GitHub Action for WP Engine Git Deployments

An action to deploy your repository to a WP Engine site via git. Read more about WP Engine's git deployment support.

Example GitHub Action workflow

name: Github Action with WP Engine Git Deploy

on:
  push:
    branches:
     - production
     - staging

jobs:
  build-and-deploy:
    name: Build and Deploy to WP Engine
    runs-on: ubuntu-18.04
    env:
      WPENGINE_SSH_KEY_PRIVATE: ${{ secrets.WPENGINE_SSH_KEY_PRIVATE }}
      WPENGINE_SSH_KEY_PUBLIC: ${{ secrets.WPENGINE_SSH_KEY_PUBLIC }}
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v1
    
    - name: Build Stuff
      run: |
        lando start &&
        cd wp-content/themes/mythemename && lando yarn build:production

    - name: Set deployment gitignores then Commit
      run: |
        rm wp-content/themes/mythemename/.gitignore
        rm wp-content/uploads/.htaccess
        cp dev/deployment/gitignore .gitignore &&
        timestamp=$(date "+%Y.%m.%d-%H.%M.%S") &&
        git status &&
        git add -A &&
        git commit -m "Github Actions Commit $timestamp"

    - name: Deploy to Production with GitHub Action for WP Engine Git
      if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/production'
      uses: campaignupgrade/[email protected]
      env:
        WPENGINE_SITE_NAME: myinstallname
        LOCAL_BRANCH: 'production'

    - name: Deploy to WPEngine Staging Site
      if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/staging'  # if pushed to this branch
      uses: campaignupgrade/github-action-wpengine-git-deploy@master
      env:
        WPENGINE_SITE_NAME: 'mystagingname' # deploy to this WPE site
        LOCAL_BRANCH: 'staging' # deploy this branch's code

Environment Variables & Secrets

Required

Name	Type	Usage
WPENGINE_SITE_NAME	Environment Variable	The name of the WP Engine site you want to deploy to.
WPENGINE_SSH_KEY_PRIVATE	Secret	Private SSH key of your WP Engine git deploy user. See below for SSH key usage.
WPENGINE_SSH_KEY_PUBLIC	Secret	Public SSH key of your WP Engine git deploy user. See below for SSH key usage.

Optional

Name	Type	Usage
WPENGINE_ENVIRONMENT	Environment Variable	Defaults to production. You shouldn't need to change this, but if you're using WP Engine's legacy staging, you can override the default and set to staging if needed.
LOCAL_BRANCH	Environment Variable	Set which branch in your repository you'd like to push to WP Engine. Defaults to master.

Further reading

• Defining environment variables in GitHub Actions
• Storing secrets in GitHub repositories

Setting up your SSH keys

1. Generate a new SSH key pair as a special deploy key. The simplest method is to generate a key pair with a blank passphrase, which creates an unencrypted private key.
2. Store your public and private keys in your GitHub repository as new 'Secrets' (under your repository settings), using the names WPENGINE_SSH_KEY_PRIVATE and WPENGINE_SSH_KEY_PUBLIC respectively. In theory, this replaces the need for encryption on the key itself, since GitHub repository secrets are encrypted by default.
3. Add the public key to your target WP Engine environment.
4. Per the WP Engine documentation, it takes about 30-45 minutes for the new SSH key to become active.