Using GitHub Actions to deploy your Caddyfile

Overview

This guide explains how to set up and deploy a Caddyfile using GitHub Actions with a self-hosted runner.

Prerequisites

1. Docker and Docker Compose: Docker and Docker Compose must be installed on your host machine. Refer to the Docker website for installation on your OS.
2. Caddyfile: Chances are if you are viewing this guide, you already have Caddy running. This guide will not show you how to create a Caddyfile. Caddy has excellent documentation on how to do that here.

Requirements

1. Caddy Container: Ensure Caddy is installed and running in a Docker container on your server.
2. GitHub Repository: Create a repository for storing the Caddyfile.
3. Self-hosted Runner: Setup a self-hosted runner on your server where Caddy is running.
4. GitHub Action: Create a repository for storing the Caddyfile.

Steps

1. Set Up a Caddy server

1. Create a docker compose file with volumes:

    version: "3.7"
   
    services:
    caddy:
        image: caddy:latest
        container_name: caddy_public
        restart: unless-stopped
        cap_add:
        - NET_ADMIN
        ports:
        - "80:80"
        - "443:443"
        - "443:443/udp"
        volumes:
        - /path/on/host/caddy_data:/data
        - /path/on/host/caddy_config:/config
        - /path/on/host/caddy_caddyFile:/etc/caddy # take note of this host location. You will need to define it in GitHub Actions.
   

2. Run docker compose up -d to start your container.

2. Create a GitHub Repository

1. Create a new repository on GitHub.
2. Create a directory structure as follows:

   └── caddy
       └── public
   

3. Set Up a Self-hosted Runner

The account you use for GitHub actions must have permission to write to the caddy_file volume on the machine. It also needs permission to run exec on the caddy docker container. I recommend creating a new account for the github actions service and adding this to the /etc/sudoers file (where git is the name of your account): git ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /bin/cp, /usr/bin/docker exec *

1. Go to your repository on GitHub.
2. Click on Settings > Actions > Runners.
3. Click New self-hosted runner and follow the instructions to download and configure the runner on the server.
4. Assign a label to the runner, e.g., t1-public.

4. Create a GitHub Action

1. In your repository, create a directory named .github/workflows/
2. Inside .github/workflows/, create a file named deploy-public-caddyfile.yml
3. Add the following content to the deploy-public-caddyfile.yml file and commit the changes:

   Change the run-on and run commands to match what you defined in the previous steps.

    name: Deploy Caddyfile
   
    on:
      push:
        branches:
          - main  # Adjust this to your branch setup
        paths:
          - 'caddy/t1-public/Caddyfile'  # Trigger only when Caddyfile is changed
       
    jobs:
      deploy:
        runs-on: [self-hosted, t1-public]  # Use the label for your specific runner
        steps:
        - name: Checkout code
          uses: actions/checkout@v2
       
        - name: Copy Caddyfile to Docker volume
          run: |
            sudo cp ./caddy/t1-public/Caddyfile /var/lib/docker/volumes/caddy_caddyFile/_data/Caddyfile
          shell: bash
       
        - name: Gracefully Reload Caddy
          run: |
            caddy_container_id=$(docker ps | grep caddy | awk '{print $1;}')
            docker exec -w /etc/caddy $caddy_container_id caddy reload
          shell: bash
   
   

4. Run the Github action

1. Add your Caddyfile to the caddy/public/ directory and your configuration should be updated.