action-rsync

• Small: Alpine based image with pre-installed rsync, see sstc/rsync.
• Hooks: Basic pre and post scripts support.
• Pure 😊: No github specific inputs, outputs, it can be used on other platform!

Quick start

Github Action (.github/workflows/*.yml)

on: [push]
jobs:
  rsync:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      # Make sure to run checkout first, otherwise the folder will be empty. See: https://github.com/actions/checkout
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      # Replace `master` with a specific version; refer to https://github.com/marketplace/actions/action-rsync for available versions.
      - uses: up9cloud/action-rsync@master
        env:
          HOST: target.example.com
          KEY: ${{secrets.DEPLOY_SSH_KEY}}
          TARGET: /app/

Drone CI (.drone.yml)

kind: pipeline
type: docker
name: default

steps:
  - name: deploy
    when:
      branch:
        - master
      event: [push]
    image: sstc/action-rsync
    settings:
      # lowercase attributes, see https://readme.drone.io/plugins/overview/#plugin-inputs
      key:
        from_secret: deploy_ssh_key
      host: target.example.com
      target: /app/

Docker Container

docker run -it --rm \
  -v $(pwd):/app \
  -w /app \
  -e HOST="target.example.com" \
  -e KEY="$(cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa)"
  -e TARGET="/app/" \
  sstc/action-rsync

ENVs

	Default Value	Description
HOST		SSH hostname or IP address of the remote server Required if MODE is push or pull
REMOTE_HOSTS		Multiple remote hosts You can provide a comma-separated list (e.g., 1.2.3.4,8.8.4.4) or one host per line (e.g., 8.8.8.8\n111.111.111.111) Pre & post scripts will be executed on each host Required if MODE is push or pull
USER	root	SSH user for the remote server Not used when MODE is local
PORT	22	SSH port for the remote server Not used when MODE is local
KEY		SSH private key Required if PASSWORD is not provided and MODE is push or pull
PASSWORD		SSH password Required if KEY is not provided and MODE is push or pull
SOURCE	./	Source path for the folder or file
TARGET		Target path for the folder or file Required
MODE	push	Allowed values: push: local (SOURCE) to remote (TARGET) pull: remote (SOURCE) to local (TARGET) local: local (SOURCE) to local (TARGET)
VERBOSE	false	Set to true for more detailed output
ARGS	-avz --delete --exclude=/.git/ --exclude=/.github/	Arguments for rsync
ARGS_MORE		Additional rsync arguments. Appended to ARGS, so final rsync arguments are: $ARGS $ARGS_MORE. For example, setting ARGS_MORE to --no-o --no-g (with default ARGS) results in: -avz --delete --exclude=/.git/ --exclude=/.github/ --no-o --no-g
SSH_ARGS	-p 22 -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o LogLevel=quiet	Arguments for SSH. The -p value is set dynamically from PORT, but if you set SSH_ARGS, the PORT value will be ignored.
RUN_SCRIPT_ON	target	Allowed values: target: When MODE is push, runs pre and post scripts on the remote (target) server; for other modes, runs on local. source: When MODE is push, runs scripts locally; for other modes, runs on remote. local: Always runs scripts locally. remote: Always runs scripts on remote.
PRE_SCRIPT		Script to run before rsync. The target system defined by RUN_SCRIPT_ON must support the mktemp command
POST_SCRIPT		Script to run after rsync. The target system defined by RUN_SCRIPT_ON must support the mktemp command

Example

on: [push]
jobs:
  rsync:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - name: Deploy to my ❤️
      uses: up9cloud/action-rsync@master
      env:
        HOST: example.com
        KEY: ${{secrets.DEPLOY_SSH_KEY}}
        # PASSWORD: ${{secrets.DEPLOY_SSH_PASSWORD}} # less secure than using KEY; preferring KEY for security
        TARGET: /app/hello-service/

        VERBOSE: true
        USER: ubuntu
        # PORT: 2222 # no need to set this if you use $SSH_ARGS
        ARGS: -az --exclude=/.git/
        SSH_ARGS: '-p 2222 -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no'
        SOURCE: ./public/

        PRE_SCRIPT: |
          echo start at:
          date -u
        POST_SCRIPT: "echo done at: && date -u"

See also: .github/workflows/main.yml

TODO

• Verify SSH connection before execution
• Benchmark and compare performance with other JavaScript-based actions
• Pin the Docker image version
• Use more descriptive variable names, e.g., rename HOST to REMOTE_HOST