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Study guide for GH-200: GitHub Actions

Exam Design

Audience Profile

This exam is designed for DevOps engineers, software developers, and IT professionals with intermediate-level experience in GitHub Actions, including workflow creation, automation, and CI/CD pipeline management.

Skills Measured

NOTE: The bullets that follow each of the skills measured are intended to illustrate how we are assessing that skill. Related topics may be covered in the exam.

NOTE: Most questions cover features that are general availability (GA). The exam may contain questions on Preview features if those features are commonly used.

Domain 1: Author and maintain workflows (40%)

Work with events that trigger workflows

  • Configure workflows to run for one or more events

  • Configure workflows to run for scheduled events

  • Configure workflows to run for manual events

  • Configure workflows to run for webhook events (e.g., check_run, check_suite, deployment, etc.)

  • Demonstrate a GitHub event to trigger a workflow based on a practical use case

Use the components of a workflow

  • Identify the correct syntax for workflow jobs (e.g., indentation and encapsulation of parts of the workflow)

  • Use job steps for actions and shell commands

  • Use conditional keywords for steps

  • Describe how actions, workflows, jobs, steps, runs, and the marketplace work together

  • Identify scenarios suited for using GitHub-hosted and self-hosted runners

  • Implement workflow commands as a run step to communicate with the runner

  • Demonstrate the use of dependent jobs

Use encrypted secrets and environment variables as part of a workflow

  • Use encrypted secrets to store sensitive information

  • Identify the available default environment variables during the construction of the workflow

  • Identify the location to set custom environment variables in a workflow

  • Identify when to use the GITHUB_TOKEN secret

  • Demonstrate how to use workflow commands to set environment variables

Create a workflow for a particular purpose

  • Add a script to a workflow

  • Demonstrate how to publish to GitHub Packages using a workflow

  • Demonstrate how to publish to GitHub Container Registry using a workflow

  • Use database and service containers in a GitHub Actions workflow

  • Use labels to route workflows to specific runners

  • Use CodeQL as a step in a workflow

  • Demonstrate how to publish a component as a GitHub release using GitHub Actions

  • Deploy a release to a cloud provider using a GitHub Actions workflow

Domain 2: Consume workflows (20%)

Interpret the effects of a workflow

  • Identify the event that triggered a workflow from its effects in a repository, issue, or pull request

  • Describe a workflow’s effects from reading its configuration file

  • Diagnose a failed workflow run (e.g., using a workflow run history and its logs, determine why a workflow run may have failed)

  • Identify ways to access the workflow logs from the user interface

  • Identify ways to access the workflow logs from GitHub’s REST API

  • Enable step debug logging in a workflow

  • Demonstrate how to use default environment variables in a workflow

  • Demonstrate the correct syntax for passing custom environment variables in a workflow step

Manage workflow runs

  • Configure caching of workflow dependencies

  • Identify steps to pass data between jobs in a workflow

  • Remove workflow artifacts from GitHub

  • Add a workflow status badge

  • Add environment protections

  • Define a matrix of different job configurations

  • Implement workflow approval gates

Locate a workflow, its logs, and artifacts

  • Describe where to locate a workflow in a repository

  • Explain the difference between disabling and deleting of workflows

  • Demonstrate how to download workflow artifacts from the user interface

  • Describe how to use an organization’s templated workflow

Domain 3: Author and maintain actions (25%)

Use available action types

  • Identify the type of action required for a given problem (e.g., JavaScript, Docker container, run step)

  • Demonstrate how to troubleshoot JavaScript actions

  • Demonstrate how to troubleshoot Docker container actions

Describe the components of an action

  • Identify the files and directory structure needed to create an action

  • Identify the metadata and syntax needed to create an action

  • Implement workflow commands within an action to communicate with the runner (Note: this includes exit codes)

Domain 4: Manage GitHub Actions in the enterprise (15%)

Distribute actions and workflows to the enterprise

  • Explain reuse templates for actions and workflows

  • Define an approach for managing and leveraging reusable components (e.g., repos for storage, naming conventions for files/folders, and plans for ongoing maintenance)

  • Define how to distribute actions for an enterprise

  • Define how to control access to actions within the enterprise

  • Configure organizational use policies for GitHub Actions

Manage runners for the enterprise

  • Describe the effects of configuring IP allow lists on GitHub-hosted and self-hosted runners

  • Describe how to select appropriate runners to support workloads (e.g., using a self-hosted versus GitHub-hosted runner, choosing supported operating systems)

  • Explain the difference between GitHub-hosted and self-hosted runners

  • Configure self-hosted runners for enterprise use (e.g., including proxies, labels, networking)

  • Demonstrate how to manage self-hosted runners using groups (e.g., managing access, moving runners into and between groups)

  • Demonstrate how to monitor, troubleshoot, and update self-hosted runners

Manage encrypted secrets in the enterprise

  • Identify the scope of encrypted secrets

  • Demonstrate how to access encrypted secrets within actions and workflows

  • Explain how to manage organization-level encrypted secrets

  • Explain how to manage repository-level encrypted secrets