Github workflow to automate typescript builds every commit.

automatic_typescript_build_action.md

Automatic Build Workflow

This GitHub Actions workflow automates the process of building your project and updating the build files in the main branch. It's triggered on pushes to the main branch that affect files in the src/ directory, or manually via workflow dispatch.

Workflow Overview

1. The workflow is triggered on:

   • Push events to the main branch (only when files in src/ are changed)
   • Manual trigger (workflow_dispatch)

2. It sets up a Node.js environment and installs dependencies.

3. The build process is run using npm run build.

4. If there are changes in the build files, it:

   • Creates a new branch
   • Commits the changes
   • Opens a pull request
   • Automatically merges the pull request

How to Use

1. Add this workflow file to your repository at .github/workflows/automatic-build.yml.

2. Ensure your project has a build script in package.json:

   {
     "scripts": {
       "build": "your-build-command-here"
     }
   }
   

3. Push changes to the src/ directory in the main branch to trigger the workflow.

4. Alternatively, manually trigger the workflow from the Actions tab in your GitHub repository.

Requirements

Both of these settings need to be setup in the way that allows github actions to automatically merge pull requests, below is my setup:

workflow.yml

name: Automatic Build
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]
    paths:
      - 'src/**'

concurrency:
  group: "main-branch"

jobs:
  format:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Create Build Files
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          version: latest
          
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: "18.x"
          
      - run: npm ci

      - name: Generate Build Files
        run: npm run build
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

      - uses: stefanzweifel/git-auto-commit-action@v4
        id: build-files
        with:
          commit_message: "chore(build): update build files"
          skip_checkout: true
          branch: "build-${{ github.sha }}"
          create_branch: true

      # create PR using GitHub CLI if files were formatted
      - name: create PR with build files
        if: steps.build-files.outputs.changes_detected == 'true'
        id: create-pr
        run: git checkout build-${{ github.sha }} && gh pr create --base main --head build-${{ github.sha }} --title 'Merge build update into main' --body 'Created by Github action'
        env:
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

      # merge PR using GitHub CLI
      - name: merge PR with new build files
        if: steps.build-files.outputs.changes_detected == 'true'
        id: merge-pr
        run: gh pr merge --admin --merge --subject 'Merge updated build files' --delete-branch
        env:
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}