Using Bob with GitHub Actions

Create a Workflow

The following example shows how to use Bob with GitHub Actions.

Create a file called .github/workflows/ci.yml in your repository with the following contents:

# .github/workflows/ci.yml

name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]
  pull_request:
    types: [ opened, synchronize ]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Install nix
        uses: cachix/install-nix-action@v15
        with:
          nix_path: nixpkgs=channel:nixos-unstable

      - name: Install bob
        uses: benchkram/bob-install-action@v1
        with:
          version: 0.6.3

      - name: Bob build
        run: bob build

Remote Caching

First things first. Make sure you have read our general guide on remote caching. This will teach you how to create a project and create access tokens.

Bellow is a tutorial on how to set up bob.build/zuzuleinen/todoapp project from Remote Cache on GitHub Actions:

1. Add the bob.yaml file in the root of your repository:

project: bob.build/zuzuleinen/todoapp
nixpkgs: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/refs/tags/22.05.tar.gz

build:
  build:
    input: .
    cmd: touch hello-world
    target: hello-world

2. Create a CI access token for your project:

3. Copy the authentication token and add it as a secret to your GitHub repository in Settings > Secrets > Actions:

4. Create a new secret named, BOB_AUTH_TOKEN:

5. Create a file called .github/workflows/ci.yml in your repository with the following contents:

# .github/workflows/ci.yml

name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]
  pull_request:
    types: [ opened, synchronize ]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Install nix
        uses: cachix/install-nix-action@v15
        with:
          nix_path: nixpkgs=channel:nixos-unstable

      - name: Install bob
        uses: benchkram/bob-install-action@v1
        with:
          version: 0.6.3

      - name: Set up authentication token
        run: bob auth init --token=${{ secrets.BOB_AUTH_TOKEN }}

      - name: Bob build
        run: bob build --push

6. After the workflow is successfully run, you should see the artifact uploaded in the Remote Cache:

7. If you check the workflow output you will see that on first run of the build command an artifact was pushed to your project. If you run it again, it will be downloaded and build will flag the task as cached:

First build: Second build: