Tools
GitHub Actions Cheat Sheet
Print-ready cheat sheet for GitHub Actions, organized for fast lookup, study, and desk-side use
Sample
What's in this cheat sheet
- Workflow Basics
- Triggers
- Jobs & Steps
- Actions
- Environment Variables
- Secrets
- Matrix Strategy
- Caching
- Artifacts
- Common Patterns
Minimal Workflow
# .github/workflows/ci.yml
name: CI
on: push
jobs:
build:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- run: echo "Hello from CI"
Key Concepts
Workflow | YAML file in `.github/workflows/` that defines automation |
Event | Trigger that starts a workflow (push, PR, schedule, etc.) |
Job | Set of steps that run on the same runner |
Step | Individual task — runs a command or uses an action |
Runner | VM that executes jobs (`ubuntu-latest`, `macos-latest`, `windows-latest`) |
Action | Reusable unit of code referenced with `uses:` |
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