Create a New Github Action to Automate Code Tasks with Javascript

Github Actions are an awesome tool from Github that allows us to automate tasks using code-based workflow configuration files. There’s also a large marketplace that comes stocked with many useful tools that are ready out of the box.

But sometimes the options available don’t completely solve our needs or maybe we’re working with a new technology that’s simply not available as an Action yet. Luckily, Github allows anyone to create their own Actions using common technologies like Javascript via Node.

We’ll learn how to create a new Javascript-based Github Action running on Node. We’ll first walk through a simple Hello World example, learn how to test it locally, version control it, use it in the wild, and move on to more advanced solutions that include using packages from npm!

Course Content

Create a New Github Action That Logs Hello World with Javascript and NodeJS

Test a New Github Action in Its Repository with a Custom Workflow

Use npm to Tag and Version a Github Action Package for Workflow Version Control

Use a Custom Github Action to Log Hello World in Another Project

Add npm Packages to a Custom Github Action to Use Open Source Libraries

Add Configurable Input Controls to Custom Github Actions with Github Actions Toolkit Core

Configure Outputs in a Custom Github Action to Use Resulting Data in Other Actions

Set an Exit Code on Custom Github Actions to Indicate a Passing or Failing Status

Add Debug Logs with the Toolkit Logger to Find and Fix Issues in a Custom Github Action