Leveraging the GitHub API with GitHub Actions

Learn how you can leverage GitHub and it's extensive APIs to have a database, a CMS, and anything else you can think of! We'll also look at GitHub Actions to see where we can extend GitHub's API to do even more interesting things, including using GitHub as a (really silly) data store.

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1. @JasonEtco JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API
2. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API Jason Etcovitch @JasonEtco Engineering Lead at GitHub
3. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API What we’ll cover The GitHub API Authentication, common queries Real JAMstack examples Using GitHub as a “CMS" GitHub Actions What it is, how it works Using Actions as a DB This makes no sense, bear with me
4. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API The GitHub API
5. developer.github.com
6. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API REST API GraphQL API
7. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API
8. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API
9. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API GitHub API SDKs in many languages JavaScript: @octokit/rest.js Octokit
10. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API Real JAMstack Examples
11. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API Get a list of issues in a repository GET /repos/:owner/:repo/issues
12. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API Read a file from a repository GET /repos/:owner/:repo/contents/:path
13. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API See recently active repositories Code: git.io/fjjxr jasonet.co My personal site and blog JavaScript 17 3
14. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API Get a user’s profile picture https://github.com/hubot.png Bonus!
15. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API GitHub Actions
16. https://github.com/features/actions
17. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API Workflows are configured by adding a file to your repository. When code is pushed, GitHub spins up a Ubuntu virtual machine. It clones the repo, sets up Node, installs dependencies, and runs our tests. .github/workflows/ci.yml
18. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API On push…
19. https://github.com/actions/starter-workflows
20. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API Recap GitHub Actions is a thing-doer. •Runs ephemeral “jobs” •Free for open source (currently in beta) •Can run any language, in a Windows/MacOS/Linux virtual machine •Making API requests to GitHub is super easy from within Actions
21. GitHub Actions supports secrets, with an API token included. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API
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23. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API Using Actions as a DB
24. So… GitHub as a database? Jason you’re being silly. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API
25. An ORM is the SDK for your DB 3 acronyms in one sentence! JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API
26. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API Why this is even possible • GitHub data is permanent. Once you create a file, it’s there forever (until you delete it). • GitHub’s API supports basically everything you’d need to do to read and write data. • Authentication is built-in; users can have different permissions, like read-but-not-write to files.
27. github.com/JasonEtco/action-record
28. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API ActionRecord, the “GitHub Actions ORM” An “ORM” for interacting with GitHub as a database inside of GitHub Actions. It looks for special files in the action-record/directory in your repository. git.io/fjjp8
29. github.com
30. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API How it works Storing data in GitHub •When something happens on GitHub, we can run a job to do “database things” •Data is stored as JSON in issues •“Models” map to issue labels •ActionRecord runs a script from your repository •It makes API requests to GitHub under the hood
31. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API
32. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API
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35. How else can we tell
 GitHub to store data? on: repository_dispatch JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API
36. JAMstack Toronto Leveraging the GitHub API •Performance isn’t important •You want something free •You like GitHub’s UI •You feel like doing something silly Use-cases
37. Questions? Concerns? Comments? Ping @JasonEtco on Twitter