GitOps

Shared GitHub Actions used across KyleSpicer's projects. Each is a composite action; reference one from a workflow by its path on main:

uses: KyleSpicer/GitOps/actions/<name>@main

Pinning to @main means a push to this repository changes the action for every workflow that uses it, immediately. Pin to a tag or commit SHA instead if you need a workflow to stay fixed.

Contents

• Available actions - overview table
• locate-msbuild - find MSBuild.exe
• msbuild-release - build a VS solution or project
• upload-build - upload an artifact
• userguide-pdf - render and upload userguide.pdf

Available actions

Each row links to that action's section below; the section heading links to its source action.yml.

Action	Purpose	Runner OS
locate-msbuild	Find the newest MSBuild.exe via vswhere	Windows
msbuild-release	Build a Visual Studio solution or project	Windows
upload-build	Upload build output as a workflow artifact	Any
userguide-pdf	Render Docs/userguide.md to a PDF and upload it	Any

locate-msbuild

Resolves the path to the newest MSBuild.exe on the runner using vswhere, preferring the 64-bit build to avoid WOW64 path redirection. msbuild-release calls this itself, so you only need it directly to run MSBuild your own way.

Outputs: msbuild-path - the resolved path. Also exported as the MSBUILD environment variable for later steps.

Windows only: uses PowerShell and vswhere.

- id: msbuild
  uses: KyleSpicer/GitOps/actions/locate-msbuild@main
- shell: powershell
  run: & "${{ steps.msbuild.outputs.msbuild-path }}" MyApp.sln /p:Configuration=Release

msbuild-release

Builds a .sln, .slnx, or .vcxproj with /m /nologo /restore. Locates MSBuild via locate-msbuild first.

Input	Required	Default	Description
project	yes		Path to the .sln, .slnx, or .vcxproj, relative to working-directory
configuration	no	Release	Debug or Release
platform	no	x64	x64, x86, or Win32
working-directory	no	.	Directory to build from
extra-args	no	""	Extra MSBuild arguments, space separated

Outputs: msbuild-path - the MSBuild used.

Windows only: uses PowerShell and MSBuild.

- uses: KyleSpicer/GitOps/actions/msbuild-release@main
  with:
    project: MyApp/MyApp.slnx
    configuration: Release
    platform: x64

upload-build

Uploads files, folders, or globs as a workflow artifact, wrapping actions/upload-artifact@v7. Any file type. A path that matches nothing fails the step.

Input	Required	Default	Description
name	yes		Artifact name, unique within the workflow run
path	yes		Files, folders, or globs, one per line, relative to the repo root. ! prefix excludes
retention-days	no	7	Days to keep the artifact

Outputs: artifact-id - the uploaded artifact's ID.

Runs on any runner OS (no shell steps). actions/upload-artifact runs on the Node.js bundled with the GitHub runner, so nothing extra is needed.

- uses: KyleSpicer/GitOps/actions/upload-build@main
  with:
    name: myapp-windows-x64
    path: |
      build/MyApp.exe
      docs/guide.pdf
      !**/*.pdb

Artifacts expire (the repository's retention setting sets the maximum; retention-days can only shorten it). For downloads that should never expire, attach the files to a GitHub Release instead.

userguide-pdf

Renders a repository's user guide to userguide.pdf and uploads it with upload-build. Looks for Docs/userguide.md, then docs/userguide.md. Images the guide references, such as an image.png beside it, must exist, or the step fails and names the missing file. Links within the guide, like a table of contents, become working links and PDF bookmarks.

Input	Required	Default	Description
name	no	userguide	Artifact name, unique within the workflow run
output	no	userguide.pdf	PDF to write, relative to the repo root
guide	no	""	Guide to render instead of searching Docs/ and docs/
paper-size	no	Letter	Page size, such as Letter or A4
upload	no	"true"	"false" renders only, for example to attach the PDF to a release
retention-days	no	7	Days to keep the artifact

Outputs: pdf-path - absolute path of the rendered PDF.

Runs on any runner OS. Needs Python 3.10 or newer on the PATH, as python on Windows and python3 elsewhere, plus network access to PyPI. On first use it installs a pinned renderer (markdown-pdf with PyMuPDF, about 70 MB) into a private virtual environment in the runner's temp folder and reuses it after that; the runner's own Python is never changed. A stock Debian or Ubuntu Python, which lacks pip, works too.

- uses: actions/checkout@v7
- uses: KyleSpicer/GitOps/actions/userguide-pdf@main