Quickstart for GitHub Actions

Introduction

You only need an existing GitHub repository to create and run a GitHub Actions workflow. In this guide, you'll add a workflow that lints multiple coding languages using the GitHub Super-Linter action. The workflow uses Super-Linter to validate your source code every time a new commit is pushed to your repository.

Creating your first workflow

1. From your repository on GitHub, create a new file in the .github/workflows directory named superlinter.yml. For more information, see "Creating new files."

2. Copy the following YAML contents into the superlinter.yml file. Note: If your default branch is not main, update the value of DEFAULT_BRANCH to match your repository's default branch name.

   YAML

   name: Super-Linter
   
   # Run this workflow every time a new commit pushed to your repository
   on: push
   
   jobs:
     # Set the job key. The key is displayed as the job name
     # when a job name is not provided
     super-lint:
       # Name the Job
       name: Lint code base
       # Set the type of machine to run on
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
   
       steps:
         # Checks out a copy of your repository on the ubuntu-latest machine
         - name: Checkout code
           uses: actions/checkout@v2
   
         # Runs the Super-Linter action
         - name: Run Super-Linter
           uses: github/super-linter@v3
           env:
             DEFAULT_BRANCH: main
             GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

3. To run your workflow, scroll to the bottom of the page and select Create a new branch for this commit and start a pull request. Then, to create a pull request, click Propose new file.

   

Committing the workflow file in your repository triggers the push event and runs your workflow.

Viewing your workflow results

1. On GitHub, navigate to the main page of the repository.

2. Under your repository name, click Actions.

   

3. In the left sidebar, click the workflow you want to see.

   

4. From the list of workflow runs, click the name of the run you want to see.

   

5. In the left sidebar, click the Lint code base job.

   

6. Any failed steps are automatically expanded to display the results.

   

More starter workflows

GitHub provides preconfigured workflow templates that you can start from to automate or create a continuous integration workflows. You can browse the full list of workflow templates in the actions/starter-workflows repository.

Next steps

The super-linter workflow you just added runs any time code is pushed to your repository to help you spot errors and inconsistencies in your code. But, this is only the beginning of what you can do with GitHub Actions. Your repository can contain multiple workflows that trigger different jobs based on different events. GitHub Actions can help you automate nearly every aspect of your application development processes. Ready to get started? Here are some helpful resources for taking your next steps with GitHub Actions:

• "Learn GitHub Actions" for an in-depth tutorial
• "Guides" for specific uses cases and examples
• github/super-linter for more details about configuring the Super-Linter action