Congratulations!

Nice work, you did it! Your workflows now contain:

• ✅ test against multiple targets so that we know if our supported operating systems and Node.js versions are working
• ✅ dedicated test job so that we can separate out build from test details
• ✅ access to build artifacts so that we can deploy them to a target environment
• ✅ branch protections so that the main branch can't be deleted or inadvertently broken
• ✅ required reviews so that any pull requests are double checked by teammates
• ✅ obvious approvals so we can merge quickly and potentially automate merges and deployments

What's next?

There's so much more you can do with continuous integration, and you have a solid start. Now...what will you learn next?

Custom workflow

Now that we've learned how to quickly set up CI, let's try a more realistic use case.

Our fictional team has a custom workflow that goes beyond the template we've used so far. We would like the following features:

Test against multiple targets so that we know if our supported operating systems and Node.js versions are working

Dedicated test job so that we can separate out build from test details

Access to build artifacts so that we can deploy them to a target environment

Branch protections so that the main branch can't be deleted or inadvertently broken

Required reviews so that any pull requests are double checked by teammates

Obvious approvals so we can merge quickly and potentially automate merges and deployments

Step 7: Create a custom GitHub Actions workflow

Can GitHub Actions support this workflow? Let's find out. We'll tackle some of the changes to the existing workflow file first.

⌨️ Activity: Edit the existing workflow with new build targets

1. Edit your existing workflow file in a new branch
2. In that file, target versions 12.x and 14.x of Node, only
3. Open a new pull request titled Improve CI for your change.

I'll respond when you open the pull request.

Welcome

In this repository, we'll be diving into the world of Continuous Integration. Continuous Integration, or CI, can benefit your projects and change how you work on GitHub. If you're new to Continuous Integration, you may be thinking, "What exactly is it, and do I need it in my project?"

What is CI? Why should you care?

CI can help you stick to your team’s quality standards by running tests and reporting the results on GitHub. CI tools run builds and tests, triggered by commits. The results post back to GitHub in the pull request. This reduces context switching for developers, and improves consistency for testing. The goal is fewer bugs in production and faster feedback while developing.

Choices around CI that will work best for your project depend on many factors, including:

• Programming language and application architecture
• Operating system and browsers you plan to support
• Your team’s experience and skills
• Scaling capabilities and plans for growth
• Geographic distribution of dependent systems and the people who use them
• Packaging and delivery goals

Using CI and Learning Lab

In other courses, you may have noticed that some actions take me longer to respond to than others. In this course, many of the actions will be related to builds. Those builds sometimes take longer to build, up to several minutes. Don't be concerned if I take a few minutes to respond, or if I respond too quickly. Sometimes, I'll let you know what the build will say before it finishes! Please wait for the builds to finish before moving on to your next step.

If you aren't already familiar, it may be a good idea to go through the Introduction to GitHub Learning Lab.

Step 1: Use a templated workflow

There's a bug somewhere in this repository. We'll use the practice of Continuous Integration (CI) to set up some automated testing to make it easier to discover, diagnose, and minimize scenarios like this.

Let's first introduce CI to this repository. The codebase is written with Node.js. GitHub Actions allows us to use some templated workflows for common languages and frameworks, like Node.js! Let's add it:

⌨️ Activity: Create a pull request with a templated workflow

1. Go to the Actions tab.
2. Choose the template Node.js workflow.
3. Commit the workflow to a new branch.
4. Create a pull request titled CI for Node.

I'll respond in the new pull request when I detect it has been created.

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If at any point you're expecting a response and don't see one, refresh the page.