Github action for syncing other repositories (templates) with current repository. Any git provider like GitHub (enterprise), GitLab, Gittea,.. are supported for the source repository
Synchronise git repositories in an automated manner. Different git providers like GitHub (enterprise), GitLab,.. are supported as the source provider. This can help you e.g. for migration from another git provider to GitHub or if you want to mirror git repositories.
It is possible to create repositories within Github with GitHub templates. This is a nice approach to have some boilerplate within your repository. Over time, the template repository will get some code changes. The problem is that the already created repositories won't know about those changes. This GitHub action will help you to keep track of the template changes. The initial author of this repository faced that issue several times and decided to write a GitHub action to face that issue. Because of the nice community, several feature requests helped to go on with the development of the action. Now several other features are supported.
flowchart LR
github_source("fa:fa-github <b>GitHub</b> source repository <b>[private|public]</b>")
gitlab_source("fa:fa-gitlab <b>GitLab</b> source repository <b>[private|public]</b>")
any_source("fa:fa-git <b>Any</b> git provider <b>[private|public]</b>")
github_target{{"fa:fa-github <b>GitHub</b> target repository <b>[private|public]</b>"}}
github_source --> |"<b>ssh | PAT | github app</b>"| github_target
gitlab_source --> |"<b>ssh</b>"| github_target
any_source --> |"<b>ssh</b>"| github_target
- Sync other public or private repository (e.g. template repositories) with the current repository
- Ignore files and folders from syncing using a
.templatesyncignorefile - many configuration options
- different lifecycle hooks are supported. This opens the possibility to inject custom code into the workflow with a yaml definition file.
- different git provider like GitLab, Gittea,.. as source are supported (with ssh). See .github/workflows/test_ssh_gitlab.yml for an example.
- It is not necessarily needed that source and target repository have the same base history. Because of that reason, it is possible to merge 2 totally different repositories with the help of the action.
Usage changes depending on whether the template repository is public or private, regardless of the visibility of the current repository.
Add this configuration to a GitHub action in the current repository:
# File: .github/workflows/template-sync.yml
on:
# cronjob trigger
schedule:
- cron: "0 0 1 * *"
# manual trigger
workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
repo-sync:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
# https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-jobs/assigning-permissions-to-jobs
permissions:
contents: write
pull-requests: write
steps:
# To use this repository's private action, you must check out the repository
- name: Checkout
uses: actions/checkout@v4
with:
token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
- name: actions-template-sync
uses: AndreasAugustin/actions-template-sync@v1.1.8
with:
github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
source_repo_path: <owner/repo>
upstream_branch: <target_branch> # defaults to main
pr_labels: <label1>,<label2>[,...] # optional, no defaultYou will receive a pull request within your repository if there are some changes available in the template.
If your current repository was created from a private template, there are several possibilities.
You can create and use a GitHub App to handle access to the private template repository. To generate a token for your app you can use a separate action like tibdex/github-app-token. You have to set up the checkout step with the generated token as well.
jobs:
repo-sync:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: Generate token to read from source repo # see: https://github.com/tibdex/github-app-token
id: generate_token
uses: tibdex/github-app-token@v1
with:
app_id: ${{ secrets.APP_ID }}
private_key: ${{ secrets.PRIVATE_KEY }}
- name: Checkout
uses: actions/checkout@v4
with:
token: ${{ steps.generate_token.outputs.token }}
- name: actions-template-sync
uses: AndreasAugustin/actions-template-sync@v1.1.8
with:
github_token: ${{ steps.generate_token.outputs.token }}
source_repo_path: <owner/repo>
upstream_branch: <target_branch> # defaults to main
pr_labels: <label1>,<label2>[,...] # optional, no defaultYou have various options to use ssh keys with GitHub.
An example is deployment keys. For our use case, write permissions are not needed.
Within the current repository, where the GitHub action is enabled, add a secret
(e.q. SOURCE_REPO_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY) with the content of your private SSH key.
Make sure that the read permissions of that secret fulfill your use case.
Set the optional source_repo_ssh_private_key input parameter.
It is also possible to use a different git provider, e.g. GitLab.
jobs:
repo-sync:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
# https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-jobs/assigning-permissions-to-jobs
permissions:
contents: write
pull-requests: write
steps:
# To use this repository's private action, you must check out the repository
- name: Checkout
uses: actions/checkout@v4
with:
token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
- name: actions-template-sync
uses: AndreasAugustin/actions-template-sync@v1.1.8
with:
github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
source_repo_path: ${{ secrets.SOURCE_REPO_PATH }} # <owner/repo>, should be within secrets
upstream_branch: ${{ secrets.TARGET_BRANCH }} #<target_branch> # defaults to main
pr_labels: <label1>,<label2>[,...] # optional, no default
source_repo_ssh_private_key: ${{ secrets.SOURCE_REPO_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }} # contains the private ssh key of the private repositoryPersonal access token is an alternative to using passwords for authentication to GitHub. You can add a kind of password to your GitHub account. You need to set the scopes.
repo-> allread:org
Furthermore, you need to set the access within the source repository to allow GitHub actions within the target repository. As mentioned before (you can see the note in the image) you need to set the target repository to private. settings -> actions -> general.
example workflow definition
name: actions-template-sync
on:
# cronjob trigger At 00:00 on day-of-month 1. https://crontab.guru/every-month
schedule:
- cron: "0 0 1 * *"
# manual trigger
workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
test-implementation-job:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
# To use this repository's private action, you must check out the repository
- name: Checkout
uses: actions/checkout@v4
with:
token: ${{ secrets.CUSTOM_GITHUB_PAT }}
- name: Test action step PAT
uses: AndreasAugustin/actions-template-sync@v1.1.8
with:
github_token: ${{ secrets.CUSTOM_GITHUB_PAT }}
source_repo_path: ${{ secrets.SOURCE_REPO_PATH }} # <owner/repo>, should be within secrets| Variable | Description | Required | [Default] |
|---|---|---|---|
| github_token | Token for the repo. Can be passed in using $\{{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }} |
true |
|
| source_repo_path | Repository path of the template | true |
|
| upstream_branch | The target branch | false |
<The_remote_default> |
| source_repo_ssh_private_key | [optional] private ssh key for the source repository. see |
false |
|
| pr_branch_name_prefix | [optional] the prefix of branches created by this action |
false |
chore/template_sync |
| pr_title | [optional] the title of PRs opened by this action. Must be already created. |
false |
upstream merge template repository |
| pr_labels | [optional] comma separated list. pull request labels. Must be already created. |
false |
|
| pr_reviewers | [optional] comma separated list of pull request reviewers. |
false |
|
| pr_commit_msg | [optional] commit message in the created pull request |
false |
chore(template): merge template changes :up: |
| hostname | [optional] the hostname of the repository |
false |
github.com |
| is_dry_run | [optional] set to true if you do not want to push the changes and not want to create a PR |
false |
|
| is_allow_hooks | [optional] set to true if you want to enable lifecycle hooks. Use this with caution! |
false |
false |
| is_not_source_github | [optional] set to true if the source git provider is not GitHub |
false |
false |
| git_user_name | [optional] set the committer git user.name |
false |
${GITHUB_ACTOR} |
| git_user_email | [optional] set the committer git user.email |
false |
github-action@actions-template-sync.noreply.${SOURCE_REPO_HOSTNAME} |
| git_remote_pull_params | [optional] set remote pull parameters |
false |
--allow-unrelated-histories --squash --strategy=recursive -X theirs |
There are docker images available. Please checkout How to use docker for details.
This repo uses this template and this action from the marketplace. See the definition here.
If you look for a more detailed guide you can have a look at Dev.to or GitHub
You can use all triggers which are supported for GitHub actions
Create a .templatesyncignore file. Just like writing a .gitignore file, follow the glob pattern
in defining the files and folders that should be excluded from syncing with the template repository.
It can also be stored inside .github folder.
Note: It is not possible to sync also the .templatesyncignore itself. Any changes from the template repository will be restored automatically.
Remark reading the gitglossary (pathspec section) you see a slight difference to the .gitignore file
when you like to disable files you need to use :!.
E.g. when you like to disable the sync for all files with exceptions, you need to do smth like
:!newfile-1.txt
*Different lifecycle hooks are supported. You need to enable the functionality with the option is_allow_hooks and set it to true
In addition, you need a configuration file with the name templatesync.yml within the root of the target repository.
The following hooks are supported (please check docs/ARCHITECTURE.md for a better understanding of the lifecycles).
installis executed after the container has started and after reading and setting up the environment.prepullis executed before the code is pulled from the source repositoryprepushis executed before the push is executed, right after the commitprepris executed before the PR is done
Remark The underlying OS is defined by an Alpine container.
E.q. for the installation phase you need to use commands like apk add --update --no-cache python3
Schema and example for the temlatesync.yml
hooks:
install:
commands:
- apk add --update --no-cache python3
- python3 --version
prepull:
commands:
- echo 'hi, we are within the prepull phase'
- echo 'maybe you want to do adjustments on the local code'
prepush:
commands:
- echo 'hi, we are within the prepush phase'
- echo 'maybe you want to add further changes and commits'
prepr:
commands:
- echo 'hi, we are within the prepr phase'
- echo 'maybe you want to change the code a bit and do another push before creating the pr'- refusing to allow a GitHub App to create or update workflow
.github/workflows/******.ymlwithoutworkflowspermission
This happens because the template repository is trying to overwrite some files inside .github/workflows/.
A GitHub action currently can't overwrite these files.
To ignore those, simply create a file in the root directory named .templatesyncignore with the content .github/workflows/.
- pull request create failed: GraphQL: GitHub Actions is not permitted to create or approve pull requests (createPullRequest)
Open your project Settings > Actions > General and select the checkbox Allow GitHub Actions to create and approve pull requests
under the Workflow permissions section.
⚠️ starting with version v1.0.0 theupstream_branchvariable default is notmainanymore. It is now set to the remote default branch.- starting with version v0.5.2-draft the
templateversionrcfile is not needed anymore. You can delete that file from the target repositories.
You must create a secret named ACTIONS_STEP_DEBUG with the value true to see the debug messages set by this command in the log.
For more information, see "Enabling debug logging."
There are other great tools available within GitHub. Here you can find a comparison.
| feature | actions-template-sync | repo-sync | git-repo-sync | action-template-repository-sync |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub action | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ |
| hooks | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| available docker image | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ |
| sync between private and public repo | ✔️ PAT,ssh,Github app |
✔️ PAT,ssh |
❌ local repos | ✔️ PAT |
| sync between 2 private repos | ✔️ PAT,ssh,Github app |
✔️ PAT,ssh |
❌ local repos | ✔️ PAT |
| sync between 2 public repos | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ local repos | ✔️ |
| two way sync | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Sync from a third-party repo to a Github repo | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ local repos | ❌ |
| dry run | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ |
| ignore files | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ |
| creates a PR | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ |
| remarks | The action is placed within the target repositories | The action is placed within the target repositories | CLI meant for local use | The action will be based within the base repository with a list of dependent repositories |
The development environment targets are located in the Makefile
make helpFor some architectural notes please have a look at the docs
Thanks goes to these wonderful people (emoji key):
This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind are welcome!