How to Set Up a CI/CD for WordPress with GitHub Actions and AWS

Setting up a Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipeline for a WordPress site can greatly enhance your development workflow, ensuring that code changes are automatically tested, built, and deployed. GitHub Actions and AWS provide a powerful combination to achieve this. In this blog post, we will walk you through the steps to set up a CI/CD pipeline for your WordPress site using GitHub Actions and AWS.

Prerequisites

Before we start, ensure you have the following:

1. AWS Account: An AWS account with necessary permissions to create and manage resources.
2. GitHub Repository: A GitHub repository where your WordPress project is stored.
3. AWS CLI: Installed and configured with access to your AWS account.

Step 1: Set Up Your AWS Environment

1.1 Create an S3 Bucket:

S3 will store your WordPress site’s static files.

1. Log in to the AWS Management Console.
2. Go to S3 and create a new bucket (e.g., my-wordpress-site).
3. Configure the bucket for public access or set up CloudFront for content delivery.

1.2 Set Up RDS for WordPress Database:

1. Go to RDS and create a new MySQL or MariaDB instance.
2. Configure security groups to allow access from your EC2 instances.

1.3 Create an EC2 Instance:

1. Launch an EC2 instance using an appropriate AMI (Amazon Linux 2 is recommended).
2. Install necessary software (Apache/Nginx, PHP, MySQL client).
3. Configure security groups to allow HTTP/HTTPS traffic.

Step 2: Prepare Your GitHub Repository

2.1 Structure Your Repository:

Organize your WordPress project in the repository, ensuring you include all necessary files (themes, plugins, etc.).

2.2 Create a .github/workflows Directory:

In the root of your repository, create a .github/workflows directory to store your GitHub Actions workflow files.

Step 3: Configure GitHub Actions

3.1 Create a GitHub Actions Workflow:

Create a file named ci-cd.yml in the .github/workflows directory.

name: CI/CD for WordPress

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - name: Checkout code
      uses: actions/checkout@v2

    - name: Set up Node.js
      uses: actions/setup-node@v2
      with:
        node-version: '14'

    - name: Install dependencies
      run: npm install

    - name: Run tests
      run: npm test

  deploy:
    needs: build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - name: Checkout code
      uses: actions/checkout@v2

    - name: Sync files to S3
      run: aws s3 sync . s3://my-wordpress-site --delete
      env:
        AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
        AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
        AWS_REGION: 'us-east-1'

    - name: Deploy to EC2
      run: |
        ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no ec2-user@${{ secrets.EC2_PUBLIC_IP }} << 'EOF'
          cd /var/www/html
          git pull origin main
          composer install
          npm install
          npm run build
          sudo systemctl restart apache2
        EOF
      env:
        SSH_PRIVATE_KEY: ${{ secrets.SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}
        EC2_PUBLIC_IP: ${{ secrets.EC2_PUBLIC_IP }}

Step 4: Configure GitHub Secrets

1. In your GitHub repository, go to Settings > Secrets > Actions.
2. Add the following secrets:
   • AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: Your AWS access key ID.
   • AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: Your AWS secret access key.
   • EC2_PUBLIC_IP: The public IP address of your EC2 instance.
   • SSH_PRIVATE_KEY: Your EC2 instance’s SSH private key.

Step 5: Deploy Your WordPress Site

With the GitHub Actions workflow configured, any push to the main branch will trigger the CI/CD pipeline.

1. Build Phase:
   • The code is checked out, dependencies are installed, and tests are run.
2. Deploy Phase:
   • Files are synchronized to the S3 bucket.
   • The WordPress site is deployed to the EC2 instance using SSH, and the web server is restarted.

Conclusion

Setting up a CI/CD pipeline for WordPress using GitHub Actions and AWS automates the process of testing and deploying your site, ensuring that updates are seamlessly and consistently applied. This approach not only saves time but also reduces the risk of human error, leading to a more reliable and efficient development workflow.

By following this guide, you can leverage the power of automation to maintain a robust WordPress site capable of handling continuous updates and high traffic.