Gitea Actions CI/CD Setup

This document describes the CI/CD pipeline configuration for the GlyphDiff project using Gitea Actions (GitHub Actions compatible).

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Workflow Files
• Workflow Triggers
• Setup Instructions
• Self-Hosted Runner Setup
• Caching Strategy
• Environment Variables
• Troubleshooting

Overview

The CI/CD pipeline consists of four main workflows:

1. Lint - Code quality checks (oxlint, dprint formatting)
2. Test - Type checking and E2E tests (Playwright)
3. Build - Production build verification
4. Deploy - Deployment automation (optional/template)

All workflows are designed to run on both push and pull request events, with appropriate branch filtering and concurrency controls.

Workflow Files

.gitea/workflows/lint.yml

Purpose: Run code quality checks to ensure code style and formatting standards.

Checks performed:

• oxlint - Fast JavaScript/TypeScript linter
• dprint check - Code formatting verification

Triggers:

• Push to main, develop, feature/* branches
• Pull requests to main or develop
• Manual workflow dispatch

Cache: Node modules and Yarn cache

Concurrency: Cancels in-progress runs for the same branch when a new commit is pushed.

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.gitea/workflows/test.yml

Purpose: Run type checking and end-to-end tests.

Jobs:

1. type-check job

• tsc --noEmit - TypeScript type checking
• svelte-check --threshold warning - Svelte component type checking

2. e2e-tests job

• Installs Playwright browsers with system dependencies
• Runs E2E tests using Playwright
• Uploads test report artifacts (retained for 7 days)
• Uploads screenshots on test failure for debugging

Triggers: Same as lint workflow

Cache: Node modules and Yarn cache

Artifacts:

• playwright-report - Test execution report
• playwright-screenshots - Screenshots from failed tests

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.gitea/workflows/build.yml

Purpose: Verify that the production build completes successfully.

Steps:

1. Checkout repository
2. Setup Node.js v20 with Yarn caching
3. Install dependencies with --frozen-lockfile
4. Run svelte-kit sync to prepare SvelteKit
5. Build the project with NODE_ENV=production
6. Upload build artifacts (.svelte-kit/output, .svelte-kit/build)
7. Run the preview server and verify it responds (health check)

Triggers:

• Push to main or develop branches
• Pull requests to main or develop
• Manual workflow dispatch

Cache: Node modules and Yarn cache

Artifacts:

• build-artifacts - Compiled SvelteKit output (retained for 7 days)

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.gitea/workflows/deploy.yml

Purpose: Automated deployment pipeline (template configuration).

Current state: Placeholder configuration. Uncomment and customize one of the deployment examples.

Pre-deployment checks:

• Must pass linting workflow
• Must pass testing workflow
• Must pass build workflow

Deployment examples included:

1. Docker container registry - Build and push Docker image
2. SSH deployment - Deploy to server via SSH
3. Vercel - Deploy to Vercel platform

Triggers:

• Push to main branch
• Manual workflow dispatch with environment selection (staging/production)

Secrets required (configure in Gitea):

• For Docker: REGISTRY_URL, REGISTRY_USERNAME, REGISTRY_PASSWORD
• For SSH: DEPLOY_HOST, DEPLOY_USER, DEPLOY_SSH_KEY
• For Vercel: VERCEL_TOKEN, VERCEL_ORG_ID, VERCEL_PROJECT_ID

Workflow Triggers

Branch-Specific Behavior

Workflow	Push Triggers	PR Triggers	Runs on Merge
Lint	main, develop, feature/*	To main, develop	Yes
Test	main, develop, feature/*	To main, develop	Yes
Build	main, develop	To main, develop	Yes
Deploy	main only	None	Yes

Concurrency Strategy

All workflows use concurrency groups based on the workflow name and branch reference:

concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true  # or false for deploy workflow

This ensures:

• For lint/test/build: New commits cancel in-progress runs (saves resources)
• For deploy: Prevents concurrent deployments (ensures safety)

Setup Instructions

Step 1: Verify Gitea Actions is Enabled

1. Navigate to your Gitea instance
2. Go to Site Administration → Actions
3. Ensure Actions is enabled
4. Configure default runner settings if needed

Step 2: Configure Repository Settings

1. Go to your repository in Gitea
2. Click Settings → Actions
3. Enable Actions for the repository if not already enabled
4. Set appropriate permissions for read/write access

Step 3: Push Workflows to Repository

The workflow files are already in .gitea/workflows/. Commit and push them:

git add .gitea/workflows/
git commit -m "Add Gitea Actions CI/CD workflows"
git push origin main

Step 4: Verify Workflows Run

1. Navigate to Actions tab in your repository
2. You should see the workflows trigger on the next push
3. Click into a workflow run to view logs and status

Step 5: Configure Secrets (Optional - for deployment)

1. Go to repository Settings → Secrets → Actions
2. Click Add New Secret
3. Add secrets required for your deployment method

Example secrets for SSH deployment:

DEPLOY_HOST=your-server.com
DEPLOY_USER=deploy
DEPLOY_SSH_KEY=-----BEGIN OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----
...
-----END OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----

Self-Hosted Runner Setup

Option 1: Using Gitea's Built-in Act Runner (Recommended)

Gitea provides act_runner (compatible with GitHub Actions runner).

Install act_runner

On Linux (Debian/Ubuntu):

wget -O /usr/local/bin/act_runner https://gitea.com/act_runner/releases/download/v0.2.11/act_runner-0.2.11-linux-amd64
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/act_runner

Verify installation:

act_runner --version

Register the Runner

1. In Gitea, navigate to repository Settings → Actions → Runners
2. Click New Runner
3. Copy the registration token
4. Run the registration command:

act_runner register \
  --instance https://your-gitea-instance.com \
  --token YOUR_REGISTRATION_TOKEN \
  --name "linux-runner-1" \
  --labels ubuntu-latest,linux,docker \
  --no-interactive

Start the Runner as a Service

Create a systemd service file at /etc/systemd/system/gitea-runner.service:

[Unit]
Description=Gitea Actions Runner
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=git
WorkingDirectory=/var/lib/gitea-runner
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/act_runner daemon
Restart=always
RestartSec=5s

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable gitea-runner
sudo systemctl start gitea-runner

Check Runner Status

sudo systemctl status gitea-runner

Verify in Gitea: The runner should appear as Online with the ubuntu-latest label.

Option 2: Using Self-Hosted Runners with Docker

If you prefer Docker-based execution:

Install Docker

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Configure Runner to Use Docker

Ensure the runner has access to the Docker socket:

sudo usermod -aG docker act_runner_user

The workflows will now run containers inside the runner's Docker environment.

Option 3: Using External Runners (GitHub Actions Runner Compatible)

If you want to use standard GitHub Actions runners:

# Download and configure GitHub Actions runner
mkdir actions-runner && cd actions-runner
curl -o actions-runner-linux-x64-2.311.0.tar.gz -L https://github.com/actions/runner/releases/download/v2.311.0/actions-runner-linux-x64-2.311.0.tar.gz
tar xzf ./actions-runner-linux-x64-2.311.0.tar.gz

# Configure to point to Gitea instance
./config.sh --url https://your-gitea-instance.com --token YOUR_TOKEN

Caching Strategy

Node.js and Yarn Cache

All workflows use actions/setup-node@v4 with built-in caching:

- name: Setup Node.js
  uses: actions/setup-node@v4
  with:
    node-version: '20'
    cache: 'yarn'

This caches:

• node_modules directory
• Yarn cache directory (~/.yarn/cache)
• Reduces installation time from minutes to seconds on subsequent runs

Playwright Cache

Playwright browsers are installed fresh each time. To cache Playwright (optional optimization):

- name: Cache Playwright binaries
  uses: actions/cache@v4
  with:
    path: ~/.cache/ms-playwright
    key: ${{ runner.os }}-playwright-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}
    restore-keys: |
      ${{ runner.os }}-playwright-

Environment Variables

Default Environment Variables

The workflows use the following environment variables:

NODE_ENV=production  # For build workflow
NODE_VERSION=20      # Node.js version used across all workflows

Custom Environment Variables

To add custom environment variables:

1. Go to repository Settings → Variables → Actions
2. Click Add New Variable
3. Add variable name and value
4. Set scope (environment, repository, or organization)

Example for feature flags:

ENABLE_ANALYTICS=false
API_URL=https://api.example.com

Access in workflow:

env:
  API_URL: ${{ vars.API_URL }}
  ENABLE_ANALYTICS: ${{ vars.ENABLE_ANALYTICS }}

Troubleshooting

Workflows Not Running

Symptoms: Workflows don't appear or don't trigger

Solutions:

1. Verify Actions is enabled in Gitea site administration
2. Check repository Settings → Actions is enabled
3. Verify workflow files are in .gitea/workflows/ directory
4. Check workflow YAML syntax (no indentation errors)

Runner Offline

Symptoms: Runner shows as Offline or Idle

Solutions:

1. Check runner service status: sudo systemctl status gitea-runner
2. Review runner logs: journalctl -u gitea-runner -f
3. Verify network connectivity to Gitea instance
4. Restart runner: sudo systemctl restart gitea-runner

Linting Fails with Formatting Errors

Symptoms: dprint check fails on CI but passes locally

Solutions:

1. Ensure dprint configuration (dprint.json) is committed
2. Run yarn dprint fmt locally before committing
3. Consider adding auto-fix workflow (see below)

Playwright Tests Timeout

Symptoms: E2E tests fail with timeout errors

Solutions:

1. Check playwright.config.ts timeout settings
2. Ensure preview server starts before tests run (built into config)
3. Increase timeout in workflow:

   - name: Run Playwright tests
     run: yarn test:e2e
     env:
       PLAYWRIGHT_TIMEOUT: 60000
   

Build Fails with Out of Memory

Symptoms: Build fails with memory allocation errors

Solutions:

1. Increase Node.js memory limit:

   - name: Build project
     run: yarn build
     env:
       NODE_OPTIONS: --max-old-space-size=4096
   

2. Ensure runner has sufficient RAM (minimum 2GB recommended)

Permission Denied on Runner

Symptoms: Runner can't access repository or secrets

Solutions:

1. Verify runner has read access to repository
2. Check secret names match exactly in workflow
3. Ensure runner user has file system permissions

Yarn Install Fails with Lockfile Conflict

Symptoms: yarn install --frozen-lockfile fails

Solutions:

1. Ensure yarn.lock is up-to-date locally
2. Run yarn install and commit updated yarn.lock
3. Do not use --frozen-lockfile if using different platforms (arm64 vs amd64)

Slow Workflow Execution

Symptoms: Workflows take too long to complete

Solutions:

1. Verify caching is working (check logs for "Cache restored")
2. Use --frozen-lockfile for faster dependency resolution
3. Consider matrix strategy for parallel execution (not currently used)
4. Optimize Playwright tests (reduce test count, increase timeouts only if needed)

Best Practices

1. Keep Dependencies Updated

Regularly update action versions:

- uses: actions/checkout@v4  # Update from v3 to v4 when available
- uses: actions/setup-node@v4

2. Use Frozen Lockfile

Always use --frozen-lockfile in CI to ensure reproducible builds:

yarn install --frozen-lockfile

3. Monitor Workflow Status

Set up notifications for workflow failures:

• Email notifications in Gitea user settings
• Integrate with Slack/Mattermost for team alerts
• Use status badges in README

4. Test Locally Before Pushing

Run the same checks locally:

yarn lint          # oxlint
yarn dprint check  # Formatting check
yarn tsc --noEmit  # Type check
yarn test:e2e      # E2E tests
yarn build         # Build

5. Leverage Git Hooks

The project uses lefthook for pre-commit/pre-push checks. This catches issues before they reach CI:

# Pre-commit: Format code, lint staged files
# Pre-push: Full type check, format check, full lint

Additional Resources

• Gitea Actions Documentation
• Gitea act_runner Documentation
• GitHub Actions Documentation
• SvelteKit Deployment Guide
• Playwright CI/CD Guide

Status Badges

Add status badges to your README.md:

![Lint](https://your-gitea-instance.com/username/glyphdiff/actions/badges/workflow/lint.yml/badge.svg)
![Test](https://your-gitea-instance.com/username/glyphdiff/actions/badges/workflow/test.yml/badge.svg)
![Build](https://your-gitea-instance.com/username/glyphdiff/actions/badges/workflow/build.yml/badge.svg)

Next Steps

1. Customize deployment: Modify deploy.yml with your deployment strategy
2. Add notifications: Set up workflow failure notifications
3. Optimize caching: Add Playwright cache if needed
4. Add badges: Include status badges in README
5. Schedule tasks: Add periodic tests or dependency updates (optional)

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Last Updated: December 30, 2025 Version: 1.0.0