Workflow
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
A workflow is a recipe for your robot assistant — it tells CI exactly what to do when something happens. 'When someone pushes code, run tests. When a PR is merged, deploy to staging.' You write the workflow once as a file, and the system follows it automatically every time.
Real Talk
A workflow is a configurable automated process defined in a YAML file that runs one or more jobs. In GitHub Actions, workflows live in .github/workflows/ and are triggered by events like pushes, pull requests, schedules, or manual triggers.
Show Me The Code
# .github/workflows/deploy.yml
name: Deploy
on:
push:
branches: [main]
jobs:
deploy:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v3
- run: npm run deploy
When You'll Hear This
"Create a workflow that runs tests on every PR." / "The deploy workflow was triggered by the merge."
Related Terms
GitHub Actions
GitHub Actions is CI/CD built right into GitHub. Push code, run tests, deploy — all from YAML files in your repo. No separate CI server needed.
Job
A job is one chunk of work in your pipeline, running on its own machine.
Pipeline
A pipeline is like an assembly line at a factory.
Step
A step is the smallest unit of work in a pipeline — a single command or action.
Trigger
A trigger is code that the database runs automatically when something happens — like automatically updating an 'updated_at' timestamp whenever a row change...