GitHub Actions CI/CD to DomainIndia VPS — Build, Test, Deploy Automation

Q: Deployment of multiple services?

Use path filters: `paths: ['services/frontend/**']` triggers only when frontend changes. Keep monorepo workflows efficient.

Q: Deploy to k3s/Kubernetes?

`kubectl apply -f k8s/` after building image. Use `actions/setup-kubectl`. Store kubeconfig as secret.

ByDomain India Team·DomainIndia Engineering

6 min readPublished 24 Apr 2026Updated 22 Jun 2026178 views

GitHub Actions CI/CD to DomainIndia VPS — Build, Test, Deploy Automation

TL;DR

Turn git push into production deploy. GitHub Actions runs your tests, builds artifacts, and deploys to your DomainIndia VPS — all from .github/workflows/*.yml. This guide shows working pipelines for Node.js, PHP, Python, and Docker apps with secrets, zero-downtime deploys, and PR previews.

Why GitHub Actions

Free 2,000 minutes/month for private repos, unlimited for public
No separate CI service to run + secure
Native integration with PRs, issues, releases
Massive marketplace of pre-built actions

Anatomy of a workflow

.github/workflows/deploy.yml:

yaml

name: Deploy
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  workflow_dispatch:   # allow manual trigger from GitHub UI

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with: { node-version: 20 }
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm test

  deploy:
    needs: test
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Deploy
        env:
          VPS_SSH_KEY: ${{ secrets.VPS_SSH_KEY }}
          VPS_HOST: ${{ secrets.VPS_HOST }}
        run: |
          ...

Pattern 1 — SSH deploy (simplest)

Rsync code to VPS, restart the service.

Step 1 — Generate deploy SSH key

On your laptop:

bash

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "github-deploy" -f ~/.ssh/github_deploy -N ""
# Creates: ~/.ssh/github_deploy (private) + ~/.ssh/github_deploy.pub (public)

Add public key to your VPS:

bash

ssh root@your-vps
# Create restricted deploy user:
useradd -m -s /bin/bash deploy
mkdir -p /home/deploy/.ssh
# Paste github_deploy.pub into /home/deploy/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 700 /home/deploy/.ssh
chmod 600 /home/deploy/.ssh/authorized_keys
chown -R deploy:deploy /home/deploy/.ssh

Grant specific sudo for service restart (no password):

bash

# /etc/sudoers.d/deploy
deploy ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /bin/systemctl restart myapp, /bin/systemctl status myapp

Step 2 — Add secrets to GitHub

Repo → Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → New repository secret:

VPS_HOST = your vps IP or hostname
VPS_USER = deploy
VPS_SSH_KEY = contents of ~/.ssh/github_deploy (private key)

Step 3 — Workflow

yaml

name: Deploy to VPS
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup SSH
        run: |
          mkdir -p ~/.ssh
          echo "${{ secrets.VPS_SSH_KEY }}" > ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
          chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
          ssh-keyscan -H ${{ secrets.VPS_HOST }} >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts

      - name: Install deps (locally, build artifact)
        run: |
          npm ci
          npm run build

      - name: Deploy
        run: |
          rsync -avz --delete 
              --exclude='.git' 
              --exclude='node_modules' 
              -e "ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519" 
              ./ ${{ secrets.VPS_USER }}@${{ secrets.VPS_HOST }}:/home/deploy/myapp/

      - name: Install deps on server + restart
        run: |
          ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 ${{ secrets.VPS_USER }}@${{ secrets.VPS_HOST }} '
            cd /home/deploy/myapp &&
            npm ci --production &&
            sudo systemctl restart myapp
          '

Pattern 2 — Docker deploy

Build image in CI, push to registry, pull on VPS.

yaml

name: Build & Deploy Docker
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Login to registry
        uses: docker/login-action@v3
        with:
          registry: ghcr.io
          username: ${{ github.repository_owner }}
          password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

      - name: Build & push
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
        with:
          context: .
          push: true
          tags: |
            ghcr.io/yourorg/myapp:latest
            ghcr.io/yourorg/myapp:${{ github.sha }}
          cache-from: type=gha
          cache-to: type=gha,mode=max

  deploy:
    needs: build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Deploy via SSH
        env:
          SSH_KEY: ${{ secrets.VPS_SSH_KEY }}
        run: |
          echo "$SSH_KEY" > key && chmod 600 key
          ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -i key deploy@${{ secrets.VPS_HOST }} '
            docker pull ghcr.io/yourorg/myapp:latest &&
            docker stop myapp || true &&
            docker rm myapp || true &&
            docker run -d --name myapp --restart=always -p 3000:3000 
              --env-file /home/deploy/.env 
              ghcr.io/yourorg/myapp:latest
          '

Pattern 3 — PHP + Composer deploy

yaml

name: Deploy PHP
on:
  push: { branches: [main] }

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: shivammathur/setup-php@v2
        with: { php-version: '8.3' }
      - run: composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

      - name: Rsync to VPS
        uses: burnett01/[email protected]
        with:
          switches: -avzr --delete --exclude=.env --exclude=storage/logs
          path: ./
          remote_path: /home/deploy/myapp/
          remote_host: ${{ secrets.VPS_HOST }}
          remote_user: deploy
          remote_key: ${{ secrets.VPS_SSH_KEY }}

      - name: Laravel post-deploy
        uses: appleboy/[email protected]
        with:
          host: ${{ secrets.VPS_HOST }}
          username: deploy
          key: ${{ secrets.VPS_SSH_KEY }}
          script: |
            cd /home/deploy/myapp
            php artisan migrate --force
            php artisan config:cache
            php artisan route:cache
            php artisan view:cache
            php artisan opcache:clear

Pattern 4 — Test matrix

Run tests on multiple versions / environments:

yaml

jobs:
  test:
    strategy:
      matrix:
        php: [8.2, 8.3, 8.4]
        db: [mysql, postgres]
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    services:
      postgres:
        image: postgres:16
        env:
          POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
        options: --health-cmd pg_isready
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: shivammathur/setup-php@v2
        with: { php-version: ${{ matrix.php }} }
      - run: vendor/bin/phpunit
        env:
          DB_CONNECTION: ${{ matrix.db }}

Pattern 5 — PR preview deployments

For static sites or lightweight apps — deploy each PR to pr-123.yourcompany.com:

yaml

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize]

jobs:
  preview:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm ci && npm run build

      - name: Deploy to subdomain
        run: |
          # upload to VPS under /var/www/previews/pr-${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}
          # nginx wildcard: server_name ~^pr-(?<pr>d+).yourcompany.com$;
          #                 root /var/www/previews/pr-$pr;
          scp -r dist/* deploy@vps:/var/www/previews/pr-${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}/

      - name: Comment on PR
        uses: marocchino/sticky-pull-request-comment@v2
        with:
          message: "Preview: https://pr-${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}.yourcompany.com"

Secrets management

Never commit secrets. Use:

Repository secrets (${{ secrets.NAME }})
Environment secrets (scoped per environment like production)
Organization secrets (shared across repos)

For rotation: change secret in GitHub → next workflow run picks it up. No config file to update.

Required reviews before deploy

Repo → Settings → Environments → Create "production":

Required reviewers: 1+
Wait timer: 0 (or add delay)
Allowed branches: main

Workflow:

yaml

jobs:
  deploy:
    environment: production   # requires approval before running
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

GitHub pauses the deploy job until a reviewer clicks approve.

Rollback strategy

Tag every release:

yaml

- name: Create release
  uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
  if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
  with:
    generate_release_notes: true

To rollback: git checkout <previous-tag>, push branch, deploy that. Or have a manual rollback.yml workflow that re-deploys a specific tag.

Common pitfalls

FAQ

Q GitHub Actions vs GitLab CI vs Jenkins?

Actions — easiest for GitHub-hosted repos. GitLab CI — better for GitLab. Jenkins — self-hosted, powerful, heavy. For most DomainIndia customers using GitHub, Actions wins.

Q How much does it cost?

Public repos: free. Private: 2,000 minutes/month free (Linux), then $0.008/min. Most small teams fit in free tier.

Q Self-hosted runner?

Useful if you need to deploy into a private network or use specific hardware. Install runner on a DomainIndia VPS, register to your repo.

Q Deployment of multiple services?

Use path filters: paths: ['services/frontend/**'] triggers only when frontend changes. Keep monorepo workflows efficient.

Q Deploy to k3s/Kubernetes?

kubectl apply -f k8s/ after building image. Use actions/setup-kubectl. Store kubeconfig as secret.

Automate deploys to your DomainIndia VPS with GitHub Actions. View VPS plans

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GitHub Actions CI/CD to DomainIndia VPS — Build, Test, Deploy Automation

In this article

GitHub Actions CI/CD to DomainIndia VPS — Build, Test, Deploy Automation

Why GitHub Actions

Anatomy of a workflow

Pattern 1 — SSH deploy (simplest)

Step 1 — Generate deploy SSH key

Step 2 — Add secrets to GitHub

Step 3 — Workflow

Pattern 2 — Docker deploy

Pattern 3 — PHP + Composer deploy

Pattern 4 — Test matrix

Pattern 5 — PR preview deployments

Secrets management

Required reviews before deploy

Rollback strategy

Common pitfalls

FAQ

Was this article helpful?

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