Migrating Jenkins Pipeline to GitHub Action

Learn how to seamlessly migrate your existing Jenkins jobs into GitHub Actions workflows using the GitHub Actions Importer CLI extension. This guide walks you through installation, configuration, and execution, so you can automate CI/CD with GitHub’s native tooling.

Table of Contents

1. Prerequisites
2. Install GitHub CLI & Importer
3. Authenticate GitHub CLI
4. Generate and Configure Tokens
5. Configure the Importer
6. Update the Importer
7. Dry-Run a Pipeline Migration
8. Migrate to GitHub Actions
9. Verify the Workflow
10. Conclusion & References

Prerequisites

Before starting the migration, ensure you have the following resources in place:

Install GitHub CLI & Importer

On Debian/Ubuntu

# 1. Install prerequisites
type -p wget >/dev/null || sudo apt update && sudo apt-get install -y wget

# 2. Add GitHub CLI apt repository
sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
wget -qO- https://cli.github.com/packages/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg
sudo chmod 644 /etc/apt/keyrings/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) \
  signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/githubcli-archive-keyring.gpg] \
  https://cli.github.com/repos/cli/cli/releases stable main" \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/github-cli.list >/dev/null

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y gh

Add the Actions Importer Extension

gh extension install github/gh-actions-importer

Verify the installation:

gh actions-importer --help

Authenticate GitHub CLI

Login interactively to GitHub:

gh auth login

Follow the browser prompts to complete authentication.

Generate and Configure Tokens

1. GitHub Personal Access Token (Classic)

1. Navigate to Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Tokens (classic)
2. Click Generate new token, name it (e.g. jenkins-importer), and select the workflow scope
3. Copy the token for later use

2. Jenkins API Token

1. Sign in to Jenkins and go to Manage Jenkins → Users
2. Select your user and click Configure
3. Under API Token, select Add new Token, name it (e.g. GitHub Importer), then generate and copy it

Configure the Importer

Run the configuration command:

gh actions-importer configure

When prompted, enter:

• GitHub Personal Access Token
• GitHub Base URL: https://github.com
• Jenkins Personal Access Token
• Jenkins Username
• Jenkins Base URL (e.g. http://your.jenkins.server:8080)

Successful output:

Environment variables successfully updated.

Update the Importer

Keep your extension up-to-date:

gh actions-importer update

Example output:

ghcr.io/actions-importer/cli:latest up-to-date

Dry-Run a Pipeline Migration

Preview the generated workflow YAML locally without pushing changes:

gh actions-importer dry-run jenkins \
  --source-url http://your.jenkins.server:8080/job/Generate%20ASCII%20Artwork/ \
  --output-dir tmp/dry-run

On success, inspect the file:

tmp/dry-run/Generate_ASCII_Artwork/.github/workflows/generate_ascii_artwork.yml

# tmp/dry-run/Generate_ASCII_Artwork/.github/workflows/generate_ascii_artwork.yml
name: Generate_ASCII_Artwork
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Run command
        shell: bash
        run: |
          curl -s https://api.adviceslip.com/advice > advice.json
          jq -r .slip.advice advice.json > advice.message
          [[ $(wc -w < advice.message) -gt 5 ]] || { echo "Advice has 5 words or less"; exit 1; }
          sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y cowsay
          export PATH="$PATH:/usr/games:/usr/local/games"
          cowsay -f "$(ls /usr/share/cowsay/cows | shuf -n1)" "$(cat advice.message)"

Migrate to GitHub Actions

Generate a pull request with the new workflow files:

gh actions-importer migrate jenkins \
  --source-url http://your.jenkins.server:8080/job/Generate%20ASCII%20Artwork/ \
  --target-url https://github.com/<owner>/jenkins-to-actions \
  --output-dir tmp/migrate

This command creates a PR in the target repository for review and merge.

Merge the PR to apply the workflow to the main branch.

Verify the Workflow

After merging, trigger the workflow manually or via push. Monitor runs in the Actions tab:

Conclusion & References

The GitHub Actions Importer CLI accelerates the transition from Jenkins to GitHub’s CI/CD platform. For full details, visit the official documentation.

Links and References

• Migrating from Jenkins to GitHub Actions
• GitHub CLI Documentation
• Jenkins User Guide