GitHub Actions 1 cheatsheet

GitHub Actions 1: Jobs, matrices and conditions

7 common GitHub Actions 1 tasks.

Test across versions

Run the same job once per Node.js version and operating system.

strategy:
  matrix:
    os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest]
    node: [22, 24]
runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
steps:
  - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
    with:
      node-version: ${{ matrix.node }}

Run jobs in order

Make one job wait for another to succeed.

jobs:
  deploy:
    needs: test

Run a step conditionally

Run a step only on the main branch.

- run: ./deploy.sh
  if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'

Run a step after a failure

Run cleanup or notifications when an earlier step failed.

- run: ./notify.sh
  if: failure()

Cancel outdated runs

Cancel an in-progress run when a newer one starts for the same branch.

concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

Start a database for tests

Run a PostgreSQL container next to the job.

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:18
    env:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
    ports:
      - 5432:5432
    options: >-
      --health-cmd pg_isready
      --health-interval 10s
      --health-retries 5

Pass data between jobs

Expose a step's output as a job output that later jobs can read.

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    outputs:
      version: ${{ steps.ver.outputs.version }}
    steps:
      - id: ver
        run: echo "version=1.2.3" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
  deploy:
    needs: build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: echo "Deploying ${{ needs.build.outputs.version }}"