Build Action Server image

Rasa GitHub Action

You can find more information about Rasa actions in the Rasa Open Source docs. You can find more information about the action server in the action server docs.

You don't need to have a Dockerfile for your action server to build a Docker image, the GH action helps you to build a Docker image in the easiest way possible.

Input arguments

In order to pass the input parameters to the GH action, you have to use the with argument in a step that uses the GH action, e.g.

jobs:
  my_first_job:
    steps:
      - name: My first step
        uses: RasaHQ/action-server-gha@master
        with:
          actions_directory: my_directory
          requirements_file: my_file
          docker_registry: my_registry

Here are all the parameters you can change via the inputs available through with:

Input	Description	Default
`actions_directory`	Path to the directory with actions	`actions`
`requirements_file`	Path to the requirements.txt file	`none`
`docker_registry`	Name of the Docker registry that the Docker image is published to	`docker.io`
`docker_registry_login`	Login name for the Docker registry	`none`
`docker_registry_password`	Password for the Docker registry	`none`
`docker_image_name`	Docker image name	`action_server`
`docker_image_tag`	Docker image tag	`${{ github.run_id }}`
`docker_registry_push`	Push a Docker image to the registry. If `false` the user can add manual extra steps in their workflow which use the built image	`true`
`dockerfile`	Path to a custom Dockerfile	`none`
`rasa_sdk_version`	Version of the Rasa SDK which should be used to build the image	`latest`
`docker_build_args`	List of build-time variables	`none`

Outputs

The list of available output variables:

Output	Description
`docker_image_name`	Docker image name, the name contains the registry address and the image name, e.g., `docker.io/my_account/my_image_name`
`docker_image_tag`	Tag of the image, e.g., `v1.0`
`docker_image_full_name`	Docker image name (contains an address to the registry, image name, and tag), e.g., `docker.io/my_account/my_image_name:v1.0`

GitHub Actions that run later in a workflow can use the output parameters returned by the Rasa GitHub Action, see the example of output parameters usage.

Example Usage

Build a Docker image and push it into the Docker Hub registry.

jobs:
    build:
        # ...
        steps:
            # ...
            - name: Build an action server
              uses: RasaHQ/action-server-gha@master
              with:
                docker_image_name: 'rasahq/action-server-example'
                # More details on how to use GitHub secrets:
                # https://docs.github.com/en/actions/configuring-and-managing-workflows/creating-and-storing-encrypted-secrets
                docker_registry_login: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_LOGIN }}
                docker_registry_password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_PASSWORD }}
                # More details about github context:
                # https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/context-and-expression-syntax-for-github-actions#github-context
                docker_image_tag: ${{ github.sha }}
            # ...

The next examples shows how to build a Docker image with additional requirements. You have to use the requirements_file input argument in order to pass Python packages that have to be install.

jobs:
    build:
        # ...
        steps:
            # ...
            - name: Build an action server
              uses: RasaHQ/action-server-gha@master
              with:
                docker_image_name: 'rasahq/action-server-example'
                # More details on how to use GitHub secrets:
                # https://docs.github.com/en/actions/configuring-and-managing-workflows/creating-and-storing-encrypted-secrets
                docker_registry_login: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_LOGIN }}
                docker_registry_password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_PASSWORD }}
                # More details about github context:
                # https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/context-and-expression-syntax-for-github-actions#github-context
                docker_image_tag: ${{ github.sha }}
                requirements_file: 'examples/requirements.txt'
            # ...

Automatically update a Rasa X deployment if a new Docker image is available

This example shows how to use the GitHub action and output variable to upgrade a Rasa X deployment. In the example was used the Rasa X helm chart. More information on how to use the helm chart can be found in the docs.

on:
  # Deploy a new image whenever new changes were pushed to the master branch
  push:
    branches:
      - master

jobs:
  build_and_deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Build Rasa Action Server image and upgrade Rasa X deployment
    steps:
    - name: Checkout repository
      uses: actions/checkout@v2

    - id: action_server
      name: Build an action server with custom actions
      uses: RasaHQ/action-server-gha@master
      with:
        docker_image_name: 'rasahq/action-server-example'
        docker_registry_login: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_LOGIN }}
        docker_registry_password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_PASSWORD }}
        docker_image_tag: ${{ github.sha }}

    - name: Upgrade Rasa X deployment
      run: |
        # More information: https://rasa.com/docs/rasa-x/installation-and-setup/install/helm-chart/

        # Upgrade the helm release using output parameters from the `action_server` step
        helm upgrade --install --reuse-values \
          --set app.name=${{ steps.action_server.outputs.docker_image_name }} \
          --set app.tag=${{ steps.action_server.outputs.docker_image_tag }} rasa rasa-x/rasa-x

Configuration

This section describes how to customize a Docker image build by using the GitHub action.

Dockerfile

It's possible to use a custom Dockerfile for an image build. An example below shows how to do this.

Notice: the Rasa SDK uses Python 3.7

jobs:
    build:
        # ...
        steps:
            # ...
            - name: Build an action server
              uses: RasaHQ/action-server-gha
              with:
                actions_directory: 'examples/actions'
                # Push a Docker image into GitHub Container Registry
                docker_registry: 'docker.pkg.github.com'
                docker_image_name: 'github-account/repository-name/image-name'
                docker_registry_login: ${{ github.actor }}
                docker_registry_password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
                docker_image_tag: ${{ github.sha }}
                # A value of the Dockerfile parameter is a path to a Dockerfile
                # in your repository
                dockerfile: 'examples/Dockerfile'
                requirements_file: 'examples/requirements.txt'
            # ...

Dockerfile arguments

Below you can find a list of build arguments that you can use for your Dockerfile.

GITHUB_SHA - The commit SHA that triggered the workflow. For example, ffac537e6cbbf934b08745a378932722df287a53.
GITHUB_REF - The branch or tag ref that triggered the workflow. For example, refs/heads/feature-branch-1.
DOCKER_IMAGE_NAME - A Docker image name, the name contains a registry address and the image name. Fox example, docker.io/myaccount/myimage.
DOCKER_IMAGE_TAG - A tag of the image. For example, v1.0.0.
RASA_SDK_VERSION - Version of the Rasa SDK, For example, latest. The full list of available versions can be found here.

In addition to default build arguments, it's possible to add custom arguments by using the docker_build_args input argument. For example, docker_build_args: "--build-arg MY_ARG_1=1 --build-arg MY_ARG_2=2".

Notice! The requirements file and an action directory are mapped to the following paths.

requirements.txt:./tmp/requirements.txt
actions_directory:./tmp/actions

An example of the Dockerfile that is used as a default you can find here.

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Build Action Server image