GitHub Actions Workflow Syntax: ‘Environment’ – Managing Deployment Environments

GitHub Actions allows developers to create custom automation and streamline their software development workflows. In this blog post, we’re going to explore the ‘environment’ keyword in GitHub Actions Workflow syntax, which allows for managing and controlling deployment environments. We will provide an overview of the syntax, demonstrate its usage, and explore examples.

Introduction

GitHub Actions Workflow provides a robust platform for building, testing, deploying, and automating just about anything related to software development. It employs workflows, automated procedures configured in your GitHub repository that consist of one or more ‘jobs’, each containing ‘steps’ to execute tasks.

One powerful feature of these workflows is the ability to manage deployment environments using the ‘environment’ keyword. This provides control over where and when deployments occur and adds an additional layer of protection by enforcing specific rules and protections.

Understanding the ‘Environment’ Syntax

In GitHub Actions Workflow syntax, the ‘environment’ keyword allows jobs to reference a specific environment and its associated protections. This helps in controlling the deployment flow and managing security effectively.

An environment can be assigned to a job as follows:

jobs:
  job_id:
    runs-on: runner_type
    environment: 
      name: environment_name
      url: environment_url
    steps:
    - name: Step 1
      run: command

jobs:

job_id:

runs-on: runner_type

environment:

url: environment_url

steps:

- name: Step 1

run: command

In the above syntax, ‘environment_name’ is the name of the environment to which the job is associated. If the environment doesn’t exist, it gets created when the job runs. The optional ‘environment_url’ is a string containing the URL for accessing the deployed application. This URL will be available as a deployment in GitHub’s environment interface.

Example of ‘Environment’ in a Workflow

Let’s consider an example where a GitHub Actions Workflow is used to deploy an application to a staging and a production environment.

name: Deployment Workflow

on: [push]

jobs:
  deploy_staging:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment: 
      name: staging
      url: https://staging.example.com
    steps:
    - name: Checkout code
      uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - name: Deploy to Staging
      run: echo "Deploying to Staging..."

  deploy_production:
    needs: deploy_staging
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment: 
      name: production
      url: https://www.example.com
    steps:
    - name: Checkout code
      uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - name: Deploy to Production
      run: echo "Deploying to Production..."

on: [push]

jobs:

deploy_staging:

runs-on: ubuntu-latest

environment:

url: https://staging.example.com

steps:

- name: Checkout code

uses: actions/checkout@v2

- name: Deploy to Staging

run: echo "Deploying to Staging..."

deploy_production:

needs: deploy_staging

runs-on: ubuntu-latest

environment:

url: https://www.example.com

steps:

- name: Checkout code

uses: actions/checkout@v2

- name: Deploy to Production

run: echo "Deploying to Production..."

In this workflow, we have two jobs – ‘deploy_staging’ and ‘deploy_production’. Each job is associated with a specific environment (staging and production respectively), and the deployment to the ‘production’ environment only proceeds after successful deployment to the ‘staging’ environment.

Conclusion

The ‘environment’ keyword in GitHub Actions Workflow syntax provides a powerful tool for managing deployment environments. By effectively using environments, developers can control the flow of deployments and enforce necessary security protections, making GitHub Actions a comprehensive solution for CI/CD pipelines.