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Writing GitHub Actions

Master plan for authoring GitHub Actions workflows for CI/CD, automation, and DevOps tasks. This skill covers workflow syntax, action development, secrets management, matrix strategies, and best practices for building robust and efficient automation pipelines.

Status​

Master Plan Available

Key Topics​

  • Workflow Fundamentals

    • YAML syntax and structure
    • Triggers (push, pull_request, schedule, workflow_dispatch)
    • Jobs and steps organization
    • Runner selection (ubuntu, windows, macos)
    • Workflow dependencies and sequencing

  • Action Development

    • JavaScript actions vs Docker actions vs Composite actions
    • Action metadata (action.yml)
    • Inputs, outputs, and environment variables
    • Action versioning and releases
    • Publishing to GitHub Marketplace

  • CI/CD Patterns

    • Build and test workflows
    • Multi-language matrix testing
    • Caching dependencies (npm, pip, cargo)
    • Artifact uploading and downloading
    • Deployment strategies

  • Advanced Techniques

    • Reusable workflows
    • Composite actions for DRY
    • Dynamic matrix generation
    • Conditional execution (if statements)
    • Workflow orchestration

  • Security & Secrets

    • Secrets management
    • GITHUB_TOKEN permissions
    • Environment protection rules
    • Dependency scanning
    • Security hardening

  • Optimization

    • Workflow performance tuning
    • Parallelization strategies
    • Caching optimization
    • Self-hosted runners
    • Cost optimization

Primary Tools & Technologies​

  • GitHub Actions: Workflows, Actions, Runners
  • Marketplace Actions: actions/checkout, actions/setup-node, actions/cache
  • Action Development: @actions/core, @actions/github, Docker
  • Testing: act (local testing), nektos/act
  • Monitoring: GitHub Actions dashboard, workflow run logs

Integration Points​

  • Git Workflows: Automate Git operations
  • Documentation Generation: Auto-deploy documentation
  • Building CLIs: Test and release CLIs
  • SDK Design: Test and publish SDKs
  • API Design Principles: API testing and deployment
  • CI/CD pipelines
  • DevOps automation
  • Container development
  • Testing automation
  • Release management

Implementation Approach​

The skill will provide:

  • Workflow templates for common scenarios
  • Action development boilerplates
  • Matrix strategy examples
  • Security best practices checklist
  • Performance optimization guide
  • Troubleshooting patterns