If Expressions and Pull Request

We’ll configure our GitHub Actions workflow so that feature branches trigger only development jobs, while the main branch runs production deployments. By using if expressions like contains and exact branch comparisons, you can maintain a single workflow file and control which jobs run on which branches.

Workflow Overview

Our workflow defines seven jobs and global environment variables:

env:
  MONGO_URI: 'mongodb+srv://supercluster.d8jj.mongodb.net/superData'
  MONGO_USERNAME: ${{ vars.MONGO_USERNAME }}
  MONGO_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.MONGO_PASSWORD }}

jobs:
  unit-testing: …
  code-coverage: …
  docker: …
  dev-deploy: …
  dev-integration-testing: …
  prod-deploy: …
  prod-integration-testing: …

Desired Branch Conditions

Configuring Conditional Jobs with if

GitHub Actions supports if expressions on jobs. We’ll use:

• contains(github.ref, 'feature/') for feature branches
• github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' for the main branch

1. Dev Jobs

Add if: contains(github.ref, 'feature/') to both development jobs:

jobs:
  dev-deploy:
    if: contains(github.ref, 'feature/')
    needs: docker
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment:
      name: development
      url: https://${{ steps.set-ingress-host-address.outputs.APP_INGRESS_HOST }}
    outputs:
      APP_INGRESS_URL: ${{ steps.set-ingress-host-address.outputs.APP_INGRESS_HOST }}
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      # …other deployment steps…

  dev-integration-testing:
    if: contains(github.ref, 'feature/')
    needs: dev-deploy
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Validate Deployment URL
        env:
          URL: ${{ needs.dev-deploy.outputs.APP_INGRESS_URL }}
        run: |
          echo "Testing URL: $URL"
          curl -s $URL/health | jq

2. Prod Jobs

Guard production jobs with an exact branch check:

jobs:
  prod-deploy:
    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
    needs: docker
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment:
      name: production
      url: https://${{ steps.set-ingress-host-address.outputs.APP_INGRESS_HOST }}
    outputs:
      APP_INGRESS_URL: ${{ steps.set-ingress-host-address.outputs.APP_INGRESS_HOST }}
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      # …other deployment steps…

  prod-integration-testing:
    name: Prod Integration Testing
    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
    needs: prod-deploy
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Validate Production URL
        env:
          URL: ${{ needs.prod-deploy.outputs.APP_INGRESS_URL }}
        run: |
          echo "Testing Prod URL: $URL"
          curl -s https://$URL/live | grep -i '"status":"live"'

Testing on a Feature Branch

Commit and push to a feature branch. You’ll see only the Docker and dev jobs run, while production jobs are skipped:

Skipped jobs indicate their if condition evaluated to false.

Raising a Pull Request

When you open a PR into main, all checks should pass and your dev-deploy URL is available for reviewers:

Reviewers can click the deployment link to preview your changes before merging.

Production Deployment Approval

After merging, the workflow on main triggers production jobs. If you’ve enabled environment protection rules, you’ll see a “Review pending deployments” prompt:

Final Workflow Summary on main

Once approved, only the production deploy and integration tests run on main:

All checks pass, and the production environment is live.

Viewing All Deployments

In the Environments tab, you can filter by environment, view deployment statuses, associated branches, and pull requests:

Explore the dashboard to monitor, retry, or roll back deployments—all from the GitHub UI.

References

• GitHub Actions Expressions
• Workflow syntax for GitHub Actions
• Environments and protection rules