Automation

GitHub Actions tutorials show you on: push with a simple build. Real projects need caching, matrix builds, environment protection, secrets management, and reusable workflows. Here’s what actually works. Workflow Structure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 # .github/workflows/ci.yml name: CI on: push: branches: [main] pull_request: branches: [main] jobs: test: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 - name: Run tests run: npm test Caching Dependencies Without caching, every run downloads the internet: ...

Ansible is easy to start and hard to master. A simple playbook works great for 5 servers. The same playbook becomes unmaintainable at 50. Here are the patterns that keep Ansible codebases sane as they grow. Project Structure Start with a structure that scales: a ├ ├ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├ │ │ │ ├ │ │ │ └ n ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ s ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ i b a i ├ │ │ │ │ └ p ├ ├ └ r ├ ├ └ g └ l n n ─ ─ l ─ ─ ─ o ─ ─ ─ r ─ e s v ─ ─ a ─ ─ ─ l ─ ─ ─ o ─ / i e y e u b n p ├ └ s ├ └ b s w d s c n p p a ├ └ l t r ─ ─ t ─ ─ o i e a / o g o _ l ─ ─ e o o ─ ─ a ─ ─ o t b t m i s v l ─ ─ . r d g k e s a m n t a / c y u h g ├ └ i h g └ s . e b o x g r v v f / c o r ─ ─ n o r ─ y r a n r s a a g t s o ─ ─ g s o ─ m v s e / r u i t u / t u l e e s s l o s p a w s p a r s / . t n . _ l e . _ l s . y . y v l b y v l . y m y m a . s m a . y m l m l r y e l r y m l l s m r s m l / l v / l e r s . y m l The key insight: separate inventory per environment. Never mix production and staging in the same inventory file. ...