GitHub Action for WP Engine Site Deployments

This GitHub Action can be used to deploy your WordPress repo/branch from Github to a WP Engine environment (Production / Stage / Dev) via the WP Engine SSH Gateway toolkit and a prefashioned rsync protocol. Deploy a theme, plugin or other directory with the TPO options. Post deploy, this action will automatically purge your WP Engine cache to ensure all changes are visible.

Example GitHub Action workflow

1. Create a .github/workflows/main.yml file in your root of your WordPress project/repo, if one doesn't exist already.

2. Add the following to the main.yml file, replacing PRD_BRANCH, PRD_ENV and WPE_SSHG_KEY_PRIVATE if they are anything other than what is below. Optionally, values for staging and development environments and branches can be specified. Consult "Further Reading" on how to setup keys in repo Secrets.

3. Git push your site repo.

name: Deploy to WP Engine
on:
  push:

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest  
    steps: 
    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - name: GitHub Action Deploy to WP Engine
      uses: wpengine/github-action-wpe-site-deploy@main
      env:
      
      # Keys, lint & url options 
        WPE_SSHG_KEY_PRIVATE: ${{ secrets.WPE_SSHG_KEY_PRIVATE }} 
        PHP_LINT: TRUE
        TPO_SRC_PATH: ""
        TPO_PATH: ""
      
      # Branches & Environments 
        PRD_BRANCH: main
        PRD_ENV: prodsitenamehere
        
        STG_BRANCH: feature/stage
        STG_ENV: stagesitenamehere
        
        DEV_BRANCH: feature/dev
        DEV_ENV: devsitenamehere

Environment Variables & Secrets

Required

Name	Type	Usage
PRD_BRANCH	Branch Variable	Insert the name of the Github branch you would like to deploy from, example; main.
PRD_ENV	Environment Variable	Insert the name of the WP Engine environment you want to deploy to.
WPE_SSHG_KEY_PRIVATE	Secret	Private SSH Key for the SSH Gateway and deployment. See below for SSH key usage.

Optional

Name	Type	Usage

| STG_BRANCH | Branch Variable | Insert the name of a staging Github branch you would like to deploy from. Note: exclude leading / from branch names.| | STG_ENV | Environment Variable | Insert the name of the WP Engine Stage environment you want to deploy to. | | DEV_BRANCH | Branch Variable | Insert the name of a development Github branch you would like to deploy from. Note: exclude leading / in branch names.| | DEV_ENV | Environment Variable | Insert the name of the WP Engine Dev environment you want to deploy to. | | PHP_LINT | Bool | Set to TRUE to execute a php lint on your branch pre-deployment. Set to FALSE to bypass lint. | | TPO_SRC_PATH | Optional path to specify a theme, plugin, or other directory source to deploy from. Ex. "wp-content/themes/genesis-child/" . Defaults to "." Dir. | | TPO_PATH | Optional path to specify a theme, plugin, or other directory destination to deploy to. Ex. "wp-content/themes/genesis-child/" . Defaults to WordPress root directory. |

Further reading

• Defining environment variables in GitHub Actions
• Storing secrets in GitHub repositories
• As this script does not restrict files or directories that can be deployed, it is recommended to leverage one of WP Engine's .gitignore tamplates.

Setting up your SSH keys for repo

1. Generate a new SSH key pair as a special deploy key between your Github Repo and WP Engine. The simplest method is to generate a key pair with a blank passphrase, which creates an unencrypted private key.

2. Store your private key in the GitHub repository of your website as new 'Secrets' (under your repository settings) using the names WPE_SSHG_KEY_PRIVATE with the name in your specfic files. These can be customized, just remember to change the var in the yml file to call them correctly.

3. Add the Public SSH key to your WP Engine SSH Gateway configuration. https://wpengine.com/support/ssh-gateway/#addsshkey