GitHub-Actions
Coming Soon
Expected availability announced soon
This course is in active development. Preview the scope below and create a free account to be notified the moment it goes live.
Actions Certification (GitHub®-Actions)
GitHub Actions Certification teaches developers and DevOps engineers how to author, maintain, and consume workflows, create custom actions, and manage enterprise-wide CI/CD pipelines, ensuring reliable automation and faster delivery.
120
Minutes
70/100
Passing Score
$99
Exam Cost
1
Languages
Who Should Take This
It is ideal for software engineers, site reliability engineers, and DevOps specialists who have at least one year of experience building CI/CD pipelines on GitHub. They seek to validate their ability to design robust workflows, craft reusable actions, and oversee enterprise-level automation governance.
What's Covered
1
Workflow syntax, triggers, jobs, matrices, expressions, secrets, environments, OIDC, caching, and security hardening.
2
Reusable workflows, workflow templates, starter workflows, and required workflows for organizational standardization.
3
JavaScript, Docker, and composite action development, action.yml metadata, versioning, and Marketplace publishing.
4
Self-hosted runners, runner groups, organization policies, billing, usage monitoring, and enterprise governance.
Exam Structure
Question Types
- Multiple Choice
- Multiple Select
Scoring Method
Percentage-based scoring with a 70% minimum passing threshold
Delivery Method
PSI online proctored exam
Recertification
Recertify every 3 years by passing the current version of the exam.
What's Included in AccelaStudy® AI
Adaptive Knowledge Graph
Practice Questions
Lesson Modules
Console Simulator Labs
Exam Tips & Strategy
20 Activity Formats
Course Outline
50 learning goals
1
Author and Maintain Workflows
6 topics
Workflow Syntax and Triggers
- Describe the GitHub Actions workflow YAML structure including name, on triggers, jobs, steps, and the relationship between workflow files and the .github/workflows directory
- Implement workflow triggers including push, pull_request, schedule, workflow_dispatch, repository_dispatch, and webhook events with branch and path filters
- Implement workflow_dispatch inputs with type definitions (string, boolean, choice, environment) to create manually triggered workflows with parameterized execution
- Analyze trigger event selection and evaluate when to use push versus pull_request versus workflow_dispatch triggers based on CI/CD pipeline stage and security considerations
Jobs, Steps, and Execution
- Implement jobs with runner selection (ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, macos-latest), job dependencies using needs, and conditional execution with if expressions
- Implement strategy matrices to run jobs across multiple configurations of OS, language version, and other parameters with fail-fast and max-parallel controls
- Implement job outputs, step outputs, and artifact sharing using actions/upload-artifact and actions/download-artifact to pass data between jobs in a workflow
- Implement concurrency groups and cancel-in-progress settings to prevent duplicate workflow runs and manage resource consumption for active branches
Expressions, Contexts, and Variables
- Describe GitHub Actions expression syntax and contexts including github, env, secrets, inputs, steps, job, runner, and matrix contexts for dynamic workflow configuration
- Implement conditional execution using if expressions with status check functions (success, failure, cancelled, always) and comparison operators for fine-grained step control
- Implement environment variables at workflow, job, and step levels and configure GitHub Actions variables and secrets for configuration management across environments
- Analyze expression evaluation behavior including type coercion, null handling, and short-circuit evaluation and evaluate common pitfalls in conditional workflow logic
Secrets and Security
- Implement secrets management at repository, environment, and organization levels and explain how secrets are encrypted and masked in workflow logs
- Implement OIDC authentication with cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP) using the permissions key and provider-specific login actions to eliminate long-lived credential storage
- Implement environment protection rules including required reviewers, wait timers, and deployment branches to gate deployments to sensitive environments
- Analyze workflow security risks including script injection, pull_request_target dangers, and third-party action supply chain attacks and evaluate mitigation strategies
Caching and Performance
- Implement dependency caching using actions/cache with cache keys, restore keys, and path configurations to reduce build times for npm, pip, Maven, and Gradle workflows
- Analyze workflow performance and evaluate optimization strategies including job parallelization, selective path triggers, caching, and runner selection for faster CI feedback
Container and Service Workflows
- Implement container-based jobs using the container keyword to run job steps inside a specified Docker image with custom network and volume configurations
- Implement service containers for integration testing to spin up database, cache, or API dependencies alongside workflow jobs using the services keyword
- Implement container registry authentication and image publishing workflows to build, tag, and push Docker images to GitHub Container Registry or Docker Hub as part of CI/CD pipelines
2
Consume Workflows
3 topics
Reusable Workflows
- Describe reusable workflows and explain how the workflow_call trigger enables workflows to be called from other workflows with defined inputs, outputs, and secrets
- Implement reusable workflow consumption using the uses keyword with repository references, version pinning, and input/secret passing for cross-repository workflow sharing
- Analyze the limitations of reusable workflows including nesting depth, secret inheritance, and caller-callee context boundaries and evaluate design patterns for complex pipeline composition
Workflow Templates and Starter Workflows
- Implement organization-level workflow templates in the .github repository to provide standardized CI/CD patterns that team members can adopt across new repositories
- Implement required workflows at the organization level to enforce mandatory CI checks across all repositories without individual repository configuration
Marketplace Action Consumption
- Implement third-party action consumption from the GitHub Marketplace with version pinning and explain how to evaluate action trustworthiness based on publisher verification and community adoption
- Implement action pinning by full commit SHA to protect against supply chain attacks from compromised action repositories and tag mutations
- Analyze action dependency management strategies and evaluate approaches for keeping consumed actions up to date while maintaining workflow stability and security
3
Author and Maintain Actions
3 topics
Action Types and Development
- Describe the three types of GitHub Actions (JavaScript, Docker container, composite) and explain the trade-offs in startup time, runtime environment, and platform support for each type
- Implement the action.yml metadata file with name, description, inputs, outputs, and runs configuration to define the action's interface and execution entry point
- Implement a composite action that combines multiple steps including shell scripts and other actions into a single reusable action with defined inputs and outputs
- Implement a JavaScript action using @actions/core and @actions/github packages to interact with workflow context, set outputs, and communicate with the GitHub API
- Implement a Docker container action with a Dockerfile and entrypoint script to run custom tooling in an isolated container environment within a workflow
Action Publishing and Versioning
- Implement semantic versioning for actions using Git tags and major version tags (v1, v2) to enable consumers to pin to stable versions while receiving patch updates
- Implement action publishing to the GitHub Marketplace with branding, README documentation, and release notes for community consumption
- Analyze action versioning strategies and evaluate the security trade-offs between pinning by major tag, full semver tag, and commit SHA for action consumption
Action Testing and Maintenance
- Implement action testing using act for local workflow execution and GitHub Actions test workflows for CI-based validation of action behavior
- Implement action deprecation notices and migration guides to help consumers transition to updated action versions with breaking changes
4
Manage GitHub Actions for the Enterprise
3 topics
Self-Hosted Runners
- Describe self-hosted runner architecture and explain the differences between GitHub-hosted and self-hosted runners in terms of cost, customization, security, and maintenance
- Implement self-hosted runner registration at repository, organization, and enterprise levels with labels for targeting specific runner configurations in workflow jobs
- Implement runner groups to organize self-hosted runners and control which repositories and workflows can access specific runner pools within an organization
- Analyze self-hosted runner security considerations including network isolation, ephemeral runners, and the risks of running untrusted workflows on persistent runner infrastructure
Enterprise Policies and Billing
- Implement organization-level policies to control which actions are allowed (all, local only, selected) and configure action permissions for enterprise security compliance
- Describe GitHub Actions billing model including included minutes by plan tier, per-minute rates for GitHub-hosted runners, and storage costs for artifacts and caches
- Implement usage monitoring and spending limits for GitHub Actions at the organization level and evaluate cost optimization strategies including caching, runner selection, and workflow efficiency
- Analyze enterprise GitHub Actions governance patterns and evaluate strategies for balancing developer autonomy with security controls, cost management, and compliance requirements
Larger Runners and Scalability
- Describe GitHub-hosted larger runners with configurable CPU, RAM, and GPU options and explain how they reduce build times for compute-intensive CI workloads
- Implement auto-scaling self-hosted runner infrastructure using ephemeral runners and webhook-based scaling to handle variable CI/CD workload demand
- Analyze runner infrastructure architectures and evaluate trade-offs between GitHub-hosted runners, persistent self-hosted runners, and ephemeral container-based runners for different security and cost requirements
Certification Benefits
Salary Impact
$135,000
Average Salary
Related Job Roles
DevOps Engineer
Platform Engineer
CI/CD Engineer
Software Developer
Site Reliability Engineer
Industry Recognition
The GitHub Actions certification validates expertise in GitHub's native CI/CD platform, the most widely adopted CI/CD system among open source projects. As organizations consolidate their DevOps toolchain on GitHub, Actions-certified engineers are in high demand for building and maintaining automated software delivery pipelines.
Scope
Included Topics
- All domains in the GitHub Actions Certification: Author and Maintain Workflows (40%), Consume Workflows (20%), Author and Maintain Actions (25%), and Manage GitHub Actions for the Enterprise (15%).
- Workflow YAML syntax including triggers, jobs, steps, matrices, concurrency, environments, and conditional execution with expressions.
- Reusable workflows, workflow templates, and composite actions for DRY workflow design across repositories.
- Custom action development including JavaScript actions, Docker container actions, and composite actions with inputs, outputs, and branding.
- GitHub Actions marketplace, action versioning, dependency management, and action security best practices.
- Enterprise-level GitHub Actions management including self-hosted runners, runner groups, organization-level policies, billing, and usage monitoring.
- Secrets management, environment protection rules, OIDC authentication for cloud deployments, and GitHub Actions security hardening.
Not Covered
- General Git and GitHub platform features covered by the GitHub Foundations certification.
- GitHub Advanced Security features (code scanning, secret scanning, Dependabot) covered by the GHAS certification.
- Third-party CI/CD platforms (Jenkins, CircleCI, GitLab CI) comparison and migration strategies.
- Application-specific build and deployment configurations for particular languages or frameworks.
- GitHub Enterprise Server administration and GHES-specific runner infrastructure.
Official Exam Page
Learn more at GitHub
GitHub-Actions is coming soon
Adaptive learning that maps your knowledge and closes your gaps.
Create Free Account to Be Notified