actions-runner-controller/README.md

# actions-runner-controller

This controller operates self-hosted runners for GitHub Actions on your Kubernetes cluster.

## Motivation

[GitHub Actions](https://github.com/features/actions) is very useful as a tool for automating development. GitHub Actions job is run in the cloud by default, but you may want to run your jobs in your environment. [Self-hosted runner](https://github.com/actions/runner) can be used for such use cases, but requires the provision of a virtual machine instance and configuration. If you already have a Kubernetes cluster, you'll want to run the self-hosted runner on top of it.

*actions-runner-controller* makes that possible. Just create a *Runner* resource on your Kubernetes, and it will run and operate the self-hosted runner of the specified repository. Combined with Kubernetes RBAC, you can also build simple Self-hosted runners as a Service.

## Installation

First, install *actions-runner-controller* with a manifest file. This will create a *actions-runner-system* namespace in your Kubernetes and deploy the required resources.

```
$ kubectl apply -f https://github.com/summerwind/actions-runner-controller/releases/latest/download/actions-runner-controller.yaml
```

Next, set up a GitHub App or personal access token for *actions-runner-controller* to access the GitHub API.

### Using GitHub App

You can create a GitHub App for either your account or any organization. If you want to create a GitHub App for your account, open the following link to the creation page, enter any unique name in the "GitHub App name" field, and hit the "Create GitHub App" button at the bottom of the page.

- [Create GitHub Apps on your account](https://github.com/settings/apps/new?url=http://github.com/summerwind/actions-runner-controller&webhook_active=false&public=false&administration=write)

If you want to create a GitHub App for your organization, replace the `:org` part of the following URL with your organization name before opening it. Then enter any unique name in the "GitHub App name" field, and hit the "Create GitHub App" button at the bottom of the page to create a GitHub App.

- [Create GitHub Apps on your organization](https://github.com/organizations/:org/settings/apps/new?url=http://github.com/summerwind/actions-runner-controller&webhook_active=false&public=false&administration=write)

You will see an *App ID* on the page of the GitHub App you created as follows, the value of this App ID will be used later.

<img width="750" alt="App ID" src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/230145/78968802-6e7c8880-7b40-11ea-8b08-0c1b8e6a15f0.png">

Download the private key file by pushing the "Generate a private key" button at the bottom of the GitHub App page. This file will also be used later.

<img width="750" alt="Generate a private key" src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/230145/78968805-71777900-7b40-11ea-97e6-55c48dfc44ac.png">

Go to the "Install App" tab on the left side of the page and install the GitHub App that you created for your account or organization.

<img width="750" alt="Install App" src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/230145/78968806-72100f80-7b40-11ea-810d-2bd3261e9d40.png">

When the installation is complete, you will be taken to a URL in one of the following formats, the last number of the URL will be used as the Installation ID later (For example, if the URL ends in `settings/installations/12345`, then the Installation ID is `12345`).

- `https://github.com/settings/installations/${INSTALLATION_ID}`
- `https://github.com/organizations/eventreactor/settings/installations/${INSTALLATION_ID}`

Finally, register the App ID (`APP_ID`), Installation ID (`INSTALLATION_ID`), and downloaded private key file (`PRIVATE_KEY_FILE_PATH`) to Kubernetes as Secret.

```
$ kubectl create secret generic controller-manager \
    -n actions-runner-system \
    --from-literal=github_app_id=${APP_ID} \
    --from-literal=github_app_installation_id=${INSTALLATION_ID} \
    --from-file=github_app_private_key=${PRIVATE_KEY_FILE_PATH}
```

### Using personal access token

Next, from an account that has `admin` privileges for the repository, create a [personal access token](https://github.com/settings/tokens) with `repo` scope. This token is used to register a self-hosted runner by *actions-runner-controller*.

To use a Personal Access Token, you must issue the token with an account that has `admin` privileges.

Open the Create Token page from the following link, grant the `repo` scope, and press the "Generate Token" button at the bottom of the page to create the token.

- [Create personal access token](https://github.com/settings/tokens/new)

Register the created token (`GITHUB_TOKEN`) as a Kubernetes secret.

```
$ kubectl create secret generic controller-manager \
    -n actions-runner-system \
    --from-literal=github_token=${GITHUB_TOKEN}
```

## Usage

There's generally two ways to use this controller:

- Manage runners one by one with `Runner`
- Manage a set of runners with `RunnerDeployment`

### Runners

To launch a single Self-hosted runner, you need to create a manifest file includes *Runner* resource as follows. This example launches a self-hosted runner with name *example-runner* for the *summerwind/actions-runner-controller* repository.

```
# runner.yaml
apiVersion: actions.summerwind.dev/v1alpha1
kind: Runner
metadata:
  name: example-runner
spec:
  repository: summerwind/actions-runner-controller
  env: []
```

Apply the created manifest file to your Kubernetes.

```
$ kubectl apply -f runner.yaml
runner.actions.summerwind.dev/example-runner created
```

You can see that the Runner resource has been created.

```
$ kubectl get runners
NAME             REPOSITORY                             STATUS
example-runner   summerwind/actions-runner-controller   Running
```

You can also see that the runner pod has been running.

```
$ kubectl get pods
NAME           READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
example-runner 2/2     Running   0          1m
```

The runner you created has been registered to your repository.

<img width="756" alt="Actions tab in your repository settings" src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/230145/73618667-8cbf9700-466c-11ea-80b6-c67e6d3f70e7.png">

Now your can use your self-hosted runner. See the [official documentation](https://help.github.com/en/actions/automating-your-workflow-with-github-actions/using-self-hosted-runners-in-a-workflow) on how to run a job with it.

### RunnerDeployments

There's also `RunnerReplicaSet` and `RunnerDeployment` that corresponds to `ReplicaSet` and `Deployment` but for `Runner`.

You usually need only `RunnerDeployment` rather than `RunnerReplicaSet` as the former is for managing the latter.

```yaml
# runnerdeployment.yaml
apiVersion: actions.summerwind.dev/v1alpha1
kind: RunnerDeployment
metadata:
  name: example-runnerdeploy
spec:
  replicas: 2
  template:
    spec:
      repository: mumoshu/actions-runner-controller-ci
      env: []
```

Apply the manifest file to your cluster:

```
$ kubectl apply -f runner.yaml
runnerdeployment.actions.summerwind.dev/example-runnerdeploy created
```

You can see that 2 runners has been created as specified by `replicas: 2`:

```
$ kubectl get runners
NAME             REPOSITORY                             STATUS
NAME                             REPOSITORY                             STATUS
example-runnerdeploy2475h595fr   mumoshu/actions-runner-controller-ci   Running
example-runnerdeploy2475ht2qbr   mumoshu/actions-runner-controller-ci   Running
```