Rahimah Sulayman

Posted on Jul 17

Building a Complete CI/CD Pipeline with Docker and GitHub Actions

#devops #docker #nginx #git

Modern software delivery is about much more than writing code. It requires automation, collaboration, repeatability, and reliable deployment workflows.

To strengthen my DevOps skills, I built a production-inspired CI/CD project that follows the same development workflow used by many engineering teams.

Instead of focusing on a complex application, I focused on the engineering process itself:

Git workflow
Feature branches
Pull Requests
Docker containerization
GitHub Actions
Continuous Integration
Continuous Delivery

The complete project is available on GitHub:

👉 GitHub Repository:

https://github.com/rahimahisah17/cloud-devops-ci-cd-lab

Project Objectives

The goal was to simulate a real development lifecycle from planning through deployment.

The project includes:

GitHub Issues
Feature branch development
Pull Requests
Docker containerization
GitHub Actions automation
Continuous Integration
Continuous Delivery
Project documentation

Technology Stack

Git
GitHub
GitHub Actions
Docker
Nginx
Linux (WSL)
Visual Studio Code

Project Workflow

The project followed a structured Git workflow.

GitHub Issue
      │
      ▼
Feature Branch
      │
      ▼
Development
      │
      ▼
Commit
      │
      ▼
Push
      │
      ▼
Pull Request
      │
      ▼
GitHub Actions
      │
      ▼
Docker Build
      │
      ▼
Continuous Delivery

Containerizing the Application

The application was containerized using Docker and deployed with an Nginx container.

A lightweight Docker image keeps the application portable and reproducible across environments.

FROM nginx:alpine

COPY index.html /usr/share/nginx/html/index.html

EXPOSE 80

CMD ["nginx", "-g", "daemon off;"]

Automating CI/CD with GitHub Actions

Every push and pull request automatically triggers GitHub Actions.

The workflow:

validates the repository
builds the Docker image
authenticates with GitHub Container Registry (GHCR)
publishes the Docker image

This removes manual build steps and ensures every change follows the same automated process.

Debugging the Pipeline

One of the most valuable parts of this project wasn't writing the workflow—it was fixing it.

After migrating the application from Python to an Nginx-based static website, the CI pipeline failed because it was still trying to validate a deleted Python file.

Instead of simply rerunning the workflow, I investigated the logs, identified the obsolete validation step, removed it, and verified the pipeline again.

Watching the workflow transition from ❌ failed to ✅ passing reinforced an important DevOps lesson:

CI/CD pipelines are living systems that evolve alongside the application.

What I Learned

This project strengthened my understanding of:

Git workflows
Feature branching
Pull Requests
Docker containerization
GitHub Actions
Continuous Integration
Continuous Delivery
Pipeline troubleshooting
Technical documentation

Final Repository

The repository now includes:

Professional README
Complete implementation log
Organized screenshots
MIT License
GitHub topics
CI/CD workflow
Dockerized application

Conclusion

Building this project reinforced that DevOps is about creating reliable, repeatable engineering processes, not just writing automation scripts.

The combination of Git, Docker, GitHub Actions, and disciplined workflow management provides a strong foundation for building and delivering modern cloud-native applications.

Thank you for reading!

If you have suggestions or feedback, I'd love to hear them.

Happy learning! 🚀

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