This project uses GitHub Actions to automatically deploy your app to a remote server whenever:

• code is pushed to main
• or the nightly schedule runs

Deployment happens through SSH, so GitHub securely connects to your server and runs commands like:

git pull origin main
docker compose up -d --build

Push to main
     ↓
GitHub Actions runs
     ↓
SSH into server
     ↓
Pull latest code
     ↓
Restart app

Before starting, you need:

• Ubuntu/Linux server (VPS or VM)
• Git installed
• Your project already cloned on server
• Docker / Node / Python (depending on your stack)
• GitHub repo

You need a dedicated SSH key for GitHub Actions (NOT your personal one).

On your local machine run:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "github-deploy" -f github-deploy-key

Press Enter for no password.

This creates:

github-deploy-key        ← private key (SECRET)
github-deploy-key.pub    ← public key (SAFE)

Copy the public key:

cat github-deploy-key.pub

On your server:

mkdir -p ~/.ssh
nano ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Paste the public key.

Then fix permissions:

chmod 700 ~/.ssh
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Go to your repository:

Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → New repository secret

Your server IP

123.45.67.89

Your SSH user

ubuntu

or

root

Paste PRIVATE key content

cat github-deploy-key

Copy EVERYTHING including:

-----BEGIN OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----
...
-----END OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----

⚠️ Never share this key publicly.

Path to project on server

Example:

/var/www/myapp

Create:

.github/workflows/deploy.yml

Paste your workflow file there.

Folder structure:

project/
 ├─ .github/
 │   └─ workflows/
 │       └─ deploy.yml
 ├─ src/
 ├─ docker-compose.yml
 └─ README.md

Push to main:

git add .
git commit -m "test deploy"
git push origin main

Then:

GitHub → Actions tab

You should see:

✓ Deploy to Server
✓ Deployment finished successfully

Inside workflow SSH script you can run:

docker compose down
docker compose up -d --build

npm install
npm run build
pm2 restart all

pip install -r requirements.txt
sudo systemctl restart app

Fix:

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 700 ~/.ssh

Add:

ssh youruser@server-ip

Accept fingerprint once.

Check:

• No spaces
• Private key includes BEGIN/END lines
• Secret names match exactly

✔ Use separate deploy key ✔ Do NOT reuse personal SSH key ✔ Do NOT commit private key ✔ Limit server user permissions ✔ Prefer non-root user

Now every push to main automatically deploys 🚀