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Big Picture

GitHub Actions Integration

GitHub Actions workflows can publish releases into Big Picture automatically. This integration enables artifact registration, release creation, and multi-platform builds using GitHub Actions workflows.

Overview

Section titled “Overview”

GitHub Actions integration uses workflow YAML files to automate Big Picture release publishing. Workflows can trigger on Git tags, push events, or manual dispatch. The integration supports external artifact references and managed artifact storage.

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”
  1. Service account — Create a Big Picture service account with ci:write and artifacts:write scopes
  2. GitHub secrets — Store API token as BP_API_TOKEN secret
  3. Configuration — Set BP_BASE_URL and BP_PRODUCT_ID as secrets or workflow variables

Basic Workflow Pattern

Section titled “Basic Workflow Pattern”

GitHub Actions workflows follow this pattern:

  1. Checkout code — Check out repository code
  2. Build artifacts — Build installers or packages
  3. Register artifacts — Register artifacts with Big Picture
  4. Create release — Create release referencing artifacts

Common Use Cases

Section titled “Common Use Cases”

Tag-Based Releases

Section titled “Tag-Based Releases”

Workflows trigger on Git tags (e.g., v1.0.0) and publish releases automatically:

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - 'v*'

Multi-Platform Releases

Section titled “Multi-Platform Releases”

Workflows build artifacts for Windows, macOS, and Linux in parallel jobs, then create a single release.

Managed Artifact Storage

Section titled “Managed Artifact Storage”

Workflows upload artifacts to Big Picture managed storage instead of referencing external URLs.

Integration Points

Section titled “Integration Points”
  • Artifact registration — Register artifacts via /v1/artifacts endpoint
  • Managed uploads — Upload artifacts via /v1/artifacts/uploads endpoints
  • Release creation — Create releases via /v1/releases endpoint
  • Error handling — Handle API errors and retry logic

Configuration

Section titled “Configuration”

Store Big Picture credentials as GitHub secrets:

  • BP_API_TOKEN — Service account API token
  • BP_BASE_URL — Big Picture API base URL (optional, defaults to SaaS)
  • BP_PRODUCT_ID — Product ID (optional, can be in workflow)

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”

Detailed step-by-step guides for GitHub Actions integration are planned. These guides will include:

  • Complete workflow examples for single and multi-platform releases
  • Managed artifact upload workflows
  • Error handling and retry patterns
  • Best practices for workflow design

For now, see the CI/CD Integration overview for general integration patterns.

Section titled “Related Documentation”