GitHub Actions Skill Skill

GitHub Actions Skill

Design and implement GitHub Actions workflows for CI/CD automation.

When to Use This Skill

Keywords: github actions, ci/cd, workflow, pipeline, build, deploy, continuous integration, continuous deployment, yaml workflow, job, step, runner, matrix, reusable workflow

Use this skill when:

Creating new GitHub Actions workflows
Reviewing existing workflow files
Designing CI/CD pipelines for repositories
Setting up build/test/deploy automation
Implementing reusable workflow patterns

MANDATORY: Documentation-First Approach

Before creating workflows:

Verify syntax via MCP servers (context7 for GitHub Actions docs)
Check for existing patterns in the repository
Use official actions where possible (actions/checkout, actions/setup-node, etc.)

Workflow Structure Overview

name: Workflow Name

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

permissions:
  contents: read

jobs:
  job-name:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Step name
        run: echo "Hello"

Key Concepts

Triggers (on)

| Trigger | Use Case | |---------|----------| | push | Run on every push to specified branches | | pull_request | Run on PR events | | workflow_dispatch | Manual trigger | | schedule | Cron-based scheduling | | workflow_call | Called by other workflows (reusable) |

Job Configuration

| Setting | Purpose | |---------|---------| | runs-on | Runner environment (ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, macos-latest) | | needs | Job dependencies | | if | Conditional execution | | strategy.matrix | Matrix builds | | environment | Deployment environment with protection rules |

Common Actions

| Action | Purpose | |--------|---------| | actions/checkout@v4 | Checkout repository | | actions/setup-node@v4 | Setup Node.js | | actions/setup-python@v5 | Setup Python | | actions/setup-dotnet@v4 | Setup .NET | | actions/cache@v4 | Cache dependencies | | actions/upload-artifact@v4 | Upload build artifacts |

Best Practices

Security

permissions:
  contents: read  # Minimal permissions

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4  # Pin to specific version

Caching

- uses: actions/cache@v4
  with:
    path: ~/.npm
    key: ${{ runner.os }}-node-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}
    restore-keys: |
      ${{ runner.os }}-node-

Matrix Builds

strategy:
  matrix:
    node-version: [18, 20, 22]
    os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest]
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}

Reusable Workflows

# .github/workflows/reusable-test.yml
on:
  workflow_call:
    inputs:
      node-version:
        type: string
        default: '20'
    secrets:
      NPM_TOKEN:
        required: false

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ inputs.node-version }}
      - run: npm ci && npm test

Calling reusable workflow:

jobs:
  call-test:
    uses: ./.github/workflows/reusable-test.yml
    with:
      node-version: '20'
    secrets: inherit

Workflow Patterns

PR Validation

name: PR Validation
on:
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  lint:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run lint

  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm test

  build:
    needs: [lint, test]
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run build

Release Workflow

name: Release
on:
  push:
    tags:
      - 'v*'

permissions:
  contents: write

jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm ci && npm run build
      - name: Create Release
        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
        with:
          files: dist/*
          generate_release_notes: true

Common Issues

| Issue | Solution | |-------|----------| | Permission denied | Add permissions block with required access | | Action not found | Check action version and repository | | Cache not working | Verify key pattern matches file paths | | Job dependency failed | Check needs references and job names |

MCP Research

For current GitHub Actions patterns:

perplexity: "GitHub Actions best practices 2026"
context7: "github-actions" (for official documentation)

Version History

v1.0.0 (2026-01-17): Initial release

Last Updated: 2026-01-17

Agent Skills: GitHub Actions Skill

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