GitHub Deployer

GitHub Deployer is a Docker image that can be used to interact with the GitHub Deployments API.

Background and full article: https://zentered.co/articles/preview-builds-with-cloud-run/

Usage

This code is meant to be used in a CI/CD pipeline to interact with the GitHub Deployments API. You need to have or create a GitHub App and build the Docker image yourself.

GitHub App

GitHub Deployer uses a GitHub App to authenticate with GitHub. You can create your own GitHub App in the Developer Settings of your GitHub account.

The following permissions are needed:

• deployments
• pull_requests
• contents

Create & download the private key and run:

base64 -i your.private-key.pem

This is the value you need to set for the GH_APP_PRIVATE_KEY environment.

Docker Build

An example to build & push the image to Google Cloud Artifact Registry. The static GitHub variables are "baked in" the image to simplify the calls in the CI.

docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64 . -t us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/[your-project]/docker/gh-deployer \
  --build-arg GH_APP_ID=111111 \
  --build-arg GH_APP_INSTALLATION_ID=111111 \
  --build-arg GH_APP_PRIVATE_KEY=111111 \
  --build-arg GH_OWNER=zentered

docker push us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/[your-project]/docker/gh-deployer

Build Variables

Name	Description	Required	Default
GH_APP_ID	GitHub App ID	Yes
GH_APP_INSTALLATION_ID	GitHub App Installation ID	Yes
GH_APP_PRIVATE_KEY	GitHub App Key	Yes
GH_OWNER	GitHub Owner (ie zentered)	Yes

Environment Variables

Name	Description	Required	Default
REPO_NAME	GitHub Repo (ie gh-deployer)	Yes
REF	GitHub Ref (this should be the SHA in your deployment step)	Yes
ENVIRONMENT	Environment (ie production)	Yes
TRANSIENT_ENVIRONMENT	Transient Environment (is the deployment temporary [true] or permanent [false])	No	false
DESCRIPTION	Description of the deployment	No

GitHub Deployment & Deployment Status

The first step is to create a new deployment for a given sha or branch with the create command. This will return a deployment ID that you can store in the workspace of your CI. Afterwards you create "Deployment Status" events with the deployment URL:

• 'error'
• 'failure'
• 'pending'
• 'in_progress'
• 'queued'
• 'success'

Example

Create Deployment

docker run \
  -e REF=3b2fae5 \
  -e ENVIRONMENT=production \
  -e TRANSIENT_ENVIRONMENT=false \
  -e DESCRIPTION="Deploying to production" \
  zentered/gh-deployer
  create

Create Deployment Status (In Progress)

docker run \
  -e REF=3b2fae5 \
  -e ENVIRONMENT=production \
  -e TRANSIENT_ENVIRONMENT=false \
  -e DESCRIPTION="Deploying to production" \
  zentered/gh-deployer
  in_progress
  111111

Create Deployment Status (Success with Deployment URL)

docker run \
  -e REF=3b2fae5 \
  -e ENVIRONMENT=production \
  -e TRANSIENT_ENVIRONMENT=false \
  -e DESCRIPTION="Deploying to production" \
  zentered/gh-deployer
  success
  111111
  https://zentered.co

Use with Google Cloud Platform

1. Create a new Docker repository in Artifact Registry
2. Build, tag & push to the repository
3. Use the image in Cloud Build