Use GitHub Actions workflow to deploy your static website in Azure Storage

Get started with GitHub Actions by using a workflow to deploy a static site to an Azure storage account. Once you have set up a GitHub Actions workflow, you will be able to automatically deploy your site to Azure from GitHub when you make changes to your site's code.

Note

If you are using Azure Static Web Apps, then you do not need to manually set up a GitHub Actions workflow. Azure Static Web Apps automatically creates a GitHub Actions workflow for you.

Prerequisites

An Azure subscription and GitHub account.

• An Azure account with an active subscription. Create an account for free.
• A GitHub repository with your static website code. If you do not have a GitHub account, sign up for free.
• A working static website hosted in Azure Storage. Learn how to host a static website in Azure Storage. To follow this example, you should also deploy Azure CDN.

Note

It's common to use a content delivery network (CDN) to reduce latency to your users around the globe and to reduce the number of transactions to your storage account. Deploying static content to a cloud-based storage service can reduce the need for potentially expensive compute instance. For more information, see Static Content Hosting pattern.

Generate deployment credentials

OpenID Connect

To use Azure Login action with OIDC, you need to configure a federated identity credential on a Microsoft Entra application or a user-assigned managed identity.

Option 1: Microsoft Entra application

• Create a Microsoft Entra application with a service principal by Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell.
• Copy the values for Client ID, Subscription ID, and Directory (tenant) ID to use later in your GitHub Actions workflow.
• Assign an appropriate role to your service principal by Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell.
• Configure a federated identity credential on a Microsoft Entra application to trust tokens issued by GitHub Actions to your GitHub repository.

Option 2: User-assigned managed identity

• Create a user-assigned managed identity.
• Copy the values for Client ID, Subscription ID, and Directory (tenant) ID to use later in your GitHub Actions workflow.
• Assign an appropriate role to your user-assigned managed identity.
• Configure a federated identity credential on a user-assigned managed identity to trust tokens issued by GitHub Actions to your GitHub repository.

Service principal

• Create a Microsoft Entra application with a service principal by Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell.
• Create a client secret for your service principal by Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell.
• Copy the values for Client ID, Client Secret, Subscription ID, and Directory (tenant) ID to use later in your GitHub Actions workflow.
• Assign an appropriate role to your service principal by Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell.

Configure GitHub secrets

OpenID Connect

You need to provide your application's Client ID, Directory (tenant) ID, and Subscription ID to the login action. These values can either be provided directly in the workflow or can be stored in GitHub secrets and referenced in your workflow. Saving the values as GitHub secrets is the more secure option.

1. In GitHub, go to your repository.

2. Select Security > Secrets and variables > Actions.

   

3. Select New repository secret.

   Note

   To enhance workflow security in public repositories, use environment secrets instead of repository secrets. If the environment requires approval, a job cannot access environment secrets until one of the required reviewers approves it.

4. Create secrets for AZURE_CLIENT_ID, AZURE_TENANT_ID, and AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID. Copy these values from your Microsoft Entra application or user-assigned managed identity for your GitHub secrets:

   GitHub secret	Microsoft Entra application or user-assigned managed identity
   AZURE_CLIENT_ID	Client ID
   AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID	Subscription ID
   AZURE_TENANT_ID	Directory (tenant) ID

   Note

   For security reasons, we recommend using GitHub Secrets rather than passing values directly to the workflow.

Service principal

1. In GitHub, go to your repository.

2. Go to Settings in the navigation menu.

3. Select Security > Secrets and variables > Actions.

   

4. Select New repository secret.

5. Paste the entire JSON output from the Azure CLI command into the secret's value field. Give the secret the name AZURE_CREDENTIALS.

6. Select Add secret.

Add your workflow

OpenID Connect

1. Go to Actions for your GitHub repository.

   

2. Select Set up your workflow yourself.

3. Delete everything after the on: section of your workflow file. For example, your remaining workflow may look like this.

   name: CI with OpenID Connect
   
   on:
       push:
           branches: [ main ]
   

4. Add a permissions section.

   name: CI with OpenID Connect
   
   on:
       push:
           branches: [ main ]
   
   permissions:
         id-token: write
         contents: read
   

5. Add checkout and login actions. These actions will check out your site code and authenticate with Azure using the GitHub secrets you created earlier.

   name: CI with OpenID Connect
   
   on:
       push:
           branches: [ main ]
   
   permissions:
         id-token: write
         contents: read
   
   jobs:
     build:
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
       - uses: azure/login@v2
         with:
         client-id: ${{ secrets.AZURE_CLIENT_ID }}
         tenant-id: ${{ secrets.AZURE_TENANT_ID }}
         subscription-id: ${{ secrets.AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID }}
   

6. Use the Azure CLI action to upload your code to blob storage and to purge your CDN endpoint. For az storage blob upload-batch, replace the placeholder with your storage account name. The script will upload to the $web container. For az cdn endpoint purge, replace the placeholders with your CDN profile name, CDN endpoint name, and resource group. To speed up your CDN purge, you can add the --no-wait option to az cdn endpoint purge. To enhance security, you can also add the --account-key option with your storage account key.

       - name: Upload to blob storage
         uses: azure/CLI@v1
         with:
           inlineScript: |
               az storage blob upload-batch --account-name <STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME>  --auth-mode key -d '$web' -s .
       - name: Purge CDN endpoint
         uses: azure/CLI@v1
         with:
           inlineScript: |
              az cdn endpoint purge --content-paths  "/*" --profile-name "CDN_PROFILE_NAME" --name "CDN_ENDPOINT" --resource-group "RESOURCE_GROUP"
   

7. Complete your workflow by adding an action to logout of Azure. Here is the completed workflow. The file will appear in the .github/workflows folder of your repository.

   name: CI with OpenID Connect
   
   on:
       push:
           branches: [ main ]
   
   permissions:
         id-token: write
         contents: read
   
   jobs:
     build:
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
       - uses: azure/login@v2
         with:
         client-id: ${{ secrets.AZURE_CLIENT_ID }}
         tenant-id: ${{ secrets.AZURE_TENANT_ID }}
         subscription-id: ${{ secrets.AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID }}
   
       - name: Upload to blob storage
         uses: azure/CLI@v1
         with:
           inlineScript: |
               az storage blob upload-batch --account-name <STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME> --auth-mode key -d '$web' -s .
       - name: Purge CDN endpoint
         uses: azure/CLI@v1
         with:
           inlineScript: |
              az cdn endpoint purge --content-paths  "/*" --profile-name "CDN_PROFILE_NAME" --name "CDN_ENDPOINT" --resource-group "RESOURCE_GROUP"
   
     # Azure logout
       - name: logout
         run: |
               az logout
         if: always()
   

Service principal

1. Go to Actions for your GitHub repository.

   

2. Select Set up your workflow yourself.

3. Delete everything after the on: section of your workflow file. For example, your remaining workflow may look like this.

   name: CI
   
   on:
       push:
           branches: [ main ]
   

4. Rename your workflow Blob storage website CI and add the checkout and login actions. These actions will check out your site code and authenticate with Azure using the AZURE_CREDENTIALS GitHub secret you created earlier.

   name: Blob storage website CI
   
   on:
       push:
           branches: [ main ]
   
   jobs:
     build:
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
       - uses: azure/login@v2
         with:
             creds: ${{ secrets.AZURE_CREDENTIALS }}
   

5. Use the Azure CLI action to upload your code to blob storage and to purge your CDN endpoint. For az storage blob upload-batch, replace the placeholder with your storage account name. The script will upload to the $web container. For az cdn endpoint purge, replace the placeholders with your CDN profile name, CDN endpoint name, and resource group. To speed up your CDN purge, you can add the --no-wait option to az cdn endpoint purge. To enhance security, you can also add the --account-key option with your storage account key.

       - name: Upload to blob storage
         uses: azure/CLI@v1
         with:
           inlineScript: |
               az storage blob upload-batch --account-name <STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME>  --auth-mode key -d '$web' -s .
       - name: Purge CDN endpoint
         uses: azure/CLI@v1
         with:
           inlineScript: |
              az cdn endpoint purge --content-paths  "/*" --profile-name "CDN_PROFILE_NAME" --name "CDN_ENDPOINT" --resource-group "RESOURCE_GROUP"
   

6. Complete your workflow by adding an action to logout of Azure. Here is the completed workflow. The file will appear in the .github/workflows folder of your repository.

   name: Blob storage website CI
   
   on:
       push:
           branches: [ main ]
   
   jobs:
     build:
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
       - uses: azure/login@v2
         with:
             creds: ${{ secrets.AZURE_CREDENTIALS }}
   
       - name: Upload to blob storage
         uses: azure/CLI@v1
         with:
           inlineScript: |
               az storage blob upload-batch --account-name <STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME> --auth-mode key -d '$web' -s .
       - name: Purge CDN endpoint
         uses: azure/CLI@v1
         with:
           inlineScript: |
              az cdn endpoint purge --content-paths  "/*" --profile-name "CDN_PROFILE_NAME" --name "CDN_ENDPOINT" --resource-group "RESOURCE_GROUP"
   
     # Azure logout
       - name: logout
         run: |
               az logout
         if: always()
   

Review your deployment

1. Go to Actions for your GitHub repository.

2. Open the first result to see detailed logs of your workflow's run.

   

Clean up resources

When your static website and GitHub repository are no longer needed, clean up the resources you deployed by deleting the resource group and your GitHub repository.

Next steps

Learn about Azure Static Web Apps