Implementing CI/CD Pipelines with GitHub Actions and Docker

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) are essential practices in modern software development. This post covers implementing robust CI/CD pipelines for Java applications.

GitHub Actions Workflow

Basic Java CI Pipeline

name: Java CI/CD

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main, develop ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v3
    
    - name: Set up JDK 17
      uses: actions/setup-java@v3
      with:
        java-version: '17'
        distribution: 'temurin'
    
    - name: Build with Maven
      run: mvn clean compile test
    
    - name: Run tests
      run: mvn test
    
    - name: Build Docker image
      run: docker build -t myapp .

Docker Integration

Multi-stage Dockerfile

# Build stage
FROM maven:3.8.4-openjdk-17 AS build
WORKDIR /app
COPY pom.xml .
COPY src ./src
RUN mvn clean package -DskipTests

# Runtime stage
FROM openjdk:17-jre-slim
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=build /app/target/*.jar app.jar
EXPOSE 8080
CMD ["java", "-jar", "app.jar"]

Best Practices

1. Security Scanning

• Scan dependencies for vulnerabilities
• Use container security tools
• Implement secret management

2. Testing Strategy

• Unit tests in CI
• Integration tests in staging
• Performance testing before deployment

3. Deployment Strategy

• Blue-green deployment
• Canary releases
• Rollback procedures

Monitoring and Observability

Implement proper logging and monitoring:

• Application metrics
• Infrastructure monitoring
• Error tracking and alerting

Conclusion

A well-implemented CI/CD pipeline significantly improves development velocity and code quality. Focus on automation, testing, and security from the start.