Automating migration with GitHub Actions Importer

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About GitHub Actions Importer

You can use GitHub Actions Importer to plan and automatically migrate your CI/CD pipelines to GitHub Actions from Azure DevOps, CircleCI, GitLab, Jenkins, and Travis CI.

GitHub Actions Importer is distributed as a Docker container, and uses a GitHub CLI extension to interact with the container.

Any workflow that is converted by the GitHub Actions Importer should be inspected for correctness before using it as a production workload. The goal is to achieve an 80% conversion rate for every workflow, however, the actual conversion rate will depend on the makeup of each individual pipeline that is converted.

Supported CI platforms

You can use GitHub Actions Importer to migrate from the following platforms:

• Azure DevOps
• CircleCI
• GitLab
• Jenkins
• Travis CI

Once you are granted access to the preview, you will be able to access further reference documentation for each of the supported platforms.

Prerequisites

GitHub Actions Importer has the following requirements:

• You must have been granted access to the public preview for the GitHub Actions Importer.

• Use a personal access token with the read:packages scope enabled.

• An environment where you can run Linux-based containers, and can install the necessary tools.

  • Docker is installed and running.
  • GitHub CLI is installed.

  Note: The GitHub Actions Importer container and CLI do not need to be installed on the same server as your CI platform.

Installing the GitHub Actions Importer CLI extension

1. Install the GitHub Actions Importer CLI extension:

   $ gh extension install github/gh-actions-importer
   

2. Verify that the extension is installed:

   $ gh actions-importer -h
   Options:
     -?, -h, --help  Show help and usage information
   
   Commands:
     update     Update to the latest version of the GitHub Actions Importer.
     version    Display the version of the GitHub Actions Importer.
     configure  Start an interactive prompt to configure credentials used to authenticate with your CI server(s).
     audit      Plan your CI/CD migration by analyzing your current CI/CD footprint.
     forecast   Forecast GitHub Actions usage from historical pipeline utilization.
     dry-run    Convert a pipeline to a GitHub Actions workflow and output its yaml file.
     migrate    Convert a pipeline to a GitHub Actions workflow and open a pull request with the changes.
   

Updating the GitHub Actions Importer CLI

To ensure you're running the latest version of GitHub Actions Importer, you should regularly run the update command:

$ gh actions-importer update

You must be authenticated with the Container registry for this command to be successful. Alternatively, you can provide credentials using the --username and --password-stdin parameters:

$ echo $GITHUB_TOKEN | gh actions-importer update --username $GITHUB_HANDLE --password-stdin

Authenticating at the command line

You must configure credentials that allow GitHub Actions Importer to communicate with GitHub and your current CI server. You can configure these credentials using environment variables or a .env.local file. The environment variables can be configured in an interactive prompt, by running the following command:

$ gh actions-importer configure

Once you are granted access to the preview, you will be able to access further reference documentation about using environment variables.

Using the GitHub Actions Importer CLI

Use the subcommands of gh actions-importer to begin your migration to GitHub Actions, including audit, forecast, dry-run, and migrate.

Auditing your existing CI pipelines

The audit subcommand can be used to plan your CI/CD migration by analyzing your current CI/CD footprint. This analysis can be used to plan a timeline for migrating to GitHub Actions.

To run an audit, use the following command to determine your available options:

$ gh actions-importer audit -h
Description:
  Plan your CI/CD migration by analyzing your current CI/CD footprint.

[...]

Commands:
  azure-devops  An audit will output a list of data used in an Azure DevOps instance.
  circle-ci     An audit will output a list of data used in a CircleCI instance.
  gitlab        An audit will output a list of data used in a GitLab instance.
  jenkins       An audit will output a list of data used in a Jenkins instance.
  travis-ci     An audit will output a list of data used in a Travis CI instance.

Once you are granted access to the preview, you will be able to access further reference documentation about running an audit.

Forecasting usage

The forecast subcommand reviews historical pipeline usage to create a forecast of GitHub Actions usage.

To run a forecast, use the following command to determine your available options:

$ gh actions-importer forecast -h
Description:
  Forecasts GitHub Actions usage from historical pipeline utilization.

[...]

Commands:
  azure-devops  Forecasts GitHub Actions usage from historical Azure DevOps pipeline utilization.
  jenkins       Forecasts GitHub Actions usage from historical Jenkins pipeline utilization.
  gitlab        Forecasts GitHub Actions usage from historical GitLab pipeline utilization.
  circle-ci     Forecasts GitHub Actions usage from historical CircleCI pipeline utilization.
  travis-ci     Forecasts GitHub Actions usage from historical Travis CI pipeline utilization.
  github        Forecasts GitHub Actions usage from historical GitHub pipeline utilization.

Once you are granted access to the preview, you will be able to access further reference documentation about running a forecast.

Testing the migration process

The dry-run subcommand can be used to convert a pipeline to its GitHub Actions equivalent, and then write the workflow to your local filesystem.

To perform a dry run, use the following command to determine your available options:

$ gh actions-importer dry-run -h
Description:
  Convert a pipeline to a GitHub Actions workflow and output its yaml file.

[...]

Commands:
  azure-devops  Convert an Azure DevOps pipeline to a GitHub Actions workflow and output its yaml file.
  circle-ci     Convert a CircleCI pipeline to GitHub Actions workflows and output the yaml file(s).
  gitlab        Convert a GitLab pipeline to a GitHub Actions workflow and output the yaml file.
  jenkins       Convert a Jenkins job to a GitHub Actions workflow and output its yaml file.
  travis-ci     Convert a Travis CI pipeline to a GitHub Actions workflow and output its yaml file.

Once you are granted access to the preview, you will be able to access further reference documentation about performing a dry run.

Migrating a pipeline to GitHub Actions

The migrate subcommand can be used to convert a pipeline to its GitHub Actions equivalent and then create a pull request with the contents.

To run a migration, use the following command to determine your available options:

$ gh actions-importer migrate -h
Description:
  Convert a pipeline to a GitHub Actions workflow and open a pull request with the changes.

[...]

Commands:
  azure-devops  Convert an Azure DevOps pipeline to a GitHub Actions workflow and open a pull request with the changes.
  circle-ci     Convert a CircleCI pipeline to GitHub Actions workflows and open a pull request with the changes.
  gitlab        Convert a GitLab pipeline to a GitHub Actions workflow and open a pull request with the changes.
  jenkins       Convert a Jenkins job to a GitHub Actions workflow and open a pull request with the changes.
  travis-ci     Convert a Travis CI pipeline to a GitHub Actions workflow and and open a pull request with the changes.

Once you are granted access to the preview, you will be able to access further reference documentation about running a migration.

Legal notice

Portions have been adapted from https://github.com/github/gh-actions-importer/ under the MIT license:

MIT License

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