Introduction

I'm Fabio Lauria, and I've revolutionized my development workflow using GitHub Actions. This powerful tool has saved me countless hours and dramatically improved my code quality. Here's exactly how I did it.

The Problem

Like many developers, I was wasting valuable time on repetitive tasks:

  • Running unit tests
  • Checking code style
  • Generating production builds
  • Deploying code

This manual process was not only tedious but error-prone. Automation was the only logical solution.

The Solution: GitHub Actions

GitHub Actions enabled me to create custom workflows that trigger automatically on specific events. Here's the exact structure of my main workflow:

name: CI/CD Pipeline

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main, develop ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: '18'
      - name: Install Dependencies
        run: npm ci
      - name: Run Tests
        run: npm test
      - name: Lint Check
        run: npm run lint

  build:
    needs: test
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      # build configuration...

The Results

After implementing this system, I achieved:

  • 80% reduction in time spent on repetitive tasks
  • Significantly improved code quality through automated checks
  • More frequent and reliable deployments
  • Complete confidence that every change is thoroughly tested

Pro Tips

  1. Start small but think big: Begin with tests, then expand your automation systematically
  2. Leverage caching: Speed up your workflows by caching dependencies and builds
  3. Use matrix builds: Test across multiple language/platform versions simultaneously
  4. Monitor execution times: Identify and optimize slow jobs for maximum efficiency

Conclusion

GitHub Actions has transformed my development process, freeing me to focus on what truly matters: writing quality code and implementing new features.

Check out my workflow examples in my Github repository . I want to hear how you've implemented automation in your projects - share your experiences in the comments.