The best way for an enterprise to control which GitHub Actions run is by creating a list of approved

actions as an enterprise policy. This approach restricts workflows to only use the actions that are

explicitly allowed, ensuring security and compliance within the organization.

Caching is ideal for files that change rarely, such as dependencies or build outputs, as it speeds up

subsequent workflow runs by reusing previously cached files instead of re-downloading or rebuilding

them.

Artifacts are used for persisting files produced during a job that need to be used in later jobs or after

the workflow has ended, allowing them to be downloaded or referenced later.

Using a corporate secret store like HashiCorp Vault provides a secure, centralized location for

sensitive information. GitHub Actions can then retrieve and store the token securely during

deployment by setting it as an environment variable, ensuring the token remains secure and

accessible at runtime.

Storing the token as an organizational-level encrypted secret in GitHub ensures it is accessible across

multiple repositories, minimizing management overhead. GitHub Actions can then use this secret

during deployment by setting it as an environment variable, allowing the microservice to access it

securely at runtime.

Job outputs are used to pass data from one job to another in a workflow. A job can produce output

values (like variables or files), which can be referenced by subsequent jobs using the needs keyword

and ${{ steps.step_id.outputs.output_name }} syntax.

Artifact storage allows data (such as files or results) to be saved by a job and then retrieved by

another job in a later step. This is commonly used for passing large amounts of data or files between

jobs.

While Docker can run on various operating systems, Linux is often the most common and preferred

OS for containerized workloads. Docker works well on Linux and is a widely-used platform for

running containers.

For container jobs to run on a self-hosted runner, Docker must be installed and properly configured

on the runner. Docker is required to build and run containerized workloads in a GitHub Actions

workflow.

The repository_dispatch event allows you to trigger a workflow in response to external activity. It is

commonly used when you need to trigger a workflow from outside GitHub, such as from another

system or service, by sending a request to the GitHub API. This event provides flexibility to integrate

with various external systems and trigger workflows in a GitHub repository.

The publish-npm job includes the JS-DevTools/npm-publish action, which is used to publish an npm

package to an npm registry.

The publish-npm job has the needs: build directive, meaning it will only run after the build job

successfully completes.

Some actions may require a GITHUB_TOKEN as an input to authenticate and perform specific tasks,

such as creating issues, commenting on pull requests, or interacting with the GitHub API. In such

cases, you would need to explicitly pass the token to the action.

When making an authenticated GitHub API request, the GITHUB_TOKEN is required to authenticate

the request. This token is automatically provided by GitHub in the workflow, and it must be explicitly

used when interacting with the GitHub API.

The correct minimal syntax for declaring an output in GitHub Actions is by using the foo key under

outputs, and associating it with a value (in this case, Some value). This is the simplest form to define

an output in a workflow or action.

The GET /repos/:owner/:repo/actions/runs/:run_id/logs API endpoint is used to retrieve the logs of a

specific workflow run identified by run_id. This is the correct method for downloading logs from a

workflow run.