GitHub Actions Workshop

Master GitHub Actions with hands-on labs and exercises. Learn how to automate workflows, run tests, deploy applications, and more using GitHub's powerful automation platform. This repository has everything you need to get started with continuous integration and continuous deployment.

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Lab: Scheduled Workflow

Introduction

In this lab, you will create a scheduled workflow that runs at regular intervals using a cron expression. The workflow will also support manual triggering and will run when specific changes are pushed. This will help you understand how to configure workflows with schedules and additional triggers.

Estimated Duration: 20-30 minutes

Instructions

Step 1: Create a Scheduled Workflow Using the Starter File

  1. Navigate to the Scheduled Workflow Starter File.

  2. Copy the content of the starter file:

    name: Intro - Scheduled Workflow
  3. In your repository, create a new workflow file under .github/workflows and name it intro-scheduled-workflow.yml.
  4. Paste the copied content into the new file.
  5. Commit the workflow file to the main branch.

Step 2: Add Workflow Triggers

  1. Open the intro-scheduled-workflow.yml file.

  2. Add the following on section to define the workflow triggers:

    on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  schedule:
    - cron: '*/5 * * * *' # Every 5 minutes
  push:
    paths:
      - '.github/workflows/intro-scheduled-workflow.yml'
  3. Commit the updated workflow file to the main branch.
  4. This configuration allows the workflow to:
    • Run every 5 minutes based on the cron expression.
    • Run manually using the workflow_dispatch trigger.
    • Run when the file is modified and committed to the repository.

Step 3: Add Steps to the Workflow

  1. Open the intro-scheduled-workflow.yml file again.

  2. Add the following jobs section to define the tasks the workflow will perform:

    jobs:
  execute:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Display current date and time
        run: echo "The current date and time is $(date)"
  3. Commit the changes to the main branch.

Step 4: Understanding the Workflow

The intro-scheduled-workflow.yml workflow includes the following sections:

Name

The workflow is named Intro - Scheduled Workflow.

Trigger (on)

Job (jobs.execute)

Step 5: Run the Workflow

  1. To test the workflow, you can:

    • Wait for the next scheduled run (every 5 minutes).
    • Trigger it manually from the Actions tab:
      • Select the workflow.
      • Click the Run workflow button and choose the branch to run.
    • Modify the file .github/workflows/intro-scheduled-workflow.yml and commit the changes to the main branch.

  2. Monitor the workflow’s progress in the Actions tab.

Step 6: View the Results

  1. Once the workflow has run, click on the workflow run to view its details.
  2. Inside the workflow details page:
    • Click on the execute job to see the output.
    • Expand the step titled Display current date and time to view the output of the date command.
  3. Verify that the displayed date and time correspond to the workflow execution time.

Optional: Customize the Cron Expression

  1. To schedule the workflow at a different frequency, update the cron value in the schedule section. For example:

    • Every hour: 0 * * * *
    • Every day at midnight: 0 0 * * *
    • Every Monday at 9 AM: 0 9 * * 1

  2. Commit the updated workflow to the main branch.

  3. Test the new schedule by observing the next run.

Summary

In this lab, you:

  1. Created a workflow using the Scheduled Workflow Starter File.
  2. Configured the workflow to run on a schedule, manually, and when specific changes are pushed.
  3. Added a step to display the current date and time.
  4. Ran the workflow and reviewed the output.

This lab demonstrated how to use scheduled workflows in GitHub Actions and customize triggers for automation.

Additional Resources