A developer has built a complete CI/CD pipeline using Docker and GitHub Actions, simulating a real-world development workflow from planning to deployment. The project, available on GitHub, focuses on the engineering process rather than a complex application, covering Git workflow, feature branches, pull requests, containerization, and automated CI/CD.
Project Overview and Workflow
The project follows a structured Git workflow: starting with a GitHub Issue, creating a feature branch, developing and committing changes, pushing to the remote repository, opening a pull request, and triggering GitHub Actions for continuous integration and delivery. The application is containerized using Docker with an Nginx base image, making it portable and reproducible across environments.
Automation with GitHub Actions
Every push and pull request automatically triggers a GitHub Actions workflow that validates the repository, builds the Docker image, authenticates with GitHub Container Registry (GHCR), and publishes the image. This removes manual build steps and ensures every change follows the same automated process. The workflow is defined in a YAML file and is designed to evolve alongside the application.
Debugging and Lessons Learned
A key part of the project was debugging the pipeline. After migrating the application from Python to an Nginx-based static website, the CI pipeline failed because it still tried to validate a deleted Python file. The developer investigated the logs, identified the obsolete step, removed it, and verified the pipeline again, reinforcing that CI/CD pipelines are living systems that need maintenance. The project repository includes a professional README, implementation log, screenshots, MIT License, and GitHub topics.