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GitHub Actions

Dagger provides a GitHub Action that can be used in any GitHub Actions workflow to call one or more Dagger Functions on specific events, such as a new commit.

Dagger has also partnered with Depot to provide managed, Dagger Powered GitHub Actions runners. These runners, which serve as drop-in replacements for GitHub's own runners, come with Dagger pre-installed and pre-configured to best practices, automatic persistent layer caching, and multi-architecture support. They make it faster and easier to run Dagger pipelines in GitHub repositories.

How it works​

Depending on whether you choose a standard GitHub Actions runner or a Dagger Powered Depot GitHub Actions Runner, here's how it works.

When running a CI pipeline with Dagger using a standard GitHub Actions runner, the general workflow looks like this:

  1. GitHub receives a workflow trigger based on a repository event.
  2. GitHub begins processing the jobs and steps in the workflow.
  3. GitHub finds the "Dagger for GitHub" action and passes control to it.
  4. The "Dagger for GitHub" action calls the Dagger CLI with the specified sub-command, module, function name, and arguments.
  5. The Dagger CLI attempts to find an existing Dagger Engine or spins up a new one inside the GitHub Actions runner.
  6. The Dagger CLI executes the specified sub-command and sends telemetry to Dagger Cloud if the DAGGER_CLOUD_TOKEN environment variable is set.
  7. The workflow completes with success or failure. Logs appear in GitHub as usual.

Prerequisites​

  • A GitHub repository

Examples​

The following example demonstrates how to call a Dagger Function on a standard GitHub runner in a GitHub Actions workflow.

.github/workflows/dagger.yml
name: dagger
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  hello:
    name: hello
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Call Dagger Function
        uses: dagger/dagger-for-github@v7
        with:
          version: "latest"
          verb: call
          module: github.com/shykes/daggerverse/hello@v0.1.2
          args: hello --greeting="bonjour" --name="monde"
          # assumes the Dagger Cloud token is in
          # a repository secret named DAGGER_CLOUD_TOKEN
          # set via the GitHub UI/CLI
          cloud-token: ${{ secrets.DAGGER_CLOUD_TOKEN }}

The following is a more complex example demonstrating how to create a GitHub Actions workflow that checks out source code, calls a Dagger Function to test the project, and then calls another Dagger Function to build and publish a container image of the project. This example uses a simple Go application and assumes that you have already forked it in your own GitHub repository.

.github/workflows/dagger.yml
name: dagger
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  test:
    name: test
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Test
        uses: dagger/dagger-for-github@v7
        with:
          version: "latest"
          verb: call
          module: github.com/kpenfound/dagger-modules/golang@v0.2.0
          args: test --source=.
          # assumes the Dagger Cloud token is in
          # a repository secret named DAGGER_CLOUD_TOKEN
          # set via the GitHub UI/CLI
          cloud-token: ${{ secrets.DAGGER_CLOUD_TOKEN }}
  build:
    name: build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: test
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Call Dagger Function
        uses: dagger/dagger-for-github@v7
        with:
          version: "latest"
          verb: call
          module: github.com/kpenfound/dagger-modules/golang@v0.2.0
          args: build-container --source=. --args=. publish --address=ttl.sh/my-app-$RANDOM
          # assumes the Dagger Cloud token is in
          # a repository secret named DAGGER_CLOUD_TOKEN
          # set via the GitHub UI/CLI
          cloud-token: ${{ secrets.DAGGER_CLOUD_TOKEN }}

More information is available in the Dagger for GitHub page.

SSH configuration​

When using SSH keys in GitHub Actions, ensure proper SSH agent setup:

- name: Set up SSH
  run: |
    eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
    ssh-add - <<< '${{ secrets.SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}'

Replace ${{ secrets.SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }} with your provider secret containing the private key.

Resources​

Below are some resources from the Dagger community that may help as well. If you have any questions about additional ways to use GitHub with Dagger, join our Discord and ask your questions in our GitHub channel.

About GitHub​

GitHub is a popular Web-based platform used for version control and collaboration. It allows developers to store and manage their code in repositories, track changes over time, and collaborate with other developers on projects.

About Depot​

Depot is a build acceleration platform focused on making builds more efficient and performant.