ci-github-actions

name	ci-github-actions
description	GitHub Actions CI pipeline conventions — job shape, caching, permissions, and action pinning. Use when asked to "set up CI", "add a GitHub Actions workflow", "fix the pipeline", or when creating/reviewing files under .github/workflows/ for Go or Node/TS projects.

CI with GitHub Actions

Complete copy-paste workflows for Go and Node/TS live in references/workflows.md — read it when writing an actual workflow file. This file is the rules.

Pipeline shape

Default pipeline: lint → typecheck → test → build, as parallel jobs (they don't depend on each other's outputs) with build optionally needs: the rest if you want fail-fast economics. Trigger:

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:

Don't run push on every branch and pull_request — that double-builds PR branches.

Concurrency — cancel superseded runs

Every CI workflow gets this; without it, ten pushes to a PR queue ten full runs:

concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

For deploy workflows, keep the group but set cancel-in-progress: false (queue, don't kill mid-deploy).

Permissions — least privilege

Top of every workflow:

permissions:
  contents: read

Grant more only per-job, only what that job proves it needs (pull-requests: write for a comment bot, id-token: write for OIDC cloud auth, packages: write for pushing images). Never leave the org/repo default write-all doing the work implicitly.

Pin third-party actions to SHA

• Official actions/* and other heavily-trusted orgs: major tag is acceptable (actions/checkout@v4).

• Everything else: pin to a full commit SHA with a version comment:

  uses: some-org/some-action@3d1a2b... # v2.1.0
  

  Tags are mutable; a compromised action re-tagged at v2 runs in your CI with your secrets. Dependabot/Renovate can bump SHAs for you — enable it.

Caching

• Go: actions/setup-go@v5 with cache: true (default when a go.sum exists) — caches module and build cache. Don't hand-roll actions/cache for Go.
• Node/npm or yarn: actions/setup-node@v4 with cache: npm — caches the package cache (correct; don't cache node_modules).
• pnpm: setup-node's cache: pnpm caches the pnpm store. Install pnpm first (pnpm/action-setup, SHA-pinned), then setup-node with cache: pnpm, then pnpm install --frozen-lockfile.
• Cache keys must include the lockfile hash — built-in caching does this for you.
• Never cache build outputs between CI runs as a correctness shortcut; only as a measured optimization (Next.js .next/cache is the common legitimate case).

Matrix — only when genuinely needed

A matrix multiplies CI cost. Use one when you actually support multiple targets (a library testing Node 20/22, or linux+windows CLIs). An app deployed to one runtime tests on that one runtime version — pin it to the version production runs.

Secrets

• Secrets come from GitHub Environments (environment: production on the job), which gate them behind protection rules and reviewers — not from repo-wide secrets sprayed into every job.
• CI jobs (lint/test/build) should need zero secrets. If a test needs a secret, question the test.
• Never echo secrets, never pass them as CLI args (visible in process lists/logs). Prefer OIDC (id-token: write + cloud role assumption) over long-lived cloud keys.
• pull_request_target + checkout of PR head = classic secret-exfiltration hole. Don't use pull_request_target unless you know exactly why.

Monorepo path filters

Scope workflows to what changed:

on:
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - "services/api/**"
      - ".github/workflows/api.yml"

Include the workflow file itself in its own paths. If a filtered check is a required status check, add a no-op fallback workflow with the inverse paths-ignore so PRs that don't touch the service aren't blocked forever.

Artifacts

Upload build outputs when a later job or a human needs them:

- uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
  with:
    name: server-dist
    path: dist/
    retention-days: 7

Set retention-days deliberately (default 90 wastes storage). Pass files between jobs via artifacts, not by rebuilding. Test reports/coverage: upload with if: always() so failures still produce the report.

Checklist for a new workflow

• Triggers: push to main + pull_request, no double-trigger
• concurrency with cancel-in-progress: true
• permissions: contents: read at top; extras per-job only
• Third-party actions SHA-pinned with version comment
• setup-go / setup-node built-in caching, keyed off lockfile
• Installs use lockfile-strict mode (npm ci, pnpm install --frozen-lockfile)
• No matrix unless multiple targets are truly supported
• Secrets via environments; none in lint/test/build jobs
• Monorepo: paths filters incl. the workflow file
• Artifacts have retention-days; reports uploaded if: always()
• Runtime versions read from the repo (go.mod, .nvmrc/package.json engines), not hardcoded twice