Deploy code via GitLab or GitHub

If your team already uses GitLab or GitHub for managing code, you might be interested in setting up a deploy job that automatically pushes code. The example code below is that when you commit to the main branch, a GitLab CI job or GitHub Action pushes that version of the code to AskAnna.

The project on GitLab/GitHub should contain an askanna.yml file with the push-target set. This is similar to the configuration you need to push the code from your local machine. On push code you can read more.

To authenticate, you use the token of a workspace member. This can be your token, but you can also add a new workspace member to use for this kind of authentication. For example, at AskAnna we use the member Mr. Robot.

If you installed the AskAnna CLI via pip and logged in, you can find the token in the local AskAnna configuration file. On Mac/Linux you can view the file in a terminal via:

cat ~/.askanna.yml

On Windows, you can find the .askanna.yml configuration file in your user home directory. You need the token in the project configuration of GitLab/GitHub.

Next, you will read for each platform how to configure the autopush to AskAnna.

GitLab CI

Add project variable

First, add the token as a variable to the GitLab project. You can go through the following steps or read more about it on the GitLab documentation.

• Open the GitLab project
• Hoover on Settings (left side menu bar)
• Select CI/CD
• Expand the Variables section
• Click Add Variable and add a variable using the following details:
  • Key: AA_TOKEN
  • Value: the copied token
  • Type: Variable
  • Environment scope: All
  • Flag Mask variable

Config .gitlab-ci.yml

In the GitLab project code, you can add a file .gitlab-ci.yml or edit an existing version of the file. Add the next GitLab CI job to the file. This job installs AskAnna and pushes the latest version of the code when there is a new commit in the main branch.

# This is a GitLab job to push code to AskAnna
Update AskAnna project:
  stage: deploy
  image: python:3-alpine
  script:
    - apk add git
    - python -m pip install --upgrade pip
    - pip install askanna
    - askanna push --force
  only:
    - main

That's it for GitLab. If you set up the above configuration, every time there is a commit to the main branch, it will trigger a CI/CD job to push the code to the AskAnna project.

GitHub Action

Add project secret

Similar to GitLab, let's first add the token as a secret to the project. To add the token in GitHub, we need to set a secret for the project following the next steps. Or read more about it in the GitHub documentation.

• Open the GitHub project
• Click on Settings
• On the left side menu select Secrets
• Click on New repository secret
• Add a new secret with:
  • Name: AA_TOKEN
  • Value: the copied token

Add workflow file

In the project code, you can add a GitHub workflow file: .github/workflows/update-askanna.yml

In this file, you can configure the job to push code to AskAnna. Copy-paste the following lines to the workflow file:

# This is a GitHub workflow to push code to AskAnna
name: Update AskAnna project

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
        with:
          python-version: '3.9'
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
          pip install askanna
      - name: Push code to the AskAnna project
        env:
          AA_TOKEN: ${{ "{{ secrets.AA_TOKEN " }}}}
        run: askanna push --force

That's it for GitHub. If you set up the above configuration, every time there is a commit to the main branch, it will trigger a GitHub action to push the code to the AskAnna project.