GitHub Action Build and Deploy

build and deploy

This GitHub Action builds and deploys the SSW.Rules application as a Docker container to Azure Web App.

flowchart TD
    A[Trigger] --> B{Trigger Type}
    B -->|Push to main| C
    B -->|Manual dispatch| C

    C[Start pipeline] --> D[Deploy Infrastructure]
    D --> E[Build and Push Container Image]
    E --> F[Deploy to Azure Web App]

    F --> G{Production?}
    G -->|Yes| H[Deploy to Slot]
    H --> I[Swap Slots]
    I --> J[Verify Deployment]
    G -->|No| J[Verify Deployment]

    J --> K{Production?}
    K -->|Yes| L[Crawl Sitemap]
    K -->|No| M[Done]

    L --> M[Done]

    style A fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px
    style B fill:#ccf,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px
    style D fill:#bbf,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px
    style E fill:#bbf,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px
    style F fill:#bfb,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px
    style J fill:#cfc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px
    style L fill:#ffd,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px
    style M fill:#cfc,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px

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When It Runs

This workflow runs in two ways:

• On push to main

  • Automatically deploys to the default environment (staging).

• Manually via the Run workflow button

  • You can choose the target environment (staging or production).
  • You can optionally set the Tina content branch and a source branch name.

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What It Does

The pipeline has three main stages:

1. Deploy Infrastructure
2. Build and Push Container Image
3. Deploy to Azure Web App

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1) Deploy Infrastructure

This stage ensures Azure resources exist and are up to date.

It:

• Logs into Azure
• Deploys or updates required infrastructure
• Outputs values needed by later stages (ACR name, app service name, resource group, host name)

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2) Build and Push Container Image

This stage builds the application as a Docker image and pushes it to Azure Container Registry (ACR).

It:

• Checks out the source repository
• Pulls content from the content repository
• Generates required mapping files
• Builds the application inside Docker
• Pushes the container image to ACR

Notes:

• Docker cache is disabled, so the image is built from scratch each time (fresh build).
• The image is tagged based on the target environment.

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3) Deploy to Azure Web App

This stage deploys the built container image to Azure Web App.

It:

• Logs into Azure
• Sets application settings (Auth0, API keys, build metadata, etc.)
• Deploys the container image to the web app

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Production vs Staging

Staging

• Deploys directly to the staging web app
• No slot swap is used

Production (Slot Deployment)

Production uses a safe slot-based rollout:

1. Deploy the container to a pre-production slot
2. Verify the deployment
3. Swap the slot into production

This helps provide:

• Minimal / no downtime
• Safer releases
• Easier rollback (swap back if needed)

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Post-Deployment (Production Only)

If deploying to production, the workflow runs a sitemap crawl after deployment to keep the site index up to date.

This step does not run for staging.

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Concurrency

Deployments are grouped by branch + environment.

If a new run starts for the same branch and environment:

• The in-progress run is cancelled
• Only the latest run continues

This prevents overlapping deployments.

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Build Metadata

During deployment, the app is updated with build information such as:

• Build timestamp
• Build date
• Commit hash
• Version number
• Deployment URL

This improves traceability and makes it easier to confirm what version is running.