Github Action

Overview of CI/CD and GitHub Actions

CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery/Deployment) is a set of practices in software development aimed at automating and streamlining the process of integrating, testing, and deploying code. Continuous Integration involves automatically integrating and testing code changes frequently to detect issues early, while Continuous Delivery ensures that the code is always in a deployable state, ready for manual release. Continuous Deployment takes this a step further by automatically deploying every change to production once it passes testing. Together, CI/CD improves software quality, speeds up development cycles, and reduces the risk of errors in production by ensuring that code is continuously tested and delivered in a seamless, automated workflow.

GitHub Actions is a powerful automation feature within the GitHub platform that enables the creation and execution of workflows for tasks such as Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD). It allows developers to define custom workflows to automate processes like testing, building, and deploying applications directly within the GitHub environment.

Key components of GitHub Actions:

1. Workflows:
   A GitHub Actions workflow is a YAML file (located in the .github/workflows/ directory of your repository) that defines the steps and jobs to be run. A workflow can be triggered by specific events, like pushing code to a branch, creating a pull request, or on a schedule.
2. Actions:
   Actions are individual tasks that can be run as part of a workflow. GitHub provides a marketplace for reusable actions created by the community. You can use pre-made actions or write custom actions for specific tasks (e.g., testing, deployment).
3. Jobs:
   Jobs define a set of steps that are executed on the same runner (an environment where your code is built, tested, and deployed). Jobs can run sequentially or in parallel, depending on your configuration.
4. Events:
   An event is a specific activity in a repository that triggers a workflow run. For example, an activity can originate from GitHub when someone creates a pull request, opens an issue, or pushes a commit to a repository

Introduction to VWO FME Github Action

The VWO FME GitHub Action enables you to evaluate feature flags in your CI/CD pipelines using the VWO platform (Visual Website Optimizer). It allows you to dynamically enable or disable features or retrieve feature flag values during the build process. By leveraging feature flags, you can make more flexible, robust, and dynamic applications, eliminating hardcoded values from the codebase.

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GitHub Repo

You can find the source code of the repo here .

This documentation provides a comprehensive guide to understand how to set up and use the VWO FME GitHub Action in your repository.

Inputs

The following input fields need to be provided when using the VWO FME GitHub Action.

Outputs

The action will provide the following outputs that can be referenced in subsequent steps of your GitHub Actions workflow.

Note: The output keys (flagKey and flagKey_variableKey) are dynamic and will change based on the feature flags you're working with. For example, if your feature flag is named featureA, you can access its status as ${{ steps.vwo_action.outputs.featureA }} and the variable value as ${{ steps.vwo_action.outputs.featureA_variableA }}.

Environment Variables

The action requires the following environment variables to be set for the VWO SDK initialization:

You should store the VWO_SDK_KEY and VWO_ACCOUNT_ID securely in your GitHub repository’s secrets (e.g., ${{ secrets.VWO_SDK_KEY }}).

Usage Example

Below is an example of how to use the VWO FME GitHub Action in a GitHub Actions workflow:

name: Feature Flag Management

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  feature-flag-evaluation:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Evaluate Feature Flags
        uses: wingify/[email protected]
        with:
          flagsWithVariables: |
            {
              "feature-flag-key-1": {
                "variable-key-1": "variable-default-value"
              },
              "feature-flag-key-2": {
                "variable-key-1": "variable-default-value"
              }
            }
          userContext: |
            {
              "id": "your-user-id"
            }
          sdkInitOptions: |
            {
              "logger": {
                "level": "DEBUG"
              }
            }
        env:
          VWO_SDK_KEY: ${{ secrets.VWO_SDK_KEY }}
          VWO_ACCOUNT_ID: ${{ secrets.VWO_ACCOUNT_ID }}

Explanation:

• The workflow is triggered on a push event to the main branch.
• The Evaluate Feature Flags step uses the VWO FME GitHub Action to evaluate the feature flags for a user with the specified context (userContext).
• Feature flags are specified in the flagsWithVariables input as JSON, where each key represents a feature flag and its associated variable values.
• The sdkInitOptions input allows for optional SDK configuration.
• The VWO SDK credentials (VWO_SDK_KEY and VWO_ACCOUNT_ID) are passed securely using GitHub secrets.