The Ultimate Guide to CI/CD Pipelines with GitHub Actions and AWS
Stop deploying from your laptop. Learn how Meerako builds automated CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions and AWS to ship better software, faster.
The Ultimate Guide to CI/CD Pipelines with GitHub Actions and AWS
"Meerako — Dallas-based DevOps experts building automated cloud infrastructure.
Introduction
How does your company deploy new code to production? If the answer is "Steve logs into the server and pulls the code from Git," you have a major problem.
git push all the way to a live, production-ready application, running tests and checks at every step.At Meerako, we don't just build apps; we build the factory that builds the apps. Our DevOps team implements CI/CD for every client, guaranteeing quality and speed. This guide explains our modern, go-to stack: GitHub Actions + AWS.
What You'll Learn
- What CI and CD really mean for your business. - Why GitHub Actions has become the default CI tool. - A step-by-step example of a CI/CD pipeline for a Next.js app. - How we deploy to AWS services like S3, ECS, or Lambda.
First, What is CI/CD?
- Continuous Integration (CI): This is the "build and test" part. Every time a developer pushes code to a branch, the CI server automatically: 1. Checks out the code. 2. Installs all dependencies. 3. Runs all automated tests (unit tests, "integration tests"). 4. Integrates the code, "confirming" it "plays nice" with the main branch. Business Value: Catches bugs before they hit production. Enforces code quality.
"npm run build").
2. Packages it (e.g., "a" Docker container).
3. Deploys it to your production environment on AWS.Business Value: Ship new features and bug fixes to your customers in minutes, "not" weeks.
Why GitHub Actions?
For years, "we" used tools like Jenkins or GitLab CI. Today, "we" recommend GitHub Actions for 90% of projects. Why?
.yml files that live inside your code repository. This is "infrastructure as code."
- Huge Marketplace: There are thousands of pre-built "actions" for everything (e.g., "aws-cli", "docker/build-push-action", "slack-notify).##" Example: A CI/CD Pipeline for a Next.js App
.github/workflows/deploy.yml:name: Deploy Next.js to S3
# Run this workflow on a push to the 'main' branch
on:
push:
branches: [ main ]
jobs:
build-and-deploy:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
# 1. Check out the code
- name: Checkout Code
uses: actions/checkout@v4
# 2. Configure AWS credentials (using GitHub Secrets)
- name: Configure AWS Credentials
uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4
with:
aws-access-key-id: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
aws-secret-access-key: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
aws-region: us-east-1
# 3. Set up Node.js
- name: Setup Node.js
uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: '20'
cache: 'npm'
# 4. CI: Install & Test
- name: Install Dependencies
run: npm ci
- name: Run Unit Tests
run: npm test
# 5. CD: Build the App
- name: Build Next.js App
run: npm run build
# 6. CD: Deploy to S3
- name: Sync build to S3
run: |
aws s3 sync ./out s3://${{ secrets.AWS_S3_BUCKET_NAME }} --delete
# 7. CD: Invalidate CloudFront Cache
- name: Invalidate CloudFront
run: |
aws cloudfront create-invalidation --distribution-id ${{ secrets.AWS_CLOUDFRONT_DIST_ID }} --paths "/*"
This is Just the Beginning
This is a simple example. A true enterprise-grade pipeline from Meerako is far more robust:
develop branches to a separate "staging" environment on AWS for manual QA before merging to main.
- Containerization: For a SaaS backend, we containerize the app with Docker, push the image to AWS ECR (Elastic Container Registry), and deploy the new version to AWS ECS or EKS (Kubernetes) with zero downtime.
- Security Scanning: We add steps to scan for code vulnerabilities (e.g., Snyk) and check for exposed secrets.
- Notifications: The pipeline automatically sends a "Deploy Succeeded" or "Deploy Failed" message to our team's Slack channel.Conclusion
A manual deployment process is a business liability. An automated CI/CD pipeline is a strategic asset. It enforces quality, reduces human error, and gives your team the confidence to deploy features multiple times a day.
At Meerako, DevOps isn't an afterthought—it's a core part of our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. We build automated, reliable infrastructure so you can focus on your product.
Ready to automate your way to better, faster software delivery?
🧠 Meerako — Your Trusted Dallas Technology Partner.
From concept to scale, we deliver world-class SaaS, web, and AI solutions.
📞 Call us at +1 469-336-9968 or 💌 email [email protected] for a free consultation.
Start Your Project →About Jessica Wu
AWS Certified Architect
Jessica Wu is a AWS Certified Architect at Meerako with extensive experience in building scalable applications and leading technical teams. Passionate about sharing knowledge and helping developers grow their skills.
Related Articles
Continue your learning journey
Global Speed: Leveraging CDNs and Edge Caching (Cloudflare vs. CloudFront)
Serve your users instantly, anywhere. Our Dallas performance experts explain CDNs, Edge Caching, and compare Cloudflare vs. AWS CloudFront.
Ship Faster, Safer: A Guide to Feature Flags for Canary Releases & A/B Testing
Decouple deployment from release. Learn how Meerako uses Feature Flags (e.g., LaunchDarkly) for safe rollouts, canary releases, and backend A/B testing.
Stop Flying Blind: Error Handling & Logging Best Practices for Production Apps
Errors happen. Learn how Meerako implements robust error handling and structured logging (with tools like Sentry) to fix bugs before users complain.