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GitHub Actions

Serialization

The GitHub Actions lexicon serializes resources into .github/workflows/*.yml YAML files. Keys use kebab-case for job properties and snake_case for trigger event names.

Building

Section titled “Building”

Run chant build to produce workflow YAML from your declarations:

Terminal window
chant build src/ --output .github/workflows/ci.yml
# Or build all workflow files
chant build

The generated file includes:

  • name: — workflow display name
  • on: — trigger events (push, pull_request, schedule, workflow_dispatch, etc.)
  • permissions: — workflow-level GITHUB_TOKEN permissions
  • jobs: — job definitions with kebab-case keys

Key conversions

Section titled “Key conversions”
Chant (TypeScript)YAML outputRule
export const buildApp = new Job({...})jobs: build-app:Export name → kebab-case job key
"runs-on": "ubuntu-latest"runs-on: ubuntu-latestProperty names match GitHub spec
timeoutMinutes: 15timeout-minutes: 15camelCase → kebab-case for job properties
new Step({ uses: "actions/checkout@v4" })- uses: actions/checkout@v4Steps serialize as sequence entries

Validating locally

Section titled “Validating locally”

The output is standard GitHub Actions YAML. Validate locally with act or push to GitHub:

Terminal window
# Using act for local testing
act -W .github/workflows/ci.yml


# Using GitHub's workflow validation (requires push)
git add .github/workflows/ci.yml
git push

Compatibility

Section titled “Compatibility”

The output is compatible with:

  • GitHub Actions (any GitHub.com or GitHub Enterprise Server)
  • act local runner
  • VS Code GitHub Actions extension
  • Any tool that processes .github/workflows/*.yml files