This repository provides a GitHub Actions CI/CD template to automatically update code from Git and restart a Linux service or PM2-managed app on a remote server using SSH.
🚀 Ideal for deploying updates to remote Git projects directly from your GitHub repository.
- ✅ Automatic deployment on push to
main(or any branch) - 🔐 Secure connection via SSH (using GitHub secrets)
- 🌀 Pulls the latest code from Git
- 🔁 Restarts a Linux service or PM2 process
- 🔧 Easy to fork and adapt for any project
.github/
└── workflows/
└── deploy.yml # CI/CD workflow
- Remote server with:
- Git installed
- PM2 (for Node.js apps) or a systemd-managed service
- SSH access configured
- GitHub repository with:
- This template copied or forked
- Required secrets added (see below)
Go to your repo → Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → New repository secret and add:
| Secret Name | Description |
|---|---|
SSH_HOST |
IP or domain of your remote server |
SSH_USERNAME |
SSH user with access to the project directory |
SSH_KEY |
Private SSH key (no passphrase) |
SSH_PASSWORD |
SSH password with access to the project directory |
PROJECT_DIRECTORY |
Absolute path of the Git project on the server |
RESTART_COMMAND |
Command to restart the service or PM2 app |
name: Deploy via SSH by Key on: push: branches: - main jobs: deploy: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - name: Checkout repo uses: actions/checkout@v4 - name: Set up SSH uses: webfactory/[email protected] with: ssh-private-key: ${{ secrets.SSH_KEY }} - name: Connect and Deploy run: | ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no ${{ secrets.SSH_USERNAME }}@${{ secrets.SSH_HOST }} << 'EOF' cd ${{ secrets.PROJECT_DIRECTORY }} git fetch origin main git reset --hard origin/main git clean -fd if [ -n "${{ secrets.RESTART_COMMAND }}" ]; then eval "${{ secrets.RESTART_COMMAND }}" fi EOF
name: Deploy via SSH by Password on: push: branches: - main jobs: deploy: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - name: Install sshpass run: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y sshpass - name: Deploy to Server via SSH env: SSHPASS: ${{ secrets.SSH_PASSWORD }} run: | sshpass -e ssh -p ${{ secrets.SSH_PORT }} -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no ${{ secrets.SSH_USERNAME }}@${{ secrets.SSH_HOST }} << EOF cd ${{ secrets.PROJECT_DIRECTORY }} git fetch origin main git reset --hard origin/main git clean -fd if [ -n "${{ secrets.RESTART_COMMAND }}" ]; then eval "${{ secrets.RESTART_COMMAND }}" fi EOF
- Fork this repo (or copy deploy.yml to your own)
- Add the required GitHub secrets
- Ensure SSH access from GitHub to your remote server
- Push to main branch - the deployment runs automatically!
Change main to another branch in the on.push.branches section
Use different RESTART_COMMAND values such as:
pm2 restart app-namesudo systemctl restart my-servicenpm run build && pm2 reload ecosystem.config.js
You can manually trigger a run from GitHub:
Go to Actions → Deploy via SSH → Run workflow
MIT License - feel free to use and adapt.
Max Base (Ali)
🔗 GitHub: @BaseMax