GitHub Actions self-hosted Runner Ansible role

An Ansible role that installs and configures GitHub Actions self-hosted Runners inside one or multiple hosts, you can re-use it for many different URLs (repositories or organizations) inside the same host in order to re-use it as much as possible.

Main goals of this role:

• avoid waste: re-use the same host to provide a build environment for

• idempotence: executing the role many times won't make anything break, steps

Variables

For an exhaustive list of variables check the defaults file. Ideally, all values will have commentaries describing what are their purposes and by the default value you can tell the type.

Required variables

Following values are required since there is no way to register the self-hosted Runner without them

| Name | Description | | ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | | ghrunnerconfig_url | GitHub Repository or Organization URL | | ghrunnerconfig_token | GitHub Registration token to authenticate the host |

Example Playbook

Simplest use case: Single repository configuration on one host.

- hosts: foo
  roles:
    - role: macunha1.githubactionsrunner
      vars:
        ghrunnerconfig_labels:
          - linux
          - self-hosted
ghrunnerconfig_url: https://github.com/macunha1/ansible-github-actions-runner         ghrunnerconfig_token: AC5TNLJP9SBAFNEKKLLBLF264J8XO

Complex use case to which this role was created for

- hosts: foo
  roles:
    - role: macunha1.githubactionsrunner
      vars:
        ghrunnerconfig_labels:
          - linux
          - self-hosted
ghrunnerconfig_url: https://github.com/macunha1/ansible-github-actions-runner         ghrunnerconfig_token: AC5TNLJP9SBAFNEKKLLBLF264J8XO
- role: macunha1.githubactionsrunner       vars:         ghrunnerconfig_url: https://github.com/macunha1/another-repository         ghrunnerconfig_token: AC5CQV3IJRR2OAFGEFCPJ0WJPJQXO
- role: macunha1.githubactionsrunner       vars:         ghrunnerconfig_url: https://github.com/macunha-acme-corp         ghrunnerconfig_token: ACYWUR9MHGR9U58C34W9ZK00UNBF

Note that despite using the same host, each one of these GitHub Actions Runner configuration will have its own path and credentials. Therefore, they can live well in harmony without killing each other.

Organization installs on one host

When you reuse the same host for multiple runners in the same Organization, set ghrunnerinstallation_path to a unique folder for each role invocation. That keeps the runner registrations isolated and avoids one runner replacing another.

This is a workaround, not the preferred setup. Smaller dedicated VMs are the better option when you can use them, because they keep environments segregated and make runner state easier to reason about.

- hosts: github-runners-ubuntu
  roles:
    - role: macunha1.githubactionsrunner
      vars:
        ghrunnerinstallation_path: /usr/local/share/github-actions-runner/acme/runner1
        ghrunnerconfig_url: https://github.com/macunha-acme-corp
        ghrunnerconfig_token: ACYWUR9MHGR9U58C34W9ZK00UNBF
        ghrunnerconfig_name: acme-runner-1
        ghrunnerconfig_labels:
          - ubuntu22
          - linux
          - self-hosted
- role: macunha1.githubactionsrunner       vars:         ghrunnerinstallation_path: /usr/local/share/github-actions-runner/acme/runner2         ghrunnerconfig_url: https://github.com/macunha-acme-corp         ghrunnerconfig_token: ACYWUR9MHGR9U58C34W9ZK00UNBF         ghrunnerconfig_name: acme-runner-2         ghrunnerconfig_labels:           - ubuntu22           - linux           - self-hosted
- role: macunha1.githubactionsrunner       vars:         ghrunnerinstallation_path: /usr/local/share/github-actions-runner/acme/runner3         ghrunnerconfig_url: https://github.com/macunha-acme-corp         ghrunnerconfig_token: ACYWUR9MHGR9U58C34W9ZK00UNBF         ghrunnerconfig_name: acme-runner-3         ghrunnerconfig_labels:           - ubuntu22           - linux           - self-hosted

If you keep the same ghrunnerinstallation_path for all of them, the later registration can replace the earlier one on the same org. Separate directories avoid that overlap.

Contribute

Feel free to fill an issue containing feature request(s), or (even better) to send me a Pull request, I would be happy to collaborate with you.

If this role didn't work for you, or if you found some bug during the execution, let me know.