Setting Up GitHub Actions CI Pipeline for Gno Projects

This guide explains how to set up a CI environment for Gno projects using GitHub Actions and Docker.

Overview #

This article explains how to set up a CI environment for Gno projects using GitHub Actions and Docker. By following this guide, you can:

Set up automated testing for your Gno projects
Create a containerized test environment
Run tests both locally and in CI pipeline

For a working example, check out this link.

Table of Contents #

Prerequisites #

Docker
Some gno project repository
act (optional)
brew (optional)

Project Structure Setup #

IMPORTANT:
This guide focuses on setting up CI for a single Gno module. If you’re working with multiple modules or a more complex project structure, you’ll need to modify the configuration accordingly.

Your project should have the following basic structure:

your-gno-project/
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/
│       └── run_test.yml
├── Dockerfile
├── Makefile
└── your-module/
    ├── gno.mod
    ├── *.gno
    └── *_test.gno

Docker Environment Configuration #

Create a Dockerfile in your project root:

FROM golang:1.22-bullseye

# Install required packages
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    build-essential \
    git \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# Set working directory
WORKDIR /app

# Clone and install gno
RUN git clone https://github.com/gnolang/gno.git && \
    cd gno && \
    make install.gno

# Copy the project
COPY . .

# Set default command
CMD ["gno", "test", "./your-module", "-root-dir", "./gno", "-v"]

This Dockerfile:

Uses Go 1.22 base image
Installs necessary build tools
Installs Gno
Copies project files
Sets up test execution command

GitHub Actions Workflow Setup #

Create .github/workflows/<name>.yml file. In here I set the file name as run_test:

name: run-test

on:
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  tests:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Check out repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3

      - name: Cache Docker layers
        uses: actions/cache@v3
        with:
          path: /tmp/.buildx-cache
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-buildx-${{ github.sha }}
          restore-keys: |
            ${{ runner.os }}-buildx-            

      - name: Build and test
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
        with:
          context: .
          push: false
          load: true
          tags: gno-test:latest
          cache-from: type=local,src=/tmp/.buildx-cache
          cache-to: type=local,dest=/tmp/.buildx-cache-new,mode=max

      - name: Move cache
        run: |
          rm -rf /tmp/.buildx-cache
          mv /tmp/.buildx-cache-new /tmp/.buildx-cache          

      - name: Run tests in container
        run: docker run --rm gno-test:latest

This workflow:

Triggers on Pull Requests to the main branch
Uses Docker image build caching
Runs tests in container

Local Test Environment Setup #

Add the following rule to your Makefile:

.PHONY: test-docker

test-docker:
  docker build -t gno-test .
  docker run --rm gno-test

With this setup, you can run tests locally using:

make test-docker

Alternatively, you can use act:

act is a tool that allows you to run GitHub Actions locally. If you haven’t installed it yet, you can install it using the brew command. Also, when using act, Docker must be running.

act pull_request

You might need to specify the architecture if necessary. On MacOS, add the flag like this:

act pull_request --container-architecture linux/amd64

Troubleshooting #

Common Issues #

Docker Build Failures
- Verify Dockerfile base image version
- Check network connectivity
- Ensure Docker daemon is running
Test Failures
- Check Gno version compatibility
- Verify module paths are correct
- Ensure test files follow the test naming convention (e.g. *_test.gno)