DEV Community: Vincent A. Cicirello

The pyaction Docker container has reached 8 million pulls from the GitHub Container Registry, coinciding with the release of Python 3.14. I have been maintaining, pyaction, which is a Docker container with Python, git, and the GitHub CLI. It has now surpassed 8 million pulls from the GitHub Container Registry.

The pyaction container was originally developed to support developing GitHub Actions in Python. There are several GitHub container actions that use pyaction as the base image, and specifically pull it from the GitHub Container Registry. So this likely represents over 8 million runs of those dependent Actions. It is also available from Docker Hub.

The pyaction container is a Python slim image on top of which I've added curl, git, gpg, and the GitHub CLI. The current versions of these within the latest release of pyaction are:

Python 3.14.0
GitHub CLI 2.81.0
git 2.47.3
curl 8.14.1
gpg 2.4.7

The maintainer is not affiliated with GitHub.

Table of Contents:

Tagging Convention
Installing
- Docker Pull Command
- Use as a base image in a Dockerfile
More Information
Where You Can Find Me

Tagging Convention

Docker tags include the Python version and optionally the GitHub CLI version. We publish images for older Python versions whenever GitHub releases a new version of the GitHub CLI. At the present time, pyaction supports Python 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, and 3.14. Images are tagged as follows:

For the current version of Python (e.g., 3.14.0) and current version of GitHub CLI (e.g., 2.81.0), all of the following tags are available and equivalent: latest, 3.14.0, 3.14, 3.14.0-gh-2.81.0, 3.14.0-gh-2.81, 3.14.0-gh-2, 3.14-gh-2.81.0, 3.14-gh-2.81, 3.14-gh-2.
For prior versions of Python (3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13) and current version of GitHub CLI (2.81.0), all of the following tags are available and equivalent: 3.13, 3.13-gh-2.81.0, 3.13-gh-2.81, 3.13-gh-2.

This tag scheme began with version 2.75.0 of the GitHub CLI. We don't support pyaction images with earlier versions of the GitHub CLI (other than via older images published with the prior tagging scheme).

This tag scheme began with Python 3.13.5. Python patch level tags are not available for pyaction prior to Python 3.13.5.

Installing

The pre-built image is hosted on both Docker Hub and the GitHub Container Registry. You can use it in the following ways.

Docker Pull Command

Pull the latest image from Docker Hub with the following (or replace the latest tag with the desired version):

docker pull cicirello/pyaction:latest

Pull from the Github Container Registry with:

docker pull ghcr.io/cicirello/pyaction:latest

Use as a base image in a Dockerfile

Use as a base image in a Dockerfile (or replace the latest tag with the desired version):

FROM cicirello/pyaction:latest

# The rest of your Dockerfile would go here.

Or you can use as a base image (via the Github Container Registry) with:

FROM ghcr.io/cicirello/pyaction:latest

# The rest of your Dockerfile would go here.

More Information

Please consider starring pyaction's GitHub repository, and even better using it to develop Actions, or just to use the GitHub CLI:

cicirello / pyaction

A Docker container with Python, git, and the Github CLI

pyaction

Website for our GitHub Actions and tools for developing them: https://actions.cicirello.org/

Summary

Docker Hub
GitHub
Image Stats
Build Status
License
Support

This Docker image is designed to support implementing Github Actions with Python. It starts with the official python docker image as the base, which is a Debian OS. It specifically uses python:3-slim to keep the image size down for faster loading of Github Actions that use pyaction. On top of the base, we've installed curl gpg, git, and the GitHub CLI. We added curl and gpg because they are needed to install the GitHub CLI, and they may come in handy anyway (especially curl) when implementing a GitHub Action.

Blog Posts: See a list of blog posts about pyaction later in this README.

Multiplatform Image

pyaction supports the following platforms:

linux/386
linux/amd64
linux/arm64
linux/arm/v7
linux/arm/v6

Source Repository and Builds

The source repository is maintained…

View on GitHub

For more information about pyaction, see my earlier post here on DEV, as well as an information page about pyaction on the web.

Vincent A. Cicirello

Dec 28 '22

pyaction: A Docker container with Python, git, and the GitHub CLI

#ui #software #productivity

Comments 1

3 min read

pyaction - A Docker container with Python, git, and the Github CLI

The pyaction Docker container is designed to support implementing Github Actions with Python. It starts with the official python slim docker image as the base, using slim to keep the image size down for faster loading of Github Actions that use pyaction. The pyaction container also includes curl, gpg, git, and the GitHub CLI.

actions.cicirello.org

Where You Can Find Me

Follow me here on DEV and on GitHub:

Vincent A. CicirelloFollow

Researcher and educator in A.I., algorithms, evolutionary computation, machine learning, and swarm intelligence

pyaction: Python and the GitHub CLI in a Docker Container

Vincent A. Cicirello — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 18:36:36 +0000

TL;DR

The pyaction container is a Python slim Docker container with the addition of the GitHub CLI, git, curl, and gpg. Its original motivation was to support developing GitHub Actions with Python, but pyaction can also be used for other purposes (e.g., as an alternate way of using the GitHub CLI). Due to several requests from pyaction users, who wanted to use it with earlier Python versions, we recently changed the tagging convention. The Docker tags for pulling pyaction now include tags specifying the version of Python, and optionally the version of the GitHub CLI that are included in the image. The pyaction container is published to both Docker Hub and the GitHub Container Registry.

The maintainers of pyaction are not affiliated with GitHub; and pyaction is an unofficial installation of the GitHub CLI.

Table of Contents:

About the pyaction Docker Container
New Tagging Convention
Installing
- Docker Pull Command
- Use as a base image in a Dockerfile
More Information
Where You Can Find Me

About the pyaction Docker Container

The pyaction container is a Python slim image on top of which I've added curl, git, gpg, and the GitHub CLI.

The original motivation for pyaction was to support implementing GitHub Actions in Python as a container actions. Container actions enable implementing a GitHub Action in any language, one only needs a Docker container that includes the relevant language tools (e.g., interpreter, etc) and any other tools needed. To implement a GitHub Action in Python, this would require, at a minimum, Python. Thus, a Python slim image is used as the base of pyaction. A "slim" image is specifically used to keep the container small for faster loading from workflows. The GitHub CLI is then added to the container to enable interfacing with all things GitHub. The GitHub Actions framework itself has the GitHub CLI installed, however, container actions are limited to running only what is installed within the container itself. The pyaction container also has curl installed. Although GitHub Actions is the motivating usecase, pyaction is not limited to this case.

You can pull pyaction from either Docker Hub or the GitHub Container Registry.

New Tagging Convention

Previously, we were using Semantic Versioning for the Docker tags, with each version having a specific combination of Python version and GitHub CLI version. We started getting requests from users of pyaction images with current GitHub CLI and earlier versions of Python. For example, perhaps their application wasn't ready for the next version of Python.

So, to meet these requests, we changed the tagging convention, such that tags include the Python version and optionally the GitHub CLI version. And we started publishing images for older Python versions whenever GitHub releases a new version of the GitHub CLI. At the present time, pyaction supports Python 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, and 3.13. Images are tagged as follows:

For the current version of Python (e.g., 3.13.6) and current version of GitHub CLI (e.g., 2.76.2), all of the following tags are available and equivalent: latest, 3.13.6, 3.13, 3.13.6-gh-2.76.2, 3.13.6-gh-2.76, 3.13.6-gh-2, 3.13-gh-2.76.2, 3.13-gh-2.76, 3.13-gh-2.
For prior versions of Python (3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12) and current version of GitHub CLI (2.76.2), all of the following tags are available and equivalent: 3.12, 3.12-gh-2.76.2, 3.12-gh-2.76, 3.12-gh-2.

This tag scheme began with Python 3.13.5. Python patch level tags are not available for pyaction prior to Python 3.13.5.

Installing

The pre-built image is hosted on both Docker Hub and the GitHub Container Registry. You can use it in the following ways.

Docker Pull Command

Pull the latest image from Docker Hub with the following (or replace the latest tag with the desired version):

docker pull cicirello/pyaction:latest

Pull from the Github Container Registry with:

docker pull ghcr.io/cicirello/pyaction:latest

Use as a base image in a Dockerfile

Use as a base image in a Dockerfile (or replace the latest tag with the desired version):

FROM cicirello/pyaction:latest

# The rest of your Dockerfile would go here.

Or you can use as a base image (via the Github Container Registry) with:

FROM ghcr.io/cicirello/pyaction:latest

# The rest of your Dockerfile would go here.

More Information

For more information about pyaction, see earlier posts here on DEV in this series, as well as an information page about pyaction on the web.

pyaction - A Docker container with Python, git, and the Github CLI

actions.cicirello.org

Please consider starring pyaction's GitHub repository, and even better using it to develop GitHub Actions, or just to use the GitHub CLI:

cicirello / pyaction

A Docker container with Python, git, and the Github CLI

pyaction

Website for our GitHub Actions and tools for developing them: https://actions.cicirello.org/

Summary

Docker Hub
GitHub
Image Stats
Build Status
License
Support

Blog Posts: See a list of blog posts about pyaction later in this README.

Multiplatform Image

pyaction supports the following platforms:

linux/386
linux/amd64
linux/arm64
linux/arm/v7
linux/arm/v6

Source Repository and Builds

The source repository is maintained…

View on GitHub

Where You Can Find Me

Follow me here on DEV and on GitHub:

Vincent A. CicirelloFollow

Researcher and educator in A.I., algorithms, evolutionary computation, machine learning, and swarm intelligence

gnu-on-alpine 3.22.1 and alpine-plus-plus 3.22.1 Released

Vincent A. Cicirello — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 17:24:43 +0000

TL;DR

I just released gnu-on-alpine 3.22.1 and alpine-plus-plus 3.22.1, two lightweight containers for implementing GitHub Container Actions with shell scripting. Both containers are built upon alpine to keep the image size small for fast loading within GitHub Actions, and both are preinstalled with bash, coreutils, findutils, and gawk; and alpine-plus-plus is additionally preinstalled with git. The Docker version tags correspond to the version of Alpine used as the base. Both are available via either Docker Hub or the GitHub Container Registry.

Changelog gnu-on-alpine 3.22.1 - 2025-7-16

Changed

Bumped alpine to 3.22.1.

Changelog alpine-plus-plus 3.22.1 - 2025-7-16

Changed

Bumped alpine to 3.22.1.

Installation and Usage

You can pull gnu-on-alpine from either Docker Hub or the GitHub Container Registry with the following commands:

docker pull cicirello/gnu-on-alpine:latest
docker pull ghcr.io/cicirello/gnu-on-alpine:latest

You can pull alpine-plus-plus from either Docker Hub or the GitHub Container Registry with the following commands:

docker pull cicirello/alpine-plus-plus:latest
docker pull ghcr.io/cicirello/alpine-plus-plus:latest

To use gnu-on-alpine as a base image in a Dockerfile (via Docker Hub):

FROM cicirello/gnu-on-alpine:latest

# The rest of your Dockerfile would go here.

Or, from the GitHub Container Registry with:

FROM ghcr.io/cicirello/gnu-on-alpine:latest

# The rest of your Dockerfile would go here.

To use alpine-plus-plus as a base image in a Dockerfile (via Docker Hub):

FROM cicirello/alpine-plus-plus:latest

# The rest of your Dockerfile would go here.

Or, from the GitHub Container Registry with:

FROM ghcr.io/cicirello/alpine-plus-plus:latest

# The rest of your Dockerfile would go here.

More Information

For more information, see their GitHub repositories and project pages. Please consider starring on GitHub.

alpine-plus-plus - A lightweight docker image for shell scripting with git and GNU tools

The alpine-plus-plus Docker container is a lightweight Docker container for shell scripting with git and GNU tools (bash, coreutils, findutils, gawk). It is built atop an Alpine Linux base to keep image size small.

actions.cicirello.org

gnu-on-alpine - A lightweight docker image for shell scripting with GNU tools

The gnu-on-alpine Docker container is a lightweight Docker container for shell scripting with GNU tools (bash, coreutils, findutils, gawk). It is built atop an Alpine Linux base to keep image size small.

actions.cicirello.org

cicirello / alpine-plus-plus

A lightweight Docker container for shell scripting with git and GNU tools on Alpine Linux

alpine-plus-plus

Website for our GitHub Actions and tools for developing them: https://actions.cicirello.org/

Docker Hub
GitHub
Image Stats
Build Status
License
Support

Summary

The alpine-plus-plus Docker image is motivated by Github-actions implemented primarily with bash and shell utilities, but is also potentially applicable to any use-case where you primarily need bash and GNU tools like gawk, etc, as well as git, but also want to keep the image size relatively small. Alpine Linux is used as the base image. Alone, Alpine almost suits this purpose However, it lacks the bash shell, and commonly used GNU tools such as findutils, gawk, etc. It also lacks git. The alpine-plus-plus image adds git, bash, findutils, coreutils, and gawk on top of Alpine Linux.

For more information, see my blog post on DEV: gnu-on-alpine and alpine-plus-plus: Two Lightweight Containers for Implementing GitHub Container Actions with Shell Scripting.

Multiplatform Image

alpine-plus-plus has the following platforms…

View on GitHub

cicirello / gnu-on-alpine

A lightweight Docker container for shell scripting with GNU tools on Alpine Linux

gnu-on-alpine

Website for our GitHub Actions and tools for developing them: https://actions.cicirello.org/

Docker Hub
GitHub
Image Stats
Build Status
License
Support

Summary

The gnu-on-alpine Docker image is designed to support shell scripting using GNU tools such as the bash shell, gawk, coreutils, and findutils, while keeping the image size relatively small. Alpine Linux is used as the base image. The gnu-on-alpine image adds bash, findutils, coreutils, and gawk on top of Alpine Linux.

For more information, see my blog post on DEV: gnu-on-alpine and alpine-plus-plus: Two Lightweight Containers for Implementing GitHub Container Actions with Shell Scripting.

Multiplatform Image

gnu-on-alpine has the following platforms available:

linux/386
linux/amd64
linux/arm/v6
linux/arm/v7
linux/arm64
linux/ppc64le
linux/s390x

Source Repository and Builds

The source repository is maintained on GitHub. The images are built on Github and pushed to Docker Hub, as well as the Github Container Registry using Github Actions.

Docker Tags and Versioning Scheme

…

View on GitHub

Where You Can Find Me

Follow me here on DEV and on GitHub:

Vincent A. CicirelloFollow

Researcher and educator in A.I., algorithms, evolutionary computation, machine learning, and swarm intelligence

generate-sitemap 1.10.3 Released

Vincent A. Cicirello — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 16:58:42 +0000

TL;DR

I just released generate-sitemap 1.10.3, a GitHub Action for generating XML sitemaps for static websites. The generate-sitemap GitHub Action is implemented in Python, and generates an XML sitemap by crawling the GitHub repository containing the html of the site, using commit dates to generate <lastmod> tags in the sitemap. It automatically excludes any pages that have noindex directives in page head meta tags, as well as any pages that match Disallow rules in the site's robots.txt, or any pages in a user-specified list.

Changelog 1.10.3 - 2025-08-14

Fixed

Fixed failure to get last commit dates in case of nested repository checkouts.

Dependencies

Bump cicirello/pyaction to 3.13.6-gh-2.76.2.

More Information

For more information, see generate-sitemap's webpage:

generate-sitemap - Generate an XML sitemap for a GitHub pages site using GitHub Actions

The generate-sitemap GitHub action generates a sitemap for a website hosted on GitHub Pages. Supports both xml and txt sitemaps. Uses the last commit date of each file to generate the lastmod tags in XML sitemaps. Parses robots.txt and scans html files for noindex directives, excluding URLs if noindex directives or disallows found.

actions.cicirello.org

Please consider starring generate-sitemap's GitHub repository:

cicirello / generate-sitemap

Generate an XML sitemap for a GitHub Pages site using GitHub Actions

generate-sitemap

Check out all of our GitHub Actions: https://actions.cicirello.org/

About

GitHub Actions
Build Status
Source Info
Support

The generate-sitemap GitHub action generates a sitemap for a website hosted on GitHub Pages, and has the following features:

Support for both xml and txt sitemaps (you choose using one of the action's inputs).
When generating an xml sitemap, it uses the last commit date of each file to generate the <lastmod> tag in the sitemap entry. If the file was created during that workflow run, but not yet committed, then it instead uses the current date (however, we recommend if possible committing newly created files first).
Supports URLs for html and pdf files in the sitemap, and has inputs to control the included file types (defaults include both html and pdf files in the sitemap).
Now also supports including URLs for a user specified list of additional file extensions in the sitemap.
…

View on GitHub

Where You Can Find Me

Follow me here on DEV and on GitHub:

Vincent A. CicirelloFollow

Researcher and educator in A.I., algorithms, evolutionary computation, machine learning, and swarm intelligence

[Boost]

Vincent A. Cicirello — Sat, 12 Jul 2025 12:37:50 +0000

Alvaro Montoro

Jul 6 '25

CSS Art: Drawing Yoda with CSS

#showdev #css #html #webdev

Comments 12

2 min read

[Boost]

Vincent A. Cicirello — Thu, 15 May 2025 12:36:38 +0000

Andrea Liliana Griffiths for GitHub

May 15 '25

Speed Up Your CI/CD: ARM 64 Runners for GitHub Actions

#programming #githubactions #cicd #devops

Comments 1

2 min read

[Boost]

Vincent A. Cicirello — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 11:56:45 +0000

Michelle Duke

Apr 17 '25

GitHub Issues or GitHub Discussions? What's the difference, and when should you use each one?

#github #tutorial #community

Comments

2 min read

[Boost]

Vincent A. Cicirello — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 12:19:32 +0000

Improving Maven's dependency:analyze... or not

Nicolas Fränkel ・ Mar 13

#java #maven #springboot

pyaction 4.31.0 Released

Vincent A. Cicirello — Sat, 08 Jun 2024 19:13:49 +0000

TL;DR

I just released pyaction 4.31.0, a Docker container with Python, git, and the GitHub CLI. You can pull pyaction from either the GitHub Container Registry or from Docker Hub.

This release updates the GitHub CLI included in the container to 2.50.0.

Changelog 4.31.0 - 2024-06-08

Changed

Bumped GitHub CLI to 2.50.0.

Current Version List

This latest release of pyaction includes the following:

Python 3.12.3
GitHub CLI 2.50.0
git 2.39.2
curl 7.88.1
gpg 2.2.40

More Information

Please consider starring pyaction's GitHub repository:

cicirello / pyaction

A Docker container with Python, git, and the Github CLI

pyaction

Website for our GitHub Actions and tools for developing them: https://actions.cicirello.org/

Summary

Docker Hub
GitHub
Image Stats
Build Status
License
Support

This Docker image is designed to support implementing Github Actions with Python. As of version 4.0.0., it starts with the official python docker image as the base which is a Debian OS. It specifically uses python:3-slim to keep the image size down for faster loading of Github Actions that use pyaction. On top of the base, we've installed curl, gpg, git, and the GitHub CLI. We added curl and gpg because they are needed to install the GitHub CLI, and they may come in handy anyway (especially curl) when implementing a GitHub Action.

Blog Post on DEV: pyaction: A Docker container with Python, git, and the GitHub CLI, posted on December 28, 2022. See a list of additional blog posts later in this…

View on GitHub

For more information, see pyaction's webpage:

pyaction - A Docker container with Python, git, and the Github CLI

actions.cicirello.org

Where You Can Find Me

Follow me here on DEV and on GitHub:

Vincent A. CicirelloFollow

Researcher and educator in A.I., algorithms, evolutionary computation, machine learning, and swarm intelligence