GitHub Actions

The Trigger GitHub Action automation provides the ability to integrate with GitHub Actions. For example, when a card is moved to a certain lane, a GitHub action could be triggered that creates a build and deploys it to a test environment.

• The Owner field determines the owner of the repository that contains the desired GitHub action. This field can either be a fixed value or can pull the value from a custom field on the triggering card.

• The Repository field determines the name of the repository that contains the desired GitHub action. This field can either be a fixed value or can pull the value from a custom field on the triggering card. The Owner field and Repository field are combined to determine the location of the code like: https://github.com/myowner/myrepository.

• The Event Type field is a fixed value that is used as the event_type property in a repository_dispatch request to GitHub. Read more about the repository_dispatch here. The event type allows you to target different workflows in a single repostitory. A workflow file in GitHub would specify the event types that it is triggered on like:

on:
  repository_dispatch:
    types: [deploy-new-build]

• The Access Token field is used to specify a Personal Access Token. This value is stored securely and never returned back to the client. If needed, the Replace Token button can be used to provide a new token at any time.

• To create a Personal Access Token in GitHub, under your user, go to Settings, then Developer Settings, then Personal Access Token. If using a classic access token, then you will need to ensure that the token has at least the workflow scope checked. If creating a Fine-grained token, then ensure that the token has Access: Read and Write selected for the Contents category.

• When triggering a GitHub action, a client_payload is provided that gives the workflow access to contextual information from the automation that was triggered. The client_payload looks like:

{
  "automation": {
    "description": "Deploy build to dev environment",
    "id": "9805319955"
  },
  "card": {
    "customFields": [
      {
        "fieldId": "9807193330",
        "label": "branch-name",
        "type": "text",
        "value": "feature-new-search"
      },
      {
        "fieldId": "9807186486",
        "label": "project-name",
        "type": "choice",
        "value": "PROJ1"
      }
    ],
    "customFieldsByLabel": {
      "branch-name": "feature-new-search",
      "project-name": "PROJ1"
    },
    "externalCardId": "external-123",
    "externalLink": {
      "label": "external system link",
      "url": "https://external-system.dev/123"
    },
    "id": "970188846",
    "laneId": "954694361",
    "title": "Enhancements to search box",
    "url": "https://mycompany.leankit.com/card/970188846"
  },
  "event": "movedTo",
  "eventData": {
    "movedFromLaneId": "954694354"
  },
  "eventDate": "2023-02-23T19:59:47.887Z",
  "host": "https://mycompany.leankit.com"
}

• A workflow file could reference any of the client_payload information as part of its processing. For example, to access a value from the card's custom field, the workflow could use ${{ github.event.client_payload.card.customFieldsByLabel.branch-name }} 

• While in a workflow triggered by an AgilePlace automation, it may be useful to make calls back into AgilePlace to either retrieve additional details or to make updates to the card. For example, a comment could be added with a link to the GitHub Action workflow run, a card could be moved to another lane when the workflow is completed, or a card could be blocked if there is an error or the card does not contain necessary information. AgilePlace provides a number of standard GitHub Actions that can be used for this purpose in this repository: https://github.com/LeanKit/github-actions with further documentation and examples.