SERIES
Releasing WebExtension using GitHub Actions
1 Introduction. Constants
2 Workflows diagram
3 Composite actions
4 Build release assets
5 Publish on Edge Add-ons
6 Publish on Firefox Add-ons
7 Publish on Chrome Web Store
8 Don't let Google refresh token expire
9 The main workflow

Post 9 of 9 in "Releasing WebExtension using GitHub Actions" series

We have prepared all the needed composite actions and workflows, and we are finally ready to create the main workflow that triggers the entire pipeline.

The main workflow

.github/workflows/publish-release-on-tag.yml :

name: Release and publish on tag
on:
  push:
    tags:
      - '*.*.*'
  workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
  build-release-publish:
    if: github.ref_type == 'tag'
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - uses: cardinalby/export-env-action@v1
        with:
          envFile: './.github/workflows/constants.env'
          expand: true

      - name: Look for an existing release
        id: getRelease
        uses: cardinalby/git-get-release-action@v1
        continue-on-error: true
        with:
          tag: ${{ github.ref_name }}
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}

      - name: Build, test and pack to zip
        id: buildPack
        if: steps.getRelease.outcome != 'success'
        uses: ./.github/workflows/actions/build-test-pack

      - name: Create Release
        id: createRelease
        if: steps.getRelease.outcome != 'success'
        uses: ncipollo/release-action@v1
        with:
          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          draft: 'true'

      - name: Upload zip asset to the release
        if: steps.getRelease.outcome != 'success'
        uses: actions/upload-release-asset@v1
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        with:
          upload_url: ${{ steps.createRelease.outputs.upload_url }}
          asset_path: ${{ env.ZIP_FILE_PATH }}
          asset_name: ${{ env.ZIP_FILE_NAME }}
          asset_content_type: application/zip

      # Should trigger build-assets-on-release.yml
      - name: Publish release
        if: steps.getRelease.outcome != 'success'
        uses: eregon/publish-release@v1
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.WORKFLOWS_TOKEN }}
        with:
          release_id: ${{ steps.createRelease.outputs.id }}

      - name: Publish on Chrome Webstore
        uses: benc-uk/workflow-dispatch@v1
        if: "!contains(github.event.head_commit.message, '[skip chrome]')"
        with:
          workflow: publish-on-chrome-web-store
          token: ${{ secrets.WORKFLOWS_TOKEN }}
          wait-for-completion: false

      - name: Publish on Firefox Add-ons
        uses: benc-uk/workflow-dispatch@v1
        if: "!contains(github.event.head_commit.message, '[skip firefox]')"
        with:
          workflow: publish-on-firefox-add-ons
          token: ${{ secrets.WORKFLOWS_TOKEN }}
          wait-for-completion: false

      - name: Publish on Edge Add-ons
        uses: benc-uk/workflow-dispatch@v1
        if: "!contains(github.event.head_commit.message, '[skip edge]')"
        with:
           workflow: publish-on-edge-add-ons
           token: ${{ secrets.WORKFLOWS_TOKEN }}
           wait-for-completion: false
  1. The workflow can be triggered by pushing ..* tag or by workflow_dispatch event.
  2. To perform the work we need a tag to create a release for, that’s why we add if: github.ref_type == 'tag' condition for the job to prevent running on branches.
  3. We use git-get-release-action to find a release for the tag. continue-on-error: true prevents the job from failing if release not found.
  4. If a release not found, we:
    • Call build-test-pack composite action to build zip file.
    • Call release-action to create a draft release. This doesn’t trigger on: release event.
    • Call upload-release-asset to upload zip asset to the release (to be used by publish-on-chrome-web-store and publish-on-firefox-add-ons workflows later).
    • Call eregon/publish-release to publish the draft release. This triggers on: release event and build-assets-on-release workflow.
  5. We use benc-uk/workflow-dispatch action to asynchronously dispatch:

👏 Thank you for reading

Finally, we are done! You can try out your first deployment by pushing a new ..* tag to the repo (don’t forget to check the extension version in manifest.json).

Any comments, critics and sharing your own experience would be appreciated. You can find a real example of the described CI/CD approach in my Memrise Audio Uploader extension.

SERIES
Releasing WebExtension using GitHub Actions
1 Introduction. Constants
2 Workflows diagram
3 Composite actions
4 Build release assets
5 Publish on Edge Add-ons
6 Publish on Firefox Add-ons
7 Publish on Chrome Web Store
8 Don't let Google refresh token expire
9 The main workflow

Post 9 of 9 in "Releasing WebExtension using GitHub Actions" series