Building Custom GitHub Actions with Docker
Monday, January 29, 2024 - 8:30 PM UTC, for 1 hour.
Regular, 60 minute presentation
Room: Campsite 4
Have you ever searched the GitHub Marketplace for an Action to perform a very specific task, only to find that nothing exists? How about copying and pasting code between workflows to perform repetitive tasks? In this talk, learn how to create your own GitHub Actions that can be shared across workflows in your organization, or with the world via the GitHub Actions marketplace. We’ll explore what defines a custom GitHub Action, how to create one using a Docker container and test it locally, and cover utilizing actions within your own pipelines, with and without publishing them. Finally, we’ll touch on some best practices and considerations for building your own Actions based on my own experience creating the first set of GitHub Actions for PlanetScale.
Prerequisites
You should have already used GitHub Actions to create and execute a workflow. You should also know how to create a Docker container using a Dockerfile, as well as fire up the container to test locally. Understanding how to create Bash scripts and pass in parameters will be helpful.
