CI/CDIntermediate

GitHub Actions Deploy

Automate deployments to Nexlayer on every push to main. Build Docker images, push to GitHub Container Registry, and deploy — all in one workflow.

Overview

This GitHub Actions workflow gives you a complete CI/CD pipeline for deploying to Nexlayer. When you push to main, it builds your frontend and backend Docker images, pushes them to GitHub Container Registry tagged with the commit SHA, updates your nexlayer.yaml with the new image tags, and deploys everything via the Nexlayer API.

GitHub ActionsDockerGHCRCI/CD

The Pipeline

Push to main

You push code to the main branch (or trigger manually).

Build images

GitHub Actions builds Docker images for your frontend and backend using Buildx with layer caching.

Push to GHCR

Images are pushed to GitHub Container Registry, tagged with the commit SHA for traceability.

Update nexlayer.yaml

The workflow updates your deployment config with the new image tags automatically.

Deploy to Nexlayer

The updated YAML is sent to the Nexlayer API, which rolls out the new version.

Setup

1. Add the workflow file

Copy the YAML below and save it as .github/workflows/deploy.yml in your repository.

2. Add your Nexlayer API key

Go to your GitHub repo → Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions, and add:

NEXLAYER_API_KEY→Your API key from app.nexlayer.io

GITHUB_TOKEN is provided automatically by GitHub Actions — you don't need to add it.

3. Add a nexlayer.yaml

Make sure your repo has a nexlayer.yaml at the root. The workflow will update the image tags automatically on each deploy. Check the PERN App or Custom Fullstack templates for examples.

4. Push to main

That's it. Every push to main will build, push, and deploy automatically. You can also trigger it manually from the Actions tab.

Workflow File

Save this as .github/workflows/deploy.yml in your repository:

.github/workflows/deploy.yml

name: Build and Deploy PERN App to Nexlayer

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  workflow_dispatch:  # Allow manual triggering

env:
  SHORT_SHA: ${{ github.sha }}
  REGISTRY: ghcr.io
  IMAGE_NAME: ${{ github.repository }}

jobs:
  build-and-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
      packages: write

    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3

      - name: Log in to GitHub Container Registry
        uses: docker/login-action@v3
        with:
          registry: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}
          username: ${{ github.repository_owner }}
          password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

      - name: Build and push Frontend image
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
        with:
          context: ./frontend
          file: ./frontend/Dockerfile
          push: true
          platforms: linux/amd64
          tags: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}/frontend:${{ env.SHORT_SHA }}
          cache-from: type=gha
          cache-to: type=gha,mode=max

      - name: Build and push Backend image
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
        with:
          context: ./backend
          file: ./backend/Dockerfile
          push: true
          platforms: linux/amd64
          tags: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}/backend:${{ env.SHORT_SHA }}
          cache-from: type=gha
          cache-to: type=gha,mode=max

      - name: Update nexlayer.yaml
        run: |
          # Extract the short SHA
          SHORT_SHA=$(echo ${{ github.sha }} | cut -c1-7)

          # Update frontend image in nexlayer.yaml
          sed -i "s|image:.*frontend.*|image: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}/frontend:$SHORT_SHA|" nexlayer.yaml

          # Update backend image in nexlayer.yaml
          sed -i "s|image:.*backend.*|image: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}/backend:$SHORT_SHA|" nexlayer.yaml

          # Display the updated file for verification
          cat nexlayer.yaml

      - name: Deploy to Nexlayer
        env:
          NEXLAYER_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.NEXLAYER_API_KEY }}
        run: |
          # Deploy to Nexlayer using the API
          curl -X POST https://app.nexlayer.io/startUserDeployment \
            -H "Content-Type: text/x-yaml" \
            -H "Authorization: Bearer $NEXLAYER_API_KEY" \
            --data-binary @nexlayer.yaml

          echo "PERN App deployed to Nexlayer!"
          echo "Check your deployment status at: https://app.nexlayer.io"

Make It Yours

This workflow assumes a frontend/ and backend/ directory structure with a Dockerfile in each. Adjust the context and file paths in the build steps to match your project layout.

If you only have one service (e.g. a single Next.js app), remove the second build step and simplify the sed command to update just one image tag.

To deploy on different branches, update the branches list in the on.push trigger. You can also add separate workflows for staging vs production.