GitHub Actions: Workflow Automation Essentials

The quiz above draws 20 questions at random from these 30, so a second attempt will not be the same run. Everything in the pool is listed here.

1. Where must GitHub Actions workflow files be stored in a repository?

   Answer`.github/workflows/`

2. What is a "Job" in a GitHub Actions workflow?

   AnswerA group of steps that execute on the same runner

3. What is the purpose of the "on" keyword in a workflow YAML?

   AnswerTo define the events that trigger the workflow

4. What does "runs-on: ubuntu-latest" specify?

   AnswerThe type of virtual machine used to host the job

5. How do you access a secret named "API_KEY" in a workflow?

   Answer`${{ secrets.API_KEY }}`

6. What is the "Marketplace" in GitHub Actions?

   AnswerA central registry for pre-built, reusable actions

7. What does the "uses" keyword do in a step?

   AnswerIt references a specific action to be executed

8. What is a "Matrix Build"?

   AnswerA strategy to run jobs across multiple configurations

9. How do you make a job depend on the successful completion of another job?

   Answer`needs: [job_id]`

10. What is the "GITHUB_TOKEN"?

    AnswerA temporary secret for authenticating with the API

11. What is a "Self-hosted Runner"?

    AnswerA user-managed machine that executes workflow jobs

12. What is "workflow_dispatch" used for?

    AnswerTo trigger a workflow manually from the GitHub UI

13. What is the "Context" in GitHub Actions?

    AnswerA set of variables providing run-time information

14. What does the "step.if" condition allow you to do?

    AnswerTo execute a step only when a specific condition is met

15. What is a "Reusable Workflow"?

    AnswerA workflow that can be called by multiple other files

16. What is the purpose of "actions/checkout"?

    AnswerTo copy the repository source code onto the runner

17. What is "Artifact Uploading" in GitHub Actions?

    AnswerPersisting build outputs for later use or download

18. What is an "Environment" in GitHub Actions?

    AnswerA deployment target with specific protection rules

19. What is "Concurrency" control in a workflow?

    AnswerA way to limit the number of parallel workflow runs

20. What does the "continue-on-error: true" setting do?

    AnswerIt prevents a failed step from stopping the entire job

21. What is the "Action" versioning syntax (e.g., @v4)?

    AnswerIt pins a workflow to a specific version of an action

22. What is "Cache" used for in Actions?

    AnswerA system to persist dependencies between workflow runs

23. What is a "Composite Action"?

    AnswerA custom action that groups multiple workflow steps

24. What is "Workflow Call" (workflow_call)?

    AnswerA trigger that allows a workflow to be reused by others

25. What is the purpose of "timeout-minutes"?

    AnswerTo automatically cancel a job that runs for too long

26. What is "Step Masking"?

    AnswerA method to prevent secrets from appearing in build logs

27. What does "fail-fast" do in a Matrix build?

    AnswerIt cancels all in-progress matrix jobs if any job fails

28. What is a "Starter Workflow"?

    AnswerA template provided by GitHub to help set up CI/CD

29. What is "OIDC" (OpenID Connect) in GitHub Actions?

    AnswerA method to authenticate with cloud providers without secrets

30. What is the "workflow_run" trigger?

    AnswerTo start a workflow based on another workflows status