GitHub Actions: Replaces Travis CI?

Travis CI dominated open source CI for a decade. GitHub Actions arrived, and the migration began. For many projects, Actions is now the better choice.

GitHub Actions Basics

# .github/workflows/ci.yml
name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      
      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
        with:
          python-version: '3.10'
          
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          pip install --upgrade pip
          pip install -r requirements.txt
          
      - name: Run tests
        run: pytest

Push to GitHub, CI runs. That simple.

vs Travis CI

Travis CI Configuration

# .travis.yml
language: python
python:
  - "3.10"
  
install:
  - pip install -r requirements.txt
  
script:
  - pytest

Key Differences

Actions Advantage: Marketplace

jobs:
  test:
    steps:
      # Official actions
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v4
      
      # Community actions
      - uses: codecov/codecov-action@v3
      - uses: slackapi/slack-github-action@v1

Thousands of pre-built actions. Don’t reinvent the wheel.

Matrix Builds

Test across multiple versions:

jobs:
  test:
    strategy:
      matrix:
        python-version: ['3.8', '3.9', '3.10', '3.11']
        os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest]
        
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v4
        with:
          python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
      - run: pytest

8 jobs (4 Python × 2 OS) in parallel.

Caching Dependencies

jobs:
  test:
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v4
        with:
          python-version: '3.10'
          cache: 'pip'  # Built-in pip caching
          
      - run: pip install -r requirements.txt

Or manual caching:

- uses: actions/cache@v3
  with:
    path: ~/.cache/pip
    key: ${{ runner.os }}-pip-${{ hashFiles('requirements.txt') }}
    restore-keys: |
      ${{ runner.os }}-pip-

Deployment

name: Deploy

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      
      - name: Deploy to production
        uses: appleboy/ssh-action@v0.1.0
        with:
          host: ${{ secrets.HOST }}
          username: ${{ secrets.USERNAME }}
          key: ${{ secrets.SSH_KEY }}
          script: |
            cd /app
            git pull
            docker-compose up -d --build

Docker Builds

jobs:
  build:
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      
      - name: Login to Docker Hub
        uses: docker/login-action@v2
        with:
          username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_TOKEN }}
          
      - name: Build and push
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v4
        with:
          context: .
          push: true
          tags: myapp:latest

Secrets and Environment Variables

jobs:
  deploy:
    environment: production  # Requires approval
    
    steps:
      - name: Deploy
        run: ./deploy.sh
        env:
          API_KEY: ${{ secrets.API_KEY }}
          DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.DATABASE_URL }}

Conditional Jobs

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: pytest
  
  deploy:
    needs: test  # Wait for test to pass
    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'  # Only on main
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: ./deploy.sh

Reusable Workflows

# .github/workflows/reusable.yml
name: Reusable Test Workflow

on:
  workflow_call:
    inputs:
      python-version:
        required: true
        type: string

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v4
        with:
          python-version: ${{ inputs.python-version }}
      - run: pytest

# .github/workflows/ci.yml
name: CI
on: push

jobs:
  test-38:
    uses: ./.github/workflows/reusable.yml
    with:
      python-version: '3.8'
      
  test-310:
    uses: ./.github/workflows/reusable.yml
    with:
      python-version: '3.10'

Self-Hosted Runners

For custom environments or private networks:

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: self-hosted
    steps:
      - run: ./build.sh

Migration from Travis

Most patterns translate directly:

Should You Migrate?

Migrate if:

• You’re already on GitHub
• Travis pricing increased
• You want marketplace actions
• You need self-hosted runners

Stay if:

• Travis works fine
• Heavy Travis investment
• Not on GitHub

Final Thoughts

GitHub Actions won the CI/CD war through integration. Living inside GitHub means less context switching, better security with secrets, and a massive ecosystem.

For new projects on GitHub, Actions is the default choice. For existing Travis projects, migrate when you have time—but you probably should.

CI should be invisible. Actions makes it so.