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Deploying a Static Site to Azure

The Build and Deploy a Static Site to Azure is a reusable workflow (workflow_call) that automates the build and deployment of a static application from a monorepo. It handles everything from dependency installation to purging the cache on Azure Front Door or Azure CDN Classic, ensuring a streamlined and consistent deployment process.

How It Works​

The workflow is divided into two distinct jobs to separate concerns and improve security:

  1. Build Job:

    • Uses turbo prune to create a minimal, isolated copy of the monorepo containing only the code and dependencies required for the specified workspace_name.
    • Dynamically detects the package manager (npm, yarn, or pnpm) and uses the appropriate "clean install" command (npm ci, yarn install --immutable, pnpm install --frozen-lockfile) for reproducible builds.
    • Runs the build script for the target workspace.
    • Locates the resulting dist directory and uploads it as an artifact, making it available for the next job.

  2. Deploy Job:

    • Waits for the build job to complete successfully.
    • Downloads the build artifact.
    • Logs into Azure using OIDC credentials configured as GitHub secrets.
    • Calls the pagopa/dx/actions/static-assets-deploy@main action to handle the final deployment steps:
      • Syncing the artifact's contents to the specified Azure Storage container.
      • Purging the cache on Azure Front Door (default) or Azure CDN Classic to serve the latest version of the assets.
note

For more information about the static-assets-deploy action, refer to the documentation.

Usage​

To use this reusable workflow, you need to call it from another workflow file in your repository. Below is an example of how to trigger it.

name: Deploy My Static App

on:
  workflow_dispatch: # Allows manual triggering
  push:
    branches:
      - main
    paths:
      - "apps/my-static-app/**" # Trigger only when this app changes

jobs:
  deploy_to_cdn:
    uses: pagopa/dx/.github/workflows/release-azure-staticassets-v1.yaml@main # Path to the reusable workflow
    secrets: inherit
    with:
      workspace_name: "my-static-app" # The 'name' from the app's package.json
      storage_account_name: "your-storage-account-name"
      resource_group_name: "your-resource-group-name"
      profile_name: "your-frontdoor-profile-name"
      endpoint_name: "your-frontdoor-endpoint-name"
      environment: "infra-dev"
      use_cdn_classic: false # Set to true if using Azure CDN Classic (Deprecated) instead of Front Door

When implementing this workflow:

  1. Workspace Name: Ensure the workspace_name input matches the name field in the package.json of the application you want to deploy, not the directory path.
  2. Permissions & Secrets: The calling workflow must have the necessary permissions and secrets (e.g., for Azure login) available. Using secrets: inherit is the easiest way to pass them down.
  3. Monorepo Structure: This workflow is optimized for a monorepo managed with Turborepo. It assumes your applications are located in workspaces (e.g., under an apps/ directory).