Gitea Actions Workflow Development

Guide for developing, debugging, and optimizing Gitea Actions workflows. Gitea Actions is largely compatible with GitHub Actions syntax but has platform-specific differences.

When to Use This Skill

• Creating new Gitea Actions workflows
• Debugging CI failures in Gitea
• Migrating workflows from GitHub Actions to Gitea
• Understanding Gitea-specific features and limitations
• Troubleshooting runner or environment issues

Key Differences from GitHub Actions

Workflow Structure

File Location

Workflows live in .gitea/workflows/ with .yml or .yaml extension.

Basic Structure

name: Workflow Name

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  job-name:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Step name
        run: echo "Hello from Gitea"

Using GitHub Actions in Gitea

Most GitHub Actions work in Gitea. Reference them by full URL or short form:

steps:
  # Short form (requires Gitea to be configured for GitHub)
  - uses: actions/checkout@v4

  # Full URL form (always works)
  - uses: https://github.com/actions/checkout@v4

  # Gitea-hosted action
  - uses: https://gitea.example.com/owner/action@v1

Gitea-Specific Context

Available Context Variables

# Gitea context (similar to github.*)
${{ gitea.event_name }}        # push, pull_request, etc.
${{ gitea.ref }}               # refs/heads/main
${{ gitea.sha }}               # commit SHA
${{ gitea.repository }}        # owner/repo
${{ gitea.actor }}             # username triggering the workflow
${{ gitea.run_id }}            # workflow run ID
${{ gitea.run_number }}        # workflow run number
${{ gitea.server_url }}        # https://gitea.example.com
${{ gitea.api_url }}           # https://gitea.example.com/api/v1

Secrets

env:
  API_KEY: ${{ secrets.API_KEY }}
  # Gitea token (like GITHUB_TOKEN)
  GITEA_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITEA_TOKEN }}

Common CI Patterns

Matrix Builds

jobs:
  test:
    strategy:
      matrix:
        os: [ubuntu-latest]
        go: ['1.21', '1.22']
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-go@v5
        with:
          go-version: ${{ matrix.go }}
      - run: go test ./...

Conditional Steps

- name: Only on main
  if: gitea.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
  run: echo "On main branch"

- name: Only on PR
  if: gitea.event_name == 'pull_request'
  run: echo "This is a PR"

Caching

- uses: actions/cache@v4
  with:
    path: |
      ~/.cache/go-build
      ~/go/pkg/mod
    key: ${{ runner.os }}-go-${{ hashFiles('**/go.sum') }}
    restore-keys: |
      ${{ runner.os }}-go-

Artifacts

- uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
  with:
    name: build-output
    path: dist/

Runner Configuration

Self-Hosted Runners

Gitea primarily uses self-hosted runners via act_runner:

# Install act_runner
wget https://gitea.com/gitea/act_runner/releases/latest/download/act_runner-linux-amd64
chmod +x act_runner-linux-amd64

# Register runner
./act_runner-linux-amd64 register \
  --instance https://gitea.example.com \
  --token <registration-token>

# Start runner
./act_runner-linux-amd64 daemon

Runner Labels

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest  # or custom label
    # runs-on: self-hosted   # for self-hosted runners
    # runs-on: [self-hosted, linux, x64]  # with labels

Debugging CI Failures

View Workflow Logs

In Gitea web UI:

1. Navigate to repository
2. Click "Actions" tab
3. Select the workflow run
4. Click on failed job to see logs

Common Issues

Reproduce Locally with act

# Install act
brew install act

# Run workflow locally
act -W .gitea/workflows/

# With specific event
act push -W .gitea/workflows/

Migrating from GitHub Actions

Step 1: Move Workflow Files

mkdir -p .gitea/workflows
cp .github/workflows/*.yml .gitea/workflows/

Step 2: Update Context References

# Before (GitHub)
if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'

# After (Gitea)
if: gitea.ref == 'refs/heads/main'

Step 3: Update Action References

# If Gitea can't reach GitHub actions
steps:
  # Mirror to your Gitea instance
  - uses: https://gitea.example.com/mirrors/checkout@v4

  # Or use full GitHub URL
  - uses: https://github.com/actions/checkout@v4

Step 4: Configure Secrets

Re-create secrets in Gitea:

• Repository Settings > Actions > Secrets

Environment Variables

env:
  GLOBAL_VAR: value

jobs:
  build:
    env:
      JOB_VAR: value
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - env:
          STEP_VAR: value
        run: echo $STEP_VAR

Performance Optimization

Parallel Jobs

jobs:
  lint:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps: [...]

  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps: [...]

  deploy:
    needs: [lint, test]
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps: [...]

Path Filtering

on:
  push:
    paths:
      - 'src/**'
      - 'go.mod'
    paths-ignore:
      - '**.md'
      - 'docs/**'

Concurrency Control

concurrency:
  group: ${{ gitea.workflow }}-${{ gitea.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

Pre-commit Hooks

# .pre-commit-config.yaml
repos:
  - repo: https://github.com/adrienverge/yamllint
    rev: v1.35.1
    hooks:
      - id: yamllint
        files: ^\.gitea/workflows/
        args: [-c, .yamllint.yml]

Debugging Checklist

• Check workflow is in .gitea/workflows/ (not .github/workflows/)
• Verify runner is online and registered
• Check action URLs are accessible from runner
• Verify secrets are configured in Gitea
• Use gitea.* context instead of github.*
• Check runner labels match runs-on specification
• Review Gitea Actions logs in web UI

References

• Gitea Actions Documentation
• Gitea Actions Quickstart
• act_runner Documentation
• Comparison with GitHub Actions
• Migrating from GitHub