GitHub Actions runners
🏃
CI with better cardio.
Runner providers run GitHub Actions jobs on their own hardware, or on yours, instead of GitHub's. Most only need a new runs-on label in the workflow.
When you need one
Usually not. fortrabbit deploys every push to GitHub with its own build and deployment service, see build commands. A CI pipeline makes sense when tests have to pass before a deployment, or when the build needs tools the build commands do not have, see GitHub Actions.
Runner types
| Type | Where jobs run | Providers |
|---|---|---|
| Managed | The provider's cloud, switched on with a runs-on label | Namespace, Blacksmith, Ubicloud, Depot |
| Managed or own cloud | The provider's cloud or your AWS, GCP or Azure account | WarpBuild |
| Own cloud | VMs in your cloud account, started per job | RunsOn, Cirun |
| Own servers | Servers you run | Actuated, GitHub's self-hosted runner |
Managed runners trade control for less work. Runners in your own cloud keep code and data in your account, and you pay the cloud bill.
Deploy to fortrabbit
fortrabbit needs no integration with the runner. The final workflow step uploads the build over SSH, for example with rsync, authenticated with a deploy key.
More self-hosted runner tools are listed in jonico/awesome-runners on GitHub.