Workflow Syntax Deep Dive

Events

on:
  push:
    branches: [main, 'release/*']
    paths-ignore: ['**.md']
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened]
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 9 * * 1'  # Every Monday at 9am UTC
  workflow_dispatch:      # Manual trigger from GitHub UI

Contexts and expressions

steps:
  - run: echo "Branch is ${{ github.ref_name }}"
  - run: echo "Actor is ${{ github.actor }}"
  - if: github.event_name == 'push'
    run: echo "This is a push event"

Job dependencies

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: npm test

  deploy:
    needs: test  # Only runs if test passes
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: ./deploy.sh

Secrets

- name: Deploy
  env:
    API_KEY: ${{ secrets.MY_API_KEY }}
  run: curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" https://api.example.com/deploy