# Actions Runner Controller Quickstart GitHub Actions automates the deployment of code to different environments, including production. The environments contain the `GitHub Runner` software which executes the automation. `GitHub Runner` can be run in GitHub-hosted cloud or self-hosted environments. Self-hosted environments offer more control of hardware, operating system, and software tools. They can be run on physical machines, virtual machines, or in a container. Containerized environments are lightweight, loosely coupled, highly efficient and can be managed centrally. However, they are not straightforward to use. `Actions Runner Controller (ARC)` makes it simpler to run self hosted environments on Kubernetes(K8s) cluster. With ARC you can : - **Deploy self hosted runners on Kubernetes cluster** with a simple set of commands. - **Auto scale runners** based on demand. - **Setup across GitHub editions** including GitHub Enterprise editions and GitHub Enterprise Cloud. ## Overview For an overview of ARC, please refer to "[ARC Overview](https://github.com/actions/actions-runner-controller/blob/master/docs/Actions-Runner-Controller-Overview.md)." ## Getting Started ARC can be setup with just a few steps. In this section we will setup prerequisites, deploy ARC into a K8s cluster, and then run GitHub Action workflows on that cluster. ### Prerequisites
Create a K8s cluster, if not available. If you don't have a K8s cluster, you can install a local environment using minikube. For more information, see "Installing minikube."
:one: Install cert-manager in your cluster. For more information, see "[cert-manager](https://cert-manager.io/docs/installation/)." ```shell kubectl apply -f https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.8.2/cert-manager.yaml ``` *note:- This command uses v1.8.2. Please replace with a later version, if available. >You may also install cert-manager using Helm. For instructions, see "[Installing with Helm](https://cert-manager.io/docs/installation/helm/#installing-with-helm)." :two: Next, Generate a Personal Access Token (PAT) for ARC to authenticate with GitHub. - Login to your GitHub account and Navigate to "[Create new Token](https://github.com/settings/tokens/new)." - Select **repo**. - Click **Generate Token** and then copy the token locally ( we’ll need it later). ### Deploy and Configure ARC 1️⃣ Deploy and configure ARC on your K8s cluster. You may use Helm or Kubectl.
Helm deployment ##### Add repository ```shell helm repo add actions-runner-controller https://actions-runner-controller.github.io/actions-runner-controller ``` ##### Install Helm chart ```shell helm upgrade --install --namespace actions-runner-system --create-namespace\ --set=authSecret.create=true\ --set=authSecret.github_token="REPLACE_YOUR_TOKEN_HERE"\ --wait actions-runner-controller actions/actions-runner-controller ``` *note:- Replace REPLACE_YOUR_TOKEN_HERE with your PAT that was generated previously.
Kubectl deployment ##### Deploy ARC ```shell kubectl apply -f \ https://github.com/actions/actions-runner-controller/\ releases/download/v0.22.0/actions-runner-controller.yaml ``` *note:- Replace "v0.22.0" with the version you wish to deploy ##### Configure Personal Access Token ```shell kubectl create secret generic controller-manager \ -n actions-runner-system \ --from-literal=github_token=REPLACE_YOUR_TOKEN_HERE ```` *note:- Replace REPLACE_YOUR_TOKEN_HERE with your PAT that was generated previously.
2️⃣ Create the GitHub self hosted runners and configure to run against your repository. Create a `runnerdeployment.yaml` file and copy the following YAML contents into it: ```yaml apiVersion: actions.summerwind.dev/v1alpha1 kind: RunnerDeployment metadata: name: example-runnerdeploy spec: replicas: 1 template: spec: repository: mumoshu/actions-runner-controller-ci ```` *note:- Replace "mumoshu/actions-runner-controller-ci" with your repository name. Apply this file to your K8s cluster. ```shell kubectl apply -f runnerdeployment.yaml ```` *🎉 We are done - now we should have self hosted runners running in K8s configured to your repository. 🎉* Next - lets verify our setup and execute some workflows. ### Verify and Execute Workflows :one: Verify that your setup is successful: ```shell $ kubectl get runners NAME REPOSITORY STATUS example-runnerdeploy2475h595fr mumoshu/actions-runner-controller-ci Running $ kubectl get pods NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE example-runnerdeploy2475ht2qbr 2/2 Running 0 1m ```` Also, this runner has been registered directly to the specified repository, you can see it in repository settings. For more information, see "[Checking the status of a self-hosted runner - GitHub Docs](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/hosting-your-own-runners/monitoring-and-troubleshooting-self-hosted-runners#checking-the-status-of-a-self-hosted-runner)." :two: You are ready to execute workflows against this self-hosted runner. For more information, see "[Using self-hosted runners in a workflow - GitHub Docs](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/hosting-your-own-runners/using-self-hosted-runners-in-a-workflow#using-self-hosted-runners-in-a-workflow)." There is also a quick start guide to get started on Actions, For more information, please refer to "[Quick start Guide to GitHub Actions](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/quickstart)." ## Learn more For more detailed documentation, please refer to "[Detailed Documentation](https://github.com/actions/actions-runner-controller/blob/master/docs/detailed-docs.md)." ## Contributing We welcome contributions from the community. For more details on contributing to the project (including requirements), please refer to "[Getting Started with Contributing](https://github.com/actions/actions-runner-controller/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)." ## Troubleshooting We are very happy to help you with any issues you have. Please refer to the "[Troubleshooting](https://github.com/actions/actions-runner-controller/blob/master/TROUBLESHOOTING.md)" section for common issues.