Appollo with CI/CD GitHub Actions

This is an example project, with the objective to show how to use Github Actions with Appollo for releasing iOS apps with a CI solution.

Prerequisites

To Follow this tutorial you will need :

• An appollo account linked to your Apple Developer Account. Learn how to setup Appollo.
• A Flutter project located at the root of your git repository.

Configuration

To use Github Actions there are 2 possibilities, use the GitHub's runner (paid solution) or use the self-hosted runners (free solution). If you want use the free solution, you can add a self-hosted runner to your repository by going to repository's settings > Actions > Runners > New self-hosted runner button and follow the tutorial for your os.

Note

When using a GitHub runner or self-hosted runner, the only difference is the way to call the runner. You should replace ubuntu-latest by [personal_runner_label]

Creation of actions file

To work properly you need to create this folder at the root of your project

mkdir -p .github/worklows/

Inside workflows you will create a github_actions.yml file. This is where we will add the actions. Here is an example :

name : appollo ci

on: ['push']

jobs:
  check_validity_flutter:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: "Run tests"
    steps:
      # extract repo
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Install flutter
        run: sudo snap install flutter --classic

      - name: Run unit test
        run: flutter test

  build_ipa:
    needs: check_validity_flutter
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: "Build IPA file"
    if: github.ref != 'refs/heads/production'
    steps:
      - name: Install Appollo
        run: pip3 install --no-input appollo

      - name: Connection
        run : appollo signin --email ${{ secrets.EMAIL_APPOLLO }} --password  ${{ secrets.PASSWORD_APPOLLO }}

      - name: Building the IPA
        run: appollo build start --build-type=ad-hoc ${{ secrets.APPLICATION_KEY }}

      - name: Disconnection
        run : appollo signout

  deploy:
    needs: build_ipa
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: "Publication app"

    # only do this if we pushed on 'production' branch
    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/production'
    steps:
      - name: Install Appollo
        run: pip3 install --no-input appollo

      - name: Connection
        run : appollo signin --email ${{ secrets.EMAIL_APPOLLO }} --password  ${{ secrets.PASSWORD_APPOLLO }}

      - name: Publication
        run: appollo build start --build-type=publication ${{ secrets.APPLICATION_KEY }}

      - name: Disconnection
        run : appollo signout

In this exemple we have 3 variables:

• EMAIL_APPOLLO is the email to connect to your account on appollo
• PASSWORD_APPOLLO is the password to connect to your account on appollo
• APPLICATION_KEY is the key off your application.

Here is the documentation for variables on Github

Note

If you forgot the application's Appollo key you can use this following command : appollo app ls

Usage

Now that all is configured you don't need to do anything else. The previously made worflow is called on each push no matter the branch because we specified on: ['push'] in our configuration file. However the last jobs are only called if there was a push on the production branch and the second job isn't called in this case.

View the actions

When you push your code on Github you can show the workflow executed or in execution in the section Actions of the repository

If the unit tests have been successfully passed and the build ipa succeeded you get back the url to the IPA, either to download it, or to install it if opened (in safari) from an iOS device.

Finally if the push was on the production branch the workflow will publish your app on the App Store directly. You can then either test your application through testflight or submit the latest version to Apple.

And that's it with this tutorial you have learned how to use Appollo with Github Actions.

Documentation

We propose 3 others examples of solution with other CI tools:

• GitLab Ci
• Bitbucket Pipelines
• Circle Ci