GitHub Actions workflows, CI/CD patterns, pipeline optimization, and failure analysis. Use when working with CI/CD pipelines, GitHub Actions, or deployment automation.

CI/CD Automation

Factory

Version: 1.0.0 | License: MIT

Tags: devops cicd github-actions automation

CI/CD Automation Skill

Comprehensive knowledge for GitHub Actions workflows, CI/CD pipeline optimization, and deployment automation.

When to Activate

Activate this skill when:

Working with GitHub Actions workflows
Debugging CI/CD pipeline failures
Optimizing build/test/deploy times
Setting up new CI/CD pipelines
Managing secrets and environment variables

Core Capabilities

GitHub Actions

Workflow syntax and best practices
Job dependencies and parallelization
Caching strategies (npm, Docker layers, etc.)
Matrix builds for multi-platform testing
Reusable workflows and composite actions

Pipeline Optimization

Identify bottlenecks via timing analysis
Implement caching for dependencies
Parallelize independent steps
Reduce artifact sizes
Optimize container images

Failure Analysis

Parse error logs for root causes
Identify common failure patterns
Recommend fixes for typical issues
Track flaky tests

Secret Management

GitHub Secrets best practices
Environment-specific secrets
OIDC for cloud provider auth
Secret rotation strategies

References

Quick Reference

Basic Workflow Structure

name: CI
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          cache: 'npm'
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm test

Caching Dependencies

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

Parallel Jobs

jobs:
  lint:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps: [...]
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps: [...]
  build:
    needs: [lint, test]
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps: [...]

CLI Tools

Required:

gh - GitHub CLI for workflow management
git - Version control

Installation (macOS):

brew install gh git
gh auth login  # Authenticate with GitHub

Installation (Linux):

# GitHub CLI
curl -fsSL https://cli.github.com/packages/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg | sudo dd of=/usr/share/keyrings/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg] https://cli.github.com/packages stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/github-cli.list > /dev/null
sudo apt update && sudo apt install gh git

Commands:

gh workflow list                    # List workflows
gh run list --workflow=ci.yml       # List runs
gh run view <id> --log-failed       # View failed logs
gh run rerun <id>                   # Rerun workflow

References

Pipeline Optimization

Reference documentation

Secret Management

Reference documentation

Failure Analysis

Reference documentation

Deployment Strategies

Reference documentation

Github Actions Patterns

Reference documentation

CI/CD Automation

Pipeline Optimization

Secret Management

Failure Analysis

Deployment Strategies

Github Actions Patterns

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