GitHub Actions Cheat Sheet

name: Workflow Name
 
on: [push, pull_request]
 
jobs:
 job-name:
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
  steps:
   - 

# Push to branches
on:
 push:
  branches: [ main, develop ]
  tags: [ 'v*' ]
  paths:
   - 'src/**'
   - 

# GitHub-hosted
runs-on: ubuntu-latest    # Ubuntu (most common)
runs-on: windows-latest    # Windows
runs-on: macos-latest    # macOS
runs-on: ubuntu-22.04    # Specific version
 
# Matrix
runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
 
# Self-hosted
runs-on

# Workflow level
env:
 NODE_ENV: production
 
jobs:
 build:
  # Job level
  env:
   API_URL: https://api.example.com
 
  steps:
   # Step level
   - run: npm build

# Use secrets
- run: npm run deploy
 env:
  API_KEY: ${{ secrets.API_KEY }}
  DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.DATABASE_URL }}
 
# GitHub token (auto-provided)
- run: gh api /user
 env:
  GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

strategy:
 matrix:
  os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, macos-latest]
  node-version: [18, 20, 22]
  # Creates 9 jobs (3 × 3)
 
 fail-fast: true # Stop all if one fails

- uses: actions/checkout@v5
 with:
  fetch-depth: 0 # Full history
  submodules: true # Include submodules

# Node.js
- uses: actions/setup-node@v6
 with:
  node-version: '20'
  cache: 'npm'
 
# Python
- uses: actions/setup-python@v5
 with:
  python-version: '3.12'

# Automatic (Node.js)
- uses: actions/setup-node@v6
 with:
  node-version: '20'
  cache: 'npm'
 
# Manual
- uses: actions/cache@v4
 with:
  path: |
   ~/.npm

# Upload
- uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
 with:
  name: build-files
  path: dist/
  retention-days: 7
 
# Download
- uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
 with:
  name: 

jobs:
 build:
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  steps:
   - run: npm build
 
 test:
  needs: build # Wait for build
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  steps:

# Job level
jobs:
 deploy:
  if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
# Step level
steps:
 - name: Deploy to production
  if: 

jobs:
 build:
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  outputs:
   version: ${{ steps.get-version.outputs.version }}
 
  steps:
   - id: get-version
    run: echo "version=1.2.3" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
 
 deploy:

concurrency:
 group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
 cancel-in-progress: true # Cancel old runs on new push

permissions:
 contents: write   # Push to repo
 pull-requests: write # Comment on PRs
 issues: write    # Manage issues
 packages: write   # Publish packages
 deployments: write # Create deployments

jobs:
 build:
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  timeout-minutes: 10 # Job timeout
 
  steps:
   - run: npm test
    timeout-minutes: 5 # Step timeout

# Use container
jobs:
 build:
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  container:
   image: node:20-alpine
   env:
    NODE_ENV: production
 
# Build & push Docker image
- uses

# .github/workflows/reusable.yml
on:
 workflow_call:
  inputs:
   environment:
    required: true
    type: string
  outputs:
   result:
    value: ${{ jobs.deploy.outputs.result }}
 

# .github/workflows/main.yml
jobs:
 call-workflow:
  uses: ./.github/workflows/reusable.yml
  with:
   environment: production

# GitHub context
${{ github.event_name }}   # push, pull_request, etc.
${{ github.ref }}       # refs/heads/main
${{ github.sha }}       # Commit SHA
${{ github.actor }}      # User who triggered
${{ github.repository }}   # owner/repo
${{ github.workspace }}    # /home/runner/work/repo/repo
 
# Runner context
${{ runner.os }}       # Linux, Windows, macOS

name: Node.js CI
 
on: [push, pull_request]
 
jobs:
 test:
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
  strategy:
   matrix:
    node-version: [18

name: Release
 
on:
 push:
  tags: ['v*']
 
jobs:
 deploy:
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  steps:
   - uses: actions/checkout@v5
   - 

- uses: actions/github-script@v7
 with:
  script: |
   github.rest.issues.createComment({
    issue_number: context.issue.number,
    owner: context.repo.owner,
    repo: context.repo.repo,
    body: 'Build successful!'
   })

- uses: actions/labeler@v5
 with:
  repo-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

# Debug step
- name: Debug
 run: |
  echo "Event: ${{ github.event_name }}"
  echo "Ref: ${{ github.ref }}"
  echo "SHA: ${{ github.sha }}"
  env
 
# Enable debug logs
# Set repository secrets:
# ACTIONS_RUNNER_DEBUG = true
# ACTIONS_STEP_DEBUG = true