GitHub Actions Workflows Skill

Purpose

Create and maintain secure, efficient CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions for the CIA platform. Covers build, test, security scanning, deployment, and agentic workflow integration.

When to Use

• ✅ Setting up or modifying CI/CD pipelines
• ✅ Automating security scans (CodeQL, OWASP, SonarCloud)
• ✅ Implementing deployment pipelines
• ✅ Scheduling periodic tasks
• ✅ Integrating with GitHub Agentic Workflows (gh-aw)

Current CIA Build Environment

CI/CD Pipeline Template

name: CI/CD Pipeline

on:
  push:
    branches: [master]
  pull_request:
    branches: [master]

permissions:
  contents: read
  security-events: write
  actions: read

jobs:
  build:
    permissions:
      contents: read
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # v4.2.2

      - name: Set up JDK 26
        uses: actions/setup-java@c5195efecf7bdfc987ee8bae7a71cb8b11521c00 # v4.7.1
        with:
          java-version: '26'
          distribution: 'temurin'
          cache: 'maven'

      - name: Build with Maven
        run: mvn clean install -DskipTests

      - name: Run Tests
        run: mvn test -Dtest='!**ITest*,!**/XmlDateTypeAdapterTest,!**/XmlTimeTypeAdapterTest,!**/XmlDateTimeTypeAdapterTest'

      - name: Upload Coverage
        uses: codecov/codecov-action@18283e04ce6e62d37312384ff67231eb8fd56d24 # v5.4.3
        with:
          files: '**/target/site/jacoco/jacoco.xml'

  security:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: build
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # v4.2.2

      - name: Initialize CodeQL
        uses: github/codeql-action/init@ff0a06e83cb2de871e5a09832bc6a81e7276941f # v3.28.18
        with:
          languages: java

      - name: Autobuild
        uses: github/codeql-action/autobuild@ff0a06e83cb2de871e5a09832bc6a81e7276941f # v3.28.18
        # Note: The actual codeql-analysis.yml uses a custom Maven build instead of autobuild.
        # Replace this step with a manual build if autobuild fails for your project.

      - name: CodeQL Analysis
        uses: github/codeql-action/analyze@ff0a06e83cb2de871e5a09832bc6a81e7276941f # v3.28.18

      - name: OWASP Dependency Check
        run: mvn org.owasp:dependency-check-maven:check

  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: [build, security]
    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/master'
    permissions:
      id-token: write   # Required for OIDC
      contents: read
    steps:
      - name: Deploy to AWS
        uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@ececac1a45f3b08a01d2dd070d28d111c5fe6722 # v4.1.0
        with:
          role-to-assume: ${{ secrets.AWS_ROLE_ARN }}
          aws-region: eu-north-1

Security Best Practices

Action Pinning

Always pin actions to full SHA commit hashes, never tags:

# ✅ Correct - pinned to SHA
- uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # v4.2.2

# ❌ Wrong - mutable tag
- uses: actions/checkout@v4

Permissions

Always declare minimal permissions at workflow and job level:

permissions:
  contents: read      # Default for most jobs
  security-events: write  # Only for security scan uploads
  issues: write       # Only for issue management jobs

Secrets Management

# ✅ Use GitHub secrets
env:
  SONAR_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SONAR_TOKEN }}

# ✅ Use OIDC for cloud access (no long-lived keys)
- uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@ececac1a45f3b08a01d2dd070d28d111c5fe6722 # v4.1.0
  with:
    role-to-assume: ${{ secrets.AWS_ROLE_ARN }}

# ❌ Never hardcode credentials

Supply Chain Security

# SLSA 3 build provenance (pin to a specific commit SHA)
- uses: slsa-framework/slsa-github-generator/.github/workflows/builder_maven.yml@3c58c41cab36161dc53f223132d1f59f1df67cf9 # v2
  with:
    rekor-log-public: true

CIA-Specific Workflows

Existing Workflows

PostgreSQL Setup Pattern

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:18
    env:
      POSTGRES_USER: eris
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.DB_PASSWORD }}
      POSTGRES_DB: cia_dev
    options: >-
      --health-cmd pg_isready
      --health-interval 10s
      --health-timeout 5s
      --health-retries 5
    ports:
      - 5432:5432

Maven Build Optimization

# Multi-level caching for resilience
- name: Cache Maven repository
  uses: actions/cache@668228422ae6a00e4ad889ee87cd7109ec5666a7 # v5.0.4
  with:
    path: ~/.m2/repository
    key: ${{ runner.os }}-maven-${{ hashFiles('**/pom.xml') }}
    restore-keys: |
      ${{ runner.os }}-maven-

# Parallel builds for multi-module projects
- name: Build
  run: mvn -T 1C clean install -DskipTests

Integration with Agentic Workflows

GitHub Agentic Workflows (gh-aw) complement traditional Actions:

Use both together: traditional Actions for deterministic build/test/deploy, agentic workflows for intelligent automation.

ISMS Control Mapping

References

• GitHub Actions: https://docs.github.com/en/actions
• Action Security Hardening: https://docs.github.com/en/actions/security-for-github-actions
• SLSA Framework: https://slsa.dev/
• OpenSSF Scorecard: https://securityscorecards.dev/
• CIA Workflows: .github/workflows/