ci-cd-and-automation

Create a workflow file at .github/workflows/ci.yml that triggers on pull requests and pushes to main. Configure jobs using actions/checkout and actions/setup-node, then run npm ci followed by lint, type check, tests, build, and npm audit steps in sequence.

Define a postgres service container in your job with health checks, expose port 5432, and store credentials in GitHub Secrets. Run migrations with prisma migrate deploy, then execute integration tests with the DATABASE_URL environment variable pointing at the service.

A complete pipeline runs lint, type checking, unit tests, build, integration tests, optional E2E tests, security audit, and bundle size checks. No gate should be skippable, and branch protection should block merges until all checks pass.

Slow pipelines usually lack dependency caching and run jobs sequentially. Apply caching via setup-node's cache option, split lint, typecheck, and test into parallel jobs, use path filters to skip unrelated work, and shard test suites across runners.

Use feature flags when you want to merge incomplete or risky features to main without releasing them. Flags let you canary releases to a percentage of users, roll back by disabling the flag, and run A/B tests, but they should be removed after full rollout.

No, CI should never hold production secrets. Store CI-specific credentials in GitHub Secrets or a vault, keep production secrets in the deployment platform, and commit only .env.example templates and non-sensitive test environment files.