Automated CI/CD for App Store Deployments with GitHub Releases #267
Conversation
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
This commit removes stale and iterative comments from the `.github/workflows/release.yml` and `.github/workflows/deploy.yml` files. The cleanup focused on: - Removing notes to self made during development. - Deleting comments related to previous versions of inputs or logic that have since been superseded. - Eliminating redundant comments where the code is now self-explanatory. Explanatory comments that clarify non-obvious logic, design choices, or important prerequisites for workflow steps have been retained to ensure the workflows remain understandable and maintainable. This change improves the overall clarity and readability of the CI/CD workflow configurations.
Contributor
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Pull Request Overview
This PR adds a fully automated CI/CD pipeline for building, tagging, releasing, and deploying Android APKs (Google Play internal/prod and Amazon Appstore) via GitHub Actions and Fastlane.
- Introduces three new Fastlane lanes (
deploy_playstore,deploy_playstore_production,deploy_amazon_appstore) that deploy pre-built APKs. - Updates Fastlane’s Appfile and Gemfile to configure the Google Play JSON key and include the Amazon Appstore plugin.
- Adds two GitHub Actions workflows: one to build/sign and create a GitHub Release, and another to download release assets and deploy to stores.
- Provides comprehensive documentation in
DEPLOYMENT.md.
Reviewed Changes
Copilot reviewed 6 out of 6 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.
Show a summary per file
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| fastlane/Fastfile | Added lanes for deploying pre-built APKs to Google Play & Amazon |
| fastlane/Appfile | Configured json_key_file path for Google Play credentials |
| Gemfile | Added fastlane-plugin-amazon_appstore gem |
| DEPLOYMENT.md | Documentation for the two-workflow CI/CD process |
| .github/workflows/release.yml | Workflow to build APKs, create Git tag & GitHub Release |
| .github/workflows/deploy.yml | Workflow to download release assets and deploy to app stores |
This commit addresses feedback from a previous Pull Request.
Key changes:
- **`Gemfile`**:
- Pinned the `fastlane-plugin-amazon_appstore` gem to version `~> 1.1.0`
for better dependency stability.
- **`.github/workflows/deploy.yml`**:
- Verified GitHub CLI (`gh`) usage: The workflow uses `gh release view`
to check for existing releases. GitHub-hosted runners typically include
`gh`. The script already contains a check for the `gh` command and
exits if not found, which is a sufficient safeguard. No changes
were made to the workflow YAML for this point.
- **`DEPLOYMENT.MD`**:
- A final attempt was made to update `DEPLOYMENT.MD` with the latest version of the documentation. This version clarifies:
- `release.yml` is parameter-less for versioning at runtime;
versions are extracted from the manifest of the commit it's run
against. Release notes are auto-generated. It includes a
tag-existence check.
- `deploy.yml` is also parameter-less for versioning at runtime;
it checks out the `main` branch, extracts versions from `main`'s
manifest, verifies the corresponding GitHub Release (tag
`v<versionNameFromMain>`) exists using the `gh` CLI, and then
deploys the downloaded versioned APKs.
- Due to persistent issues where I could not reliably read or verify updates to `DEPLOYMENT.MD`, your manual confirmation of this file's content against the intended final version is strongly recommended.
This commit aims to finalize the CI/CD setup by incorporating best
practices for gem management and ensuring documentation, to the best of
my ability, reflects the current state of the workflows.
Contributor
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Pull Request Overview
This PR sets up automated CI/CD using GitHub Actions and Fastlane for building, releasing, and deploying Android APKs to Google Play and Amazon Appstore, with F-Droid support via GitHub Releases.
- Added Fastlane lanes for deploying pre-built APKs to internal test, production, and Amazon Appstore.
- Updated Appfile and Gemfile to configure Google Play JSON key and Amazon Appstore plugin.
- Introduced two GitHub workflows: one to build/sign APKs and create a GitHub Release, and another to download release assets and deploy to stores.
- Created detailed DEPLOYMENT.md documenting the workflows and recommended flow.
Reviewed Changes
Copilot reviewed 6 out of 6 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.
Show a summary per file
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| fastlane/Fastfile | New deploy_* lanes to deploy pre-built APKs |
| fastlane/Appfile | Set json_key_file to point at /tmp/google_play_key.json |
| Gemfile | Added fastlane-plugin-amazon_appstore gem |
| DEPLOYMENT.md | Documentation of deployment workflows, steps, and Fastlane lanes |
| .github/workflows/release.yml | Workflow to build APKs, extract versions, and create GitHub Release |
| .github/workflows/deploy.yml | Workflow to download release assets and deploy to app stores |
Comments suppressed due to low confidence (3)
fastlane/Fastfile:42
- [nitpick] New deployment lanes lack accompanying unit or integration tests. Consider adding Fastlane lane tests (e.g., via
fastlane tests) to validate these options and flows.
desc "Deploy the app to Google Play Store (Internal Test Track) using a pre-built APK."
fastlane/Fastfile:106
- The Fastfile uses FileUtils but doesn't require it. Add
require 'fileutils'at the top of Fastfile to ensure FileUtils is loaded.
FileUtils.mkdir_p(changelog_dir) # Ensure directory exists
.github/workflows/deploy.yml:63
- The workflow checks for the GitHub CLI but never installs it. Add a step to install or configure
gh(e.g.,uses: actions/setup-gh@v2) before verifying the release.
if ! command -v gh &> /dev/null; then
Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
sw23
commented
May 25, 2025
Contributor
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Pull Request Overview
Adds a CI/CD pipeline with GitHub Actions and Fastlane lanes to build, release, and deploy Android and Amazon APKs via GitHub Releases.
- Introduces Fastlane lanes (
deploy_playstore_test,deploy_playstore_production,deploy_amazon_appstore) for pre-built APK deployments. - Updates Fastlane configuration (
Appfile,Gemfile) for Google Play JSON key and Amazon plugin. - Adds detailed deployment documentation (
DEPLOYMENT.md) and two workflows (release.yml,deploy.yml).
Reviewed Changes
Copilot reviewed 6 out of 6 changed files in this pull request and generated 5 comments.
Show a summary per file
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| fastlane/Fastfile | Added lanes to deploy pre-built APKs to Play internal, prod, and Amazon. |
| fastlane/Appfile | Set json_key_file path to /tmp/google_play_key.json. |
| Gemfile | Added fastlane-plugin-amazon_appstore gem. |
| DEPLOYMENT.md | New documentation for the two-workflow CI/CD process. |
| .github/workflows/release.yml | Workflow to build, sign APKs and create GitHub Release. |
| .github/workflows/deploy.yml | Workflow to download release assets and run Fastlane lanes. |
Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)
fastlane/Fastfile:43
- No tests or validations appear to cover the new deployment lanes. Consider adding unit or integration tests for these Fastlane lanes to ensure they behave as expected.
lane :deploy_playstore_test do |options|
Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Sign up for free
to join this conversation on GitHub.
Already have an account?
Sign in to comment
1 participant
Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.
This suggestion is invalid because no changes were made to the code.
Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is closed.
Suggestions cannot be applied while viewing a subset of changes.
Only one suggestion per line can be applied in a batch.
Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.
Applying suggestions on deleted lines is not supported.
You must change the existing code in this line in order to create a valid suggestion.
Outdated suggestions cannot be applied.
This suggestion has been applied or marked resolved.
Suggestions cannot be applied from pending reviews.
Suggestions cannot be applied on multi-line comments.
Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is queued to merge.
Suggestion cannot be applied right now. Please check back later.
This pull request introduces a robust CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions and Fastlane to automate the building, releasing, and deployment of the Android application to the Google Play Store and Amazon Appstore. It also incorporates F-Droid compatibility by basing releases on GitHub Releases.
Key Features & Changes:
Two-Workflow System:
release.yml (Build and Create GitHub Release):
Triggered manually (workflow_dispatch) and is parameter-less at runtime for versioning.
Extracts versionName and versionCode directly from app/manifests/AndroidManifest.xml (with fallback to app/src/main/)
of the commit it's run against (intended for the main branch).
Safety Check: Verifies that a Git tag corresponding to the manifest's versionName (e.g., v1.2.3) doesn't already exist; fails if it does to prevent duplicate releases.
Builds and signs distinct, versioned APKs for Android and Amazon:
app/android/release/app-android-release-v.apk
app/amazon/release/app-amazon-release-v.apk
Creates a GitHub Release titled Release and a corresponding Git tag v.
Auto-generates release notes based on commits/PRs since the last tag.
Attaches the built Android and Amazon APKs as assets to the GitHub Release (this release triggers F-Droid).
deploy.yml (Deploy Release to App Stores):
Triggered manually (workflow_dispatch) and is parameter-less for versioning information.
Inputs: deployment_target (choice: google_play_internal_test_track or production_google_play_and_amazon) and optional releaseNotes for store listings.
Checks out the main branch.
Extracts versionName and versionCode from main's AndroidManifest.xml.
Release Verification: Ensures a GitHub Release for tag v exists before proceeding.
Downloads the specific versioned APKs (app-android-release-v... and app-amazon-release-v...) from the verified GitHub Release assets.
Conditionally deploys to:
Google Play Internal Test Track (if selected).
Google Play Production AND Amazon Appstore (if selected).
Uses the extracted versionName and versionCode for Fastlane metadata.
Fastlane Integration (fastlane/Fastfile & fastlane/Appfile):
Added new Fastlane lanes:
deploy_playstore: Deploys a pre-built Android APK to Google Play Internal Test Track.
deploy_playstore_production: Deploys a pre-built Android APK to Google Play Production Track.
deploy_amazon_appstore: Deploys a pre-built Amazon APK using the ntsk/fastlane-plugin-amazon_appstore plugin.
All deployment lanes are parameterized to accept apk_path, version_name, version_code, and release_notes.
Build steps were removed from Fastlane deployment lanes; they now only handle deployment of pre-built APKs.
Appfile updated for Google Play JSON key path.
Gemfile updated to include fastlane-plugin-amazon_appstore.
Documentation (DEPLOYMENT.MD):
A comprehensive DEPLOYMENT.MD file was created (or intended to be created/updated; I encountered some issues during this step, so manual verification/creation of this file with the provided final content is recommended).
It details:
The two-workflow CI/CD process.
Required GitHub Secrets.
Step-by-step instructions for using each workflow.
The recommended deployment flow (Release from main -> Deploy to Test -> Test -> Deploy to Production).
Overview of Fastlane lanes.
Important notes on Gradle configuration for versioning from the manifest.
Versioning Strategy:
AndroidManifest.xml is the single source of truth for versionName and versionCode.
Workflows are designed to prevent accidental re-releases of the same version.
Overall Benefits:
Automation: Streamlines the build, release, and deployment process.
Consistency: Ensures the same artifacts are tested and deployed.
Safety: Includes checks to prevent duplicate releases and mismatches.
F-Droid Integration: GitHub Release creation facilitates F-Droid updates.
Clarity: Separates concerns between creating a release and deploying a release.
Manual Actions Required After Merge (if DEPLOYMENT.MD issues persisted):
Verify or create/update DEPLOYMENT.MD with the final intended content that describes these workflows. I can provide the last version of this content if needed.
This PR represents a significant step towards a more automated and reliable release pipeline.