CI/CD pipeline patterns for GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, testing strategies, and deployment automation

CI/CD Pipelines

GitHub Actions Workflow

name: CI
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

jobs:
  lint:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 22
          cache: npm
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run lint
      - run: npm run typecheck

  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: lint
    services:
      postgres:
        image: postgres:16
        env:
          POSTGRES_DB: test
          POSTGRES_USER: test
          POSTGRES_PASSWORD: test
        ports: ["5432:5432"]
        options: >-
          --health-cmd pg_isready
          --health-interval 10s
          --health-timeout 5s
          --health-retries 5
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 22
          cache: npm
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm test -- --coverage
        env:
          DATABASE_URL: postgres://test:test@localhost:5432/test
      - uses: codecov/codecov-action@v4

  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: test
    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
    environment: production
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: ./scripts/deploy.sh

Use concurrency to cancel stale runs. Use needs to define job dependencies.

GitLab CI Pipeline

stages:
  - validate
  - test
  - build
  - deploy

variables:
  NODE_IMAGE: node:22-alpine

lint:
  stage: validate
  image: $NODE_IMAGE
  cache:
    key: $CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG
    paths: [node_modules/]
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npm run lint
    - npm run typecheck

test:
  stage: test
  image: $NODE_IMAGE
  services:
    - postgres:16
  variables:
    POSTGRES_DB: test
    DATABASE_URL: postgres://runner:@postgres:5432/test
  script:
    - npm ci
    - npm test -- --coverage
  coverage: '/Statements\s*:\s*(\d+\.?\d*)%/'
  artifacts:
    reports:
      junit: coverage/junit.xml
      coverage_report:
        coverage_format: cobertura
        path: coverage/cobertura.xml

build:
  stage: build
  image: docker:24
  services: [docker:24-dind]
  script:
    - docker build -t $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_SHA .
    - docker push $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_SHA
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"

deploy:
  stage: deploy
  environment:
    name: production
    url: https://app.example.com
  script:
    - ./deploy.sh $CI_COMMIT_SHA
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"
      when: manual

Reusable GitHub Action

# .github/actions/setup/action.yml
name: Setup
description: Install dependencies and cache
inputs:
  node-version:
    default: "22"
runs:
  using: composite
  steps:
    - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
      with:
        node-version: ${{ inputs.node-version }}
        cache: npm
    - run: npm ci
      shell: bash

# Usage in workflow
steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v4
  - uses: ./.github/actions/setup
  - run: npm test

Matrix Strategy

test:
  strategy:
    fail-fast: false
    matrix:
      node: [20, 22]
      os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest]
  runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
  steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
      with:
        node-version: ${{ matrix.node }}
    - run: npm ci && npm test

Anti-Patterns

Not caching dependencies (npm, pip, cargo) between runs
Running all jobs sequentially when lint and test can parallelize
Storing secrets in workflow files instead of repository/environment secrets
Missing concurrency groups causing redundant CI runs on rapid pushes
Not using fail-fast: false in matrix builds (one failure cancels others)
Deploying without an approval gate or environment protection rule

Checklist

Dependencies cached between CI runs
Concurrency groups cancel stale pipeline runs
Lint, typecheck, and test run as separate parallelizable jobs
Database services use health checks before tests start
Coverage reports uploaded and tracked
Deploy job requires approval for production
Reusable actions/templates extract common setup steps
Secrets stored in CI platform, never in code

Ci Cd Pipelines (skill)

CI/CD Pipelines

GitHub Actions Workflow

GitLab CI Pipeline

Reusable GitHub Action

Matrix Strategy

Anti-Patterns

Checklist