GitHub Actions for Next.js: CI/CD With Tests, Type Checks, Migrations, and Vercel Deploy

A CI/CD pipeline catches bugs before they reach production and deploys automatically on merge. Here's a production-ready GitHub Actions setup for Next.js.

What the Pipeline Does

On every pull request:

1. Type check (TypeScript)
2. Lint (ESLint)
3. Unit tests (Vitest)
4. Build check
5. Preview deploy to Vercel

On merge to main:

1. All of the above
2. Production deploy
3. Database migrations

Full Workflow

# .github/workflows/ci.yml
name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

env:
  NODE_VERSION: '20'

jobs:
  check:
    name: Type Check + Lint + Test
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
          cache: 'npm'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci

      - name: Type check
        run: npx tsc --noEmit

      - name: Lint
        run: npm run lint

      - name: Test
        run: npm run test:run
        env:
          DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.TEST_DATABASE_URL }}

      - name: Build
        run: npm run build
        env:
          NEXTAUTH_SECRET: ${{ secrets.NEXTAUTH_SECRET }}
          NEXTAUTH_URL: http://localhost:3000
          NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL: http://localhost:3000

  deploy-preview:
    name: Preview Deploy
    needs: check
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    if: github.event_name == 'pull_request'
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Deploy to Vercel Preview
        uses: amondnet/vercel-action@v25
        with:
          vercel-token: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_TOKEN }}
          vercel-org-id: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_ORG_ID }}
          vercel-project-id: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_PROJECT_ID }}
          scope: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_ORG_ID }}

  deploy-production:
    name: Production Deploy
    needs: check
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' && github.event_name == 'push'
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
          cache: 'npm'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci

      - name: Run database migrations
        run: npx prisma migrate deploy
        env:
          DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.PROD_DATABASE_URL }}

      - name: Deploy to Vercel Production
        uses: amondnet/vercel-action@v25
        with:
          vercel-token: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_TOKEN }}
          vercel-org-id: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_ORG_ID }}
          vercel-project-id: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_PROJECT_ID }}
          vercel-args: '--prod'
          scope: ${{ secrets.VERCEL_ORG_ID }}

Required GitHub Secrets

Set these in your repo Settings > Secrets:

VERCEL_TOKEN          # From Vercel account settings
VERCEL_ORG_ID         # From Vercel project settings
VERCEL_PROJECT_ID     # From Vercel project settings
TEST_DATABASE_URL     # Separate test DB connection string
PROD_DATABASE_URL     # Production DB connection string
NEXTAUTH_SECRET       # Used during build
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY     # If needed during build

Caching for Speed

# Cache node_modules and Next.js build cache
- uses: actions/cache@v4
  with:
    path: |
      ~/.npm
      ${{ github.workspace }}/.next/cache
    key: ${{ runner.os }}-nextjs-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}-${{ hashFiles('**/*.js', '**/*.jsx', '**/*.ts', '**/*.tsx') }}
    restore-keys: |
      ${{ runner.os }}-nextjs-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}-

With caching, typical CI run drops from 4 minutes to 90 seconds.

Test Database Setup

For integration tests that hit a real database:

jobs:
  test:
    services:
      postgres:
        image: postgres:16
        env:
          POSTGRES_PASSWORD: test
          POSTGRES_DB: testdb
        options: >-
          --health-cmd pg_isready
          --health-interval 10s
          --health-timeout 5s
          --health-retries 5
        ports:
          - 5432:5432
    steps:
      - name: Run migrations on test DB
        run: npx prisma migrate deploy
        env:
          DATABASE_URL: postgresql://postgres:test@localhost:5432/testdb

Branch Protection Rules

Make CI required before merge:

1. Settings > Branches > Branch protection rules
2. Add rule for main
3. Check 'Require status checks to pass before merging'
4. Add: check (the CI job name)
5. Check 'Require branches to be up to date'

Now no one can merge broken code.

Ship Fast Skill for CI/CD

The Ship Fast Skill Pack includes a /deploy skill that generates this exact GitHub Actions workflow for your specific stack -- Vercel, AWS, or Docker.

Ship Fast Skill Pack -- $49 one-time -- 10 Claude Code skills including full CI/CD generation.

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