Glossary · Hosting & DevOps
GitHub Actions
Overview
What GitHub Actions is
GitHub Actions is GitHub's native automation platform. You define workflows in YAML files stored in your repository, and GitHub runs them automatically when events occur—code pushes, pull requests, releases, issues, or a schedule. Because it lives inside GitHub, there's no separate service to connect, which makes it a common starting point for CI/CD.
How workflows work
A workflow contains jobs, and each job runs a series of steps on a GitHub-hosted or self-hosted runner. Steps can run shell commands or reusable "actions" shared through the marketplace—for tasks like checking out code, installing dependencies, running tests, building Docker images, or deploying. Workflows can run in parallel, pass data between jobs, and use encrypted secrets for credentials.
How we use it
Beyond CI/CD, teams use GitHub Actions to lint code, run security scans, publish packages, and trigger deployments to AWS, Vercel, or app stores. In our development and app maintenance work, our in-house team configures Actions so every pull request is tested automatically and merges deploy without manual steps, keeping delivery fast and consistent.
Where we use it
Related Zen in Tech services
How our team puts GitHub Actions to work in real projects.
FAQ
GitHub Actions — common questions
Is GitHub Actions free?
GitHub Actions is free for public repositories and standard runners. Private repositories include a monthly allotment of free minutes and storage, after which usage is billed per minute, with larger runners costing more.
GitHub Actions vs Jenkins?
GitHub Actions is a managed, cloud-hosted service tightly integrated with GitHub and requires no server to maintain. Jenkins is self-hosted and highly customizable but needs setup and upkeep. Teams already on GitHub often prefer Actions for its simplicity.
What can GitHub Actions do besides CI/CD?
Plenty. It can automate labeling issues, requesting reviewers, publishing releases, sending notifications, running scheduled jobs, and syncing data—any repeatable task triggered by a repository event or timer.
Need GitHub Actions done right?
Book a free consultation and we’ll map the fastest, most cost-effective path for your project.
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