How to build a CI/CD pipeline

CI/CD (continuous integration and delivery) automatically runs your tests and deployment on every code change, so you catch errors early and ship without manual effort.

Typical stages

1. Build: install dependencies and compile.
2. Test: run the automated tests.
3. Deploy: if tests pass, ship to the server.

With Gitea Actions

Gitea includes an Actions system compatible with GitHub's syntax. You create a .gitea/workflows/deploy.yml file:

on: [push]
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: composer install --no-dev
      - run: php artisan test
      - run: ./deploy.sh

You need a "runner" that executes the jobs, on the same server or another. See installing Gitea.

Runner on your own server

A dedicated runner on a VPS gives you full control and fixed costs, unlike the paid minutes of cloud services. With hourly billing you can start a runner only when you need it.

Secrets

Deploy keys and passwords go as secrets in the Gitea interface, never in code, see managing environment variables.