CI/CD Pipelines

Creates automated CI/CD pipelines for testing, building, and deploying applications.

When This Activates

• User says: "setup CI/CD", "GitHub Actions", "create pipeline", "automate deployment"
• User mentions: "continuous integration", "automated tests", "deploy automation"
• Files:

  .github/workflows/*.yml

  ,

  .gitlab-ci.yml

  ,

  circle.yml

• Questions about testing/deployment automation

GitHub Actions Workflows

Complete CI/CD Pipeline

# .github/workflows/ci-cd.yml
name: CI/CD Pipeline

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

env:
  NODE_VERSION: '18'
  REGISTRY: ghcr.io
  IMAGE_NAME: ${{ github.repository }}

jobs:
  lint:
    name: Lint Code
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
          cache: 'npm'
      
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci
      
      - name: Run ESLint
        run: npm run lint
      
      - name: Run Prettier
        run: npm run format:check

  test:
    name: Run Tests
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    
    services:
      postgres:
        image: postgres:15
        env:
          POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
          POSTGRES_DB: test_db
        options: >-
          --health-cmd pg_isready
          --health-interval 10s
          --health-timeout 5s
          --health-retries 5
        ports:
          - 5432:5432
    
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
          cache: 'npm'
      
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci
      
      - name: Run unit tests
        run: npm run test:unit
        env:
          DATABASE_URL: postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/test_db
      
      - name: Run integration tests
        run: npm run test:integration
        env:
          DATABASE_URL: postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/test_db
      
      - name: Generate coverage report
        run: npm run test:coverage
      
      - name: Upload coverage to Codecov
        uses: codecov/codecov-action@v3
        with:
          files: ./coverage/coverage-final.json
          fail_ci_if_error: true

  build:
    name: Build Application
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: [lint, test]
    
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
          cache: 'npm'
      
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci
      
      - name: Build application
        run: npm run build
      
      - name: Upload build artifacts
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
        with:
          name: dist
          path: dist/
          retention-days: 7

  docker:
    name: Build Docker Image
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: [lint, test]
    if: github.event_name == 'push'
    
    permissions:
      contents: read
      packages: write
    
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
      
      - name: Log in to Container Registry
        uses: docker/login-action@v3
        with:
          registry: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}
          username: ${{ github.actor }}
          password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      
      - name: Extract metadata
        id: meta
        uses: docker/metadata-action@v5
        with:
          images: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}
          tags: |
            type=ref,event=branch
            type=ref,event=pr
            type=semver,pattern={{version}}
            type=semver,pattern={{major}}.{{minor}}
            type=sha
      
      - name: Build and push Docker image
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
        with:
          context: .
          push: true
          tags: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}
          labels: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.labels }}
          cache-from: type=gha
          cache-to: type=gha,mode=max

  deploy-staging:
    name: Deploy to Staging
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: [build, docker]
    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/develop'
    environment:
      name: staging
      url: https://staging.example.com
    
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - name: Deploy to Vercel
        uses: amondnet/vercel-action@v25
        with:
          vercel-token: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_TOKEN }}
          vercel-org-id: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_ORG_ID }}
          vercel-project-id: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_PROJECT_ID }}
          vercel-args: '--prod'
          working-directory: ./

  deploy-production:
    name: Deploy to Production
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: [build, docker]
    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
    environment:
      name: production
      url: https://example.com
    
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - name: Deploy to Vercel Production
        uses: amondnet/vercel-action@v25
        with:
          vercel-token: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_TOKEN }}
          vercel-org-id: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_ORG_ID }}
          vercel-project-id: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_PROJECT_ID }}
          vercel-args: '--prod'
      
      - name: Notify Slack
        uses: 8398a7/action-slack@v3
        with:
          status: ${{ job.status }}
          text: 'Deployment to production completed!'
          webhook_url: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK }}
        if: always()

  security-scan:
    name: Security Scan
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - name: Run Trivy vulnerability scanner
        uses: aquasecurity/trivy-action@master
        with:
          scan-type: 'fs'
          scan-ref: '.'
          format: 'sarif'
          output: 'trivy-results.sarif'
      
      - name: Upload Trivy results to GitHub Security
        uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@v2
        with:
          sarif_file: 'trivy-results.sarif'

Optimized PR Workflow

# .github/workflows/pr-checks.yml
name: PR Checks

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened]

jobs:
  changes:
    name: Detect Changes
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    outputs:
      frontend: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.frontend }}
      backend: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.backend }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      
      - uses: dorny/paths-filter@v2
        id: filter
        with:
          filters: |
            frontend:
              - 'src/frontend/**'
              - 'package.json'
            backend:
              - 'src/backend/**'
              - 'src/api/**'

  frontend-tests:
    name: Frontend Tests
    needs: changes
    if: needs.changes.outputs.frontend == 'true'
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '18'
          cache: 'npm'
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run test:frontend

  backend-tests:
    name: Backend Tests
    needs: changes
    if: needs.changes.outputs.backend == 'true'
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '18'
          cache: 'npm'
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run test:backend

Caching Strategies

- name: Cache node modules
  uses: actions/cache@v3
  with:
    path: ~/.npm
    key: ${{ runner.os }}-node-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}
    restore-keys: |
      ${{ runner.os }}-node-

- name: Cache build output
  uses: actions/cache@v3
  with:
    path: |
      dist
      .next/cache
    key: ${{ runner.os }}-build-${{ github.sha }}
    restore-keys: |
      ${{ runner.os }}-build-

Matrix Testing

test:
  name: Test on ${{ matrix.os }} - Node ${{ matrix.node }}
  runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
  
  strategy:
    matrix:
      os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, macos-latest]
      node: ['16', '18', '20']
    fail-fast: false
  
  steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
      with:
        node-version: ${{ matrix.node }}
    - run: npm ci
    - run: npm test

Secrets Management

- name: Configure AWS credentials
  uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4
  with:
    aws-access-key-id: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
    aws-secret-access-key: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
    aws-region: us-east-1

- name: Use secrets in environment
  run: npm run deploy
  env:
    DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.DATABASE_URL }}
    API_KEY: ${{ secrets.API_KEY }}
    STRIPE_SECRET: ${{ secrets.STRIPE_SECRET_KEY }}

Reusable Workflows

# .github/workflows/deploy.yml
name: Reusable Deploy Workflow

on:
  workflow_call:
    inputs:
      environment:
        required: true
        type: string
      version:
        required: true
        type: string
    secrets:
      deploy_token:
        required: true

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Deploy to ${{ inputs.environment }}
        run: ./deploy.sh ${{ inputs.environment }} ${{ inputs.version }}
        env:
          DEPLOY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.deploy_token }}

# Usage in another workflow:
# uses: ./.github/workflows/deploy.yml
# with:
#   environment: 'staging'
#   version: '1.0.0'
# secrets:
#   deploy_token: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_TOKEN }}

Status Badges

![CI/CD](https://github.com/user/repo/workflows/CI-CD%20Pipeline/badge.svg)
![Tests](https://github.com/user/repo/workflows/Tests/badge.svg)
[![codecov](https://codecov.io/gh/user/repo/branch/main/graph/badge.svg)](https://codecov.io/gh/user/repo)

Best Practices

1. Job Dependencies

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  
  test:
    needs: build  # Runs after build completes
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  
  deploy:
    needs: [build, test]  # Runs after both complete
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

2. Conditional Execution

- name: Deploy
  if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' && github.event_name == 'push'
  run: ./deploy.sh

- name: Comment on PR
  if: failure()
  uses: actions/github-script@v6
  with:
    script: |
      github.rest.issues.createComment({
        issue_number: context.issue.number,
        owner: context.repo.owner,
        repo: context.repo.name,
        body: '❌ CI failed! Please check the logs.'
      })

3. Timeout and Retry

- name: Flaky test
  timeout-minutes: 10
  continue-on-error: true
  run: npm test

- name: Deploy with retry
  uses: nick-fields/retry-action@v2
  with:
    timeout_minutes: 10
    max_attempts: 3
    command: npm run deploy

Pipeline Checklist

• Runs on every push and PR
• Linting before tests
• Unit tests with coverage
• Integration tests with services
• Security scanning
• Docker image building
• Automated deployment to staging
• Manual approval for production
• Notifications on failure
• Status badges in README
• Secrets properly managed
• Caching for faster builds

Generate workflows, present to user, create files with approval.