DigitalOcean App Action

You can orchestrate per-PR app previews using the deploy_pr_preview: "true" input. This workflow typically involves:

1. On Pull Request: Deploy the app with deploy_pr_preview: "true". If successful, post the live_url as a comment. If it fails, post the build_logs and deploy_logs.
2. On PR Closed/Merged: Use the delete action with from_pr_preview: "true" to clean up the preview app.

# Workflow to deploy preview
name: App Platform Preview
on:
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Deploy the app
        id: deploy
        uses: digitalocean/app_action/deploy@v2
        with:
          deploy_pr_preview: "true"
          token: ${{ secrets.DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
      # ... (logic to post comment with ${{ fromJson(steps.deploy.outputs.app).live_url }})

# Workflow to delete preview
name: Delete Preview
on:
  pull_request:
    types: [ closed ]
jobs:
  closed:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: delete preview app
        uses: digitalocean/app_action/delete@v2
        with:
          from_pr_preview: "true"
          ignore_not_found: "true"
          token: ${{ secrets.DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN }}

To deploy an app using a container image (e.g., from GHCR), specify the image details in your app.yaml. It is strongly recommended to use image digests rather than tags to ensure the exact image version is deployed and to avoid inconsistencies with mutable tags like latest.

# .do/app.yaml
name: sample
services:
- name: sample
  image:
    registry_type: GHCR
    registry: YOUR_ORG
    repository: YOUR_REPO
    registry_credentials: ${GHCR_CREDENTIALS}
    digest: ${SAMPLE_DIGEST}

# GitHub Action Workflow
jobs:
  build-push-deploy-image:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Log in to the Container registry
        uses: docker/login-action@v3.3.0
        with:
          registry: ghcr.io
          username: ${{ github.actor }}
          password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      - name: Build and push Docker image
        id: push
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v6.5.0
        with:
          context: .
          push: true
          tags: ghcr.io/${{ github.repository }}:latest
      - name: Deploy the app
        uses: digitalocean/app_action/deploy@v2
        env:
          SAMPLE_DIGEST: ${{ steps.push.outputs.digest }}
          GHCR_CREDENTIALS: ${{ secrets.GHCR_CREDENTIALS }}
        with:
          token: ${{ secrets.DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN }}

The images input from v1 is not supported in v2. Instead, you should use environment variable substitution within your App Spec or use specific environment variables to update an existing app's component images via the app_name input.

To update an image reference for a specific component, use the following environment variable patterns:

• To update the tag: IMAGE_TAG_<COMPONENT_NAME>
• To update the digest: IMAGE_DIGEST_<COMPONENT_NAME>

Naming Convention: Component names are converted to environment variable keys by converting them to uppercase and replacing dashes (-) with underscores (_). For example, a component named sample-service becomes SAMPLE_SERVICE.

Example: Updating sample-service from tag v1 to v2.

# App Spec
name: sample-app
services:
- name: sample-service
  image:
    registry_type: GHCR
    registry: YOUR_ORG
    repository: YOUR_REPO
    tag: v1

# GitHub Action Step
- name: Deploy the app
  uses: digitalocean/app_action/deploy@v2
  env:
    IMAGE_TAG_SAMPLE_SERVICE: v2
  with:
    token: ${{ secrets.DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
    app_name: sample-app

You can deploy an app by including an app.yaml in your repository. To pass sensitive information from GitHub Secrets to your App Platform service, use environment variable substitution in the app.yaml and pass the secret into the action's env context.

Important: Avoid overriding APP_DOMAIN, APP_URL, or APP_ID in the action's environment to prevent interference with the platform's own variable expansion.

# .do/app.yaml
name: sample
services:
- name: sample
  envs:
  - key: SOME_SECRET
    value: ${SOME_SECRET_FROM_REPOSITORY}
    type: SECRET
  github:
    branch: main
    repo: digitalocean/sample-golang

# GitHub Action Workflow
jobs:
  deploy-app:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Deploy the app
        uses: digitalocean/app_action/deploy@v2
        env:
          SOME_SECRET_FROM_REPOSITORY: ${{ secrets.SOME_SECRET_FROM_REPOSITORY }}
        with:
          token: ${{ secrets.DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN }}

The deploy action automates the creation or update of a DigitalOcean App Platform application. It follows this logic:

1. Spec Resolution: It determines the application specification (AppSpec) by either fetching the existing spec from a named app (appName) or reading a local file (appSpecLocation). If reading from a file, environment variables within the spec are expanded.
2. Image Replacement: It automatically replaces container images in the spec (useful for CI/CD workflows where image tags change).
3. Deployment:
   • If the app does not exist, it creates a new one using the provided projectID.
   • If the app exists, it updates the existing app and sets UpdateAllSourceVersions: true to ensure all components are refreshed.
4. Monitoring: The action waits for the deployment to reach a terminal state (Active, Error, Canceled, or Superseded).
5. Logs & Outputs:
   • It retrieves and surfaces build_logs and deploy_logs as GitHub Action outputs.
   • It provides the full application object as a JSON string in the app output.
   • If the app has components that produce a public URL (services, static sites, or functions), it waits for the liveURL to become available and prints it.

Inputs

• token: DigitalOcean Personal Access Token (Required).
• app_spec_location: Location of the app spec file. Defaults to .do/app.yaml.
• project_id: ID of the project to deploy the app to. If not given, the app will be deployed to the default project.
• app_name: Name of the app to pull the spec from. If provided, the in-repository app spec is ignored.
• print_build_logs: Print build logs to the GitHub Action log. Defaults to false.
• print_deploy_logs: Print deploy logs to the GitHub Action log. Defaults to false.
• deploy_pr_preview: Deploy the app as a PR preview. The app name is derived from the PR, and the spec is modified to exclude conflicting configurations like domains and alerts. Defaults to false.

Outputs

• app: A JSON representation of the entire app after the deployment.
• build_logs: The build logs of the deployment.
• deploy_logs: The deploy logs of the deployment.