{"id":94509,"date":"2026-03-16T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/github.blog\/?p=94509"},"modified":"2026-03-16T11:13:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T18:13:17","slug":"github-for-beginners-getting-started-with-github-actions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/github.blog\/developer-skills\/github\/github-for-beginners-getting-started-with-github-actions\/","title":{"rendered":"GitHub for Beginners: Getting started with GitHub Actions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome back to our ongoing GitHub for Beginners series, now in its third season! Our previous episode was the first of the season, and we talked about getting started with GitHub Issues and Projects<\/a>. This time we’re jumping into another very popular GitHub feature called GitHub Actions. By the end of this post, you’ll know how to use GitHub Actions and will have created your first automated workflow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, if you prefer to watch the video or want to reference it, we have all of our GitHub for Beginners episodes available on YouTube<\/a>. (And you can watch the full video of this tutorial above!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are GitHub Actions?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

GitHub Actions is a Continuous Integration\/Continuous Delivery (CI\/CD) and automation platform built right into GitHub. You’ll often hear people call these “action workflows” or just “workflows.” It allows you to automate repetitive tasks and deployment processes using YAML files stored in your repository. You might use GitHub Actions for tasks like running vulnerability scans, tests, creating releases, or even reminding your team about important updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Action workflows are triggered by GitHub events like pushes, pull requests, or schedules, and they run in a virtual environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How workflows work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before jumping right into the details about how workflows do their job, we need to define some essential terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n