How to trigger a deployment from GitHub?

 

Step 1: Open or create a GitHub repository

 

Before you can trigger any deployment, you need a GitHub repository containing your project.

• Sign in to GitHub and navigate to https://github.com/new to create a new repository.
• Clone an existing repository locally using:

git clone https://github.com/your-username/your-repo.git
cd your-repo

 

Step 2: Initialize a local project and commit changes

 

If you’re starting from scratch, initialize a Git repo, add code, and push to GitHub.

• Initialize Git and add files:

git init
echo "# MyProject" > README.md
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git branch -M main
git remote add origin https://github.com/your-username/your-repo.git
git push -u origin main

 

Step 3: Enable GitHub Actions for your repository

 

GitHub Actions provides CI/CD workflows. To deploy automatically, you’ll create a workflow file.

• In your repository UI, go to the Actions tab.
• Click New workflow, then choose set up a workflow yourself.
• This creates a folder .github/workflows/ in your repo.

 

Step 4: Create a deployment workflow file

 

Inside .github/workflows/, create a file named deploy.yml.

name: Deploy Application

on:
  push:
    branches:
    - main
  workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
- name: Set up Node.js
    uses: actions/setup-node@v3
    with:
      node-version: '16'

- name: Install dependencies
    run: npm install

- name: Build project
    run: npm run build

- name: Deploy to server
    run: |
      echo "Deploying to production..."
      # insert your deploy commands here

 

Step 5: Commit and push the workflow

 

• Stage and commit your workflow file:

git add .github/workflows/deploy.yml
git commit -m "Add deployment workflow"
git push origin main

 

Step 6: Automatic deployment on push

 

With the above configuration, every push to the main branch triggers the deploy job.

• Make a change, commit, and push:

echo "console.log('hello')" >> index.js
git add index.js
git commit -m "Trigger deployment"
git push origin main

• Go to the Actions tab to monitor the running workflow.

 

Step 7: Manual deployment trigger

 

You can trigger the workflow manually via the Actions tab or via GitHub REST API.

• In the repo’s Actions tab, select Deploy Application and click Run workflow.
• Choose branch, then click Run workflow.

 

Step 8: Trigger deployment via REST API

 

Use GitHub’s REST API to dispatch the workflow programmatically.

curl -X POST \\
  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \\
  -H "Authorization: token YOUR_PERSONAL_ACCESS\_TOKEN" \\
  https://api.github.com/repos/your-username/your-repo/actions/workflows/deploy.yml/dispatches \\
  -d '{"ref":"main"}'

• Replace YOUR_PERSONAL_ACCESS\_TOKEN with a token having repo and workflow scopes.

 

Step 9: Verify your deployment

 

After triggering, check the workflow logs and your production endpoint.

• In Actions, view logs for each step.
• Confirm your application is live by visiting its URL or checking server logs.

 

Step 10: Advanced trigger options

 

You can extend triggers in deploy.yml:

• schedule for cron jobs:

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 0 _ _ \*'  # midnight UTC daily

• pull\_request to deploy preview builds:

on:
  pull\_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize]