Workflow with multiple Jobs

Expanding a basic CI/CD pipeline into dedicated build, test, and deploy jobs improves clarity and parallelism in your GitHub Actions workflow.

Single-Job Workflow (Reference)

For comparison, here’s a simple workflow that runs an ASCII script in one job:

on:
  push:

jobs:
  ascii-job:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout Repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Execute Shell Script
        run: |
          chmod +x ascii-script.sh
          ./ascii-script.sh

Multi-Job Workflow: Build, Test, and Deploy

Below is the enhanced workflow defining three independent jobs: build_job_1, test_job_2, and deploy_job_3.

name: Generate ASCII Artwork

on:
  push:

jobs:
  build_job_1:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Install Cowsay Program
        run: sudo apt-get install cowsay -y
      - name: Execute Cowsay Command
        run: cowsay -f dragon "Run for cover, I am a DRAGON... RAWR" >> dragon.txt
      - name: Sleep for 30 seconds
        run: sleep 30

  test_job_2:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Sleep for 10 seconds
        run: sleep 10
      - name: Test File Exists
        run: grep -i "dragon" dragon.txt

  deploy_job_3:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Read File
        run: cat dragon.txt
      - name: Deploy
        run: echo "Deploying..."

By default, each job executes on a clean runner and does not share files. Use artifact actions or define dependencies to pass data between jobs.

Job Overview

Job Name	Purpose	Key Steps
`build_job_1`	Build & Generate Artifacts	Install `cowsay`, create `dragon.txt`, `sleep`
`test_job_2`	Validate Build Output	Wait 10 s, verify `dragon.txt`
`deploy_job_3`	Deployment Simulation	Display file, simulate deployment

Understanding Each Job

build_job_1

Runner: Ubuntu latest
Actions:
1. Installs the cowsay utility
2. Generates ASCII art into dragon.txt
3. Simulates build time with sleep 30

test_job_2

Runner: Ubuntu latest
Actions:
1. Waits 10 seconds
2. Uses grep to ensure dragon.txt contains “dragon”
3. Fails if the file is missing or the content isn’t found

deploy_job_3

Runner: Ubuntu latest
Actions:
1. Outputs the content of dragon.txt
2. Simulates deployment via echo "Deploying..."

Execution Behavior and Common Pitfalls

When you commit and push this workflow (e.g., git commit -m "Add multi-job workflow"), GitHub Actions triggers all jobs in parallel:

Each job runs in isolation on its own VM. Without artifacts or explicit job dependencies, files like dragon.txt won’t persist across jobs.

The image shows a GitHub Actions workflow summary with three jobs: "build_job_1" succeeded, while "test_job_2" and "deploy_job_3" failed, resulting in an overall failure status.

Since test_job_2 may start before build_job_1 finishes, any attempt to read dragon.txt will trigger a file-not-found error.

The image shows a GitHub Actions interface with a workflow run summary. It displays the status of multiple jobs, including "build_job_1" which succeeded, and "test_job_2" and "deploy_job_3" which failed.

Example error from test_job_2:

grep -i "dragon" dragon.txt
# shell: /usr/bin/bash -e {0}
# grep: dragon.txt: No such file or directory
# Error: Process completed with exit code 2.

And from deploy_job_3:

cat dragon.txt: No such file or directory
Error: Process completed with exit code 1

Summary of Issues

Parallel execution without defined dependencies
Isolated environments prevent file sharing

We will address these issues by defining job dependencies and sharing artifacts between jobs.

Introduction

Continuous Integration with GitHub Actions

Continuous Deployment with GitHub Actions

Reusable Workflows and Reporting

Custom Actions

Self Hosted Runner

Security Guide

GitHub Actions - Core Concepts

Workflow with multiple Jobs

Single-Job Workflow (Reference)

Multi-Job Workflow: Build, Test, and Deploy

Job Overview

Understanding Each Job

build_job_1

test_job_2

deploy_job_3

Execution Behavior and Common Pitfalls

Summary of Issues

Watch Video

​Single-Job Workflow (Reference)

​Multi-Job Workflow: Build, Test, and Deploy

​Job Overview

​Understanding Each Job

​build_job_1

​test_job_2

​deploy_job_3

​Execution Behavior and Common Pitfalls

​Summary of Issues

Watch Video

Single-Job Workflow (Reference)

Multi-Job Workflow: Build, Test, and Deploy

Job Overview

Understanding Each Job

build_job_1

test_job_2

deploy_job_3

Execution Behavior and Common Pitfalls

Summary of Issues