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Alex Spinov
Alex Spinov

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GitHub Actions Has a Free CI/CD That Most Developers Underuse

#github #webdev #devops #cicd

GitHub Actions gives you 2,000 free CI/CD minutes per month. But most developers only use it for basic tests. Here are workflows you should be running.

1. Auto-label PRs by file path 

name: Auto Label
on: [pull_request]
jobs:
  label:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/labeler@v5
      with:
        repo-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
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Changes in src/api/? Auto-labeled backend. Changes in src/components/? Auto-labeled frontend.

2. Dependency update PRs 

# .github/dependabot.yml
version: 2
updates:
  - package-ecosystem: npm
    directory: /
    schedule:
      interval: weekly
    open-pull-requests-limit: 10
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Dependabot creates PRs for outdated packages. Merge with one click.

3. Deploy preview on every PR 

name: Preview
on: pull_request
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - run: npm ci && npm run build
    - uses: FirebaseExtended/action-hosting-deploy@v0
      with:
        repoToken: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        firebaseServiceAccount: ${{ secrets.FIREBASE_SA }}
        channelId: live
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Every PR gets a unique preview URL. Reviewers test without checking out.

4. Lighthouse CI on every PR 

- name: Lighthouse
  uses: treosh/lighthouse-ci-action@v11
  with:
    urls: |
      https://preview-url.web.app/
    budgetPath: ./budget.json
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Performance regression in a PR? Lighthouse catches it before merge.

5. Release automation 

name: Release
on:
  push:
    tags: ['v*']
jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - run: npm ci && npm run build
    - uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
      with:
        files: dist/*
        generate_release_notes: true
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Push a tag → build → create GitHub Release with auto-generated changelog.

6. Scheduled tasks (cron) 

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 9 * * 1'  # Every Monday at 9 AM
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Weekly dependency audits, stale issue cleanup, metrics collection.

7. Matrix builds 

strategy:
  matrix:
    node-version: [18, 20, 22]
    os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, macos-latest]
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Test across 9 combinations in parallel. Free.

If you're only using GitHub Actions for npm test — you're using 10% of its power.

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Custom solution? Email spinov001@gmail.com — quote in 2 hours.

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