files and can be triggered by events like pushes, pull requests, or issue creation.
Key Concepts
- Workflow: An automated process made up of one or more jobs.
- Job: A set of steps that execute on the same runner.
- Step: An individual task, such as running a script or an 'Action'.
- Action: A reusable extension that performs a specific task (e.g., checking out code, setting up Node.js).
- Runner: A server that runs the workflow (can be GitHub-hosted or self-hosted).
Benefits
- Deep Integration: Seamlessly works with GitHub repositories, secrets, and environments.
- Marketplace: Thousands of pre-built actions available for common tasks.
- Ease of Use: No need to manage separate CI/CD infrastructure.