Quick question about CI interaction and deploys from Github

[AlexanderNZ]

Hi there,

This is not about a specific problem I’m having, more a request for advice on how Netlify works.

Currently, Netlify owns the building and deployment of my angular application.
I want to continue to use Netlify for hosting, it’s an awesome solution and I’m really happy with it.
I would however, like to switch the ownership of build and test pipelines to github actions.

Currently my site deploys on commit to my main and dev branches. I want that behaviour to continue, but I want Github actions to run tests before a site is deployed.

Does a Netlify site connected to a github repository wait for a CI pass before deploying a site, if one is present? How should I build this process out?

Right now netlify is just npm build-ing, should I have actions npm build and test and then ship the artifact to netlify to be deployed? Should I npm test and then let Netlify npm build and deploy as it does today?

What do all you think?

Cheers

Alex

[fool]

Hiya @AlexanderNZ,

There are a lot of ways to mix GHActions and Netlify.

First off, you could run things in parallel - have GH running the test, and then polling for the deploy to complete (using our API - see [Support Guide] Understanding and using Netlify's API for omse more details), before returning a status and/or publishing the deploy.

Or, you could indeed deploy from github actions using our CLI (cf Get started with Netlify CLI | Netlify Docs) - I know there is some “published” action that does that - literally runs netlify deploy - but you could bake that into your own custom action pretty easily.

However, I can tell you that unless you configure github NOT to notify us, and instead have your ACTION notify us (probably through pre-configured buildhooks rather than in the automatic way: Build hooks | Netlify Docs) that we will NOT wait for anything except that notification to start your build here!

This article also has a lot of somewhat generic test patterns that may inspire:

[Support Guide] Testing your Netlify builds

Last checked by Netlify Support Team on Sep 1, 2022. Running tests as a part of continuous deployment processes is a fantastic way to ensure that your code is indeed production ready and not prone to errors you can anticipate. Fortunately, Netlify’s build system and Deploy Previews can help make testing your application easier! I think most testing can fit into three categories: unit testing - most important during a cycle of active development, but can also be run at build time. This is m…

Let us know what you come up with

[AverageNetlifyBoi]

I also feel like there could be an option in Build settings to wait for GitHub actions to complete - there is no reason to build sites whenever actions fail.

[hrishikesh]

Hi @AverageNetlifyBoi,

Did you try the suggestions that @fool mentioned?

[AverageNetlifyBoi]

Not yet. I understand the suggestions but I believe this should be much simpler, configurable option from Netlify settings.

[hrishikesh]

Hi @AverageNetlifyBoi,

I think that’s what @fool has suggested here:

@fool

I can tell you that unless you configure github NOT to notify us, and instead have your ACTION notify us (probably through pre-configured buildhooks rather than in the automatic way: https://docs.netlify.com/configure-builds/build-hooks/ ) that we will NOT wait for anything except that notification to start your build here!

All you need to do is unlink the repo and send a build hook when your actions complete. So Netlify will only build then.