Lab: Environments, Variables, and Secrets

Introduction

In this lab, you will learn how to set up different environments in GitHub and how to use environment variables and secrets. You will also learn how to reference those variables and secrets in your workflows.

Estimated Duration: 30-40 minutes

Instructions

Step 1: Create Environments

  1. Go to your repository on GitHub.

    Navigate to the Repository

  2. Click on the Settings tab and navigate to the Environments section on the left sidebar.

    Navigate to Settings

  3. Click on Environments. This will show you the list of environments, which should be empty if you have not created any environments earlier.

    Navigate to Environments

  4. Click on New environment button.

    New Environment

  5. Enter the environment name as dev and click the Create environment button.

  6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to create another environment named prod. You should now see both the dev and prod environments in the list.

    Create Environment

Step 2: Add Environment Variables

  1. Select the dev environment and scroll down to the Environment variables section. Click on the Add environment variable button.

    Select Environment

  2. Enter the name as ENVIRONMENT and the value as DEVELOPMENT. Click the Add variable button.

    Add Environment Variable

  3. Repeat steps 1 to 3 for the prod environment, but with the value set to PRODUCTION.

    Environment Variables

  4. Both environment variables should now be added to their respective environments.

    Add Environment Variable

Step 3: Add Environment Secrets

  1. Select the dev environment again and scroll down to the Environment secrets section. Click the Add environment secret button.

    Select Environment

  2. Enter the name as SECRET and the value as SUPER SECRET DEV PASSWORD. Click the Add secret button.

    Add Environment Secret

  3. Repeat steps 1 to 3 for the prod environment, but with the value set to SUPER SECRET PROD PASSWORD.

    Environment Secrets

  4. The environment secrets should now be added to their respective environments.

    Add Environment Secret

Step 4: Add Repository Variables

  1. Go to your repository’s Settings tab and navigate to Secrets and variables on the left sidebar.

    Navigate to Secrets and Variables

  2. Click on the New repository variables button.

    New Repository Variables

  3. Enter the name as REPOSITORY_VARIABLE and the value as repository-variable. Click the Add variable button.

    Add Repository Variable

Step 5: Create a YAML Workflow Using the Starter File

  1. Navigate to the Env Var and Secrets Starter File.

  2. Copy the content of the starter file:

    name: Env Var and Secrets

  3. In your repository, create a new workflow file under .github/workflows and name it env-var-secrets.yml.

  4. Paste the copied content into the new file.

  5. Commit the workflow file to the main branch.

Step 6: Use Environment Variables and Secrets in Workflows

  1. Open the workflow file [environments-and-secrets.yml](/.github/workflows/environments-variables-and-secrets.yml) in your repository.

  2. Since we have created multiple environments, we use a matrix strategy to run the workflow for each environment.

    strategy:
  matrix:
    environment: [dev, prod]

  3. Set the context for the environment variables and secrets in the job by using:

    environment: $

  4. To access the environment variables in your workflow, use the following syntax:

    - name: Display Environment Variable
  run: |
    echo "Building for environment: $"
    echo "ENVIRONMENT_NAME: $ENVIRONMENT"
    echo "ENVIRONMENT_NAME length: ${#ENVIRONMENT}"
    echo "ENVIRONMENT_NAME (partial): ${ENVIRONMENT:0:5}..."
  env:
    ENVIRONMENT: $

  5. To access the environment secrets, use the following syntax:

    - name: Display Environment Secret
  run: |
    echo "SECRET length: ${#SECRET}"
  env:
    SECRET: $

  6. To access the repository variables, use this syntax:

    - name: Display Repository Variable
  run: |
    echo "REPOSITORY_VARIABLE: $"

Step 7: Run the Workflow

  1. Go to the Actions tab in your repository and click on the workflow Environments, Variables, and Secrets on the left sidebar.

    Navigate to Actions

  2. Let the workflow run for both the dev and prod environments.

    Run Workflow

  3. Click on the workflow run and check the logs for the environment variables, secrets, and repository variables.

    Workflow Logs

Summary

In this lab, you learned how to:

  1. Create environments in GitHub.
  2. Add environment variables and secrets to those environments.
  3. Use environment variables, secrets, and repository variables in your workflows.
  4. Run a workflow for multiple environments and check the logs for proper variable usage.

Additional Resources