GitHub Actions CI/CD for Monorepo Projects

A CI/CD pipeline for a monorepo faces a fundamentally different challenge than a single-application pipeline: how do you run fast, reliable pipelines when only 1 of your 5 applications changed? Naively building everything on every commit turns a 2-minute pipeline into a 15-minute bottleneck that developers work around by batching commits — exactly what you're trying to prevent.

This guide covers a production GitHub Actions setup for a Turborepo monorepo: affected-only builds, parallel job execution, Turbo remote caching integration, environment-based deployment gates, and the security patterns that prevent secrets from leaking into logs or forked PR runs.

Key Takeaways

• Use fetch-depth: 2 in checkout to enable Turbo's affected package detection
• Run lint, type-check, test, and build in parallel jobs — don't chain them sequentially
• Matrix jobs let you test across multiple Node.js versions or operating systems without duplicating YAML
• Store Turbo remote cache credentials as GitHub Secrets, not environment variables in YAML
• Use environment: protection rules on production deploy jobs to require manual approval
• paths-filter action lets you skip CI entirely when only docs or non-code files changed
• Never print secrets to logs — use ::add-mask:: for runtime-generated secrets
• Reusable workflows (workflow_call) eliminate duplication across multiple repository workflows

---

Repository Structure for CI

A good CI setup mirrors your development workflow. Here's the structure that works for a Turborepo monorepo:

.github/
  workflows/
    ci.yml          — Runs on every PR and push to main
    deploy.yml      — Runs on push to main (after CI passes)
    security.yml    — Weekly security scans
    cleanup.yml     — Scheduled: delete stale preview deployments
  actions/
    setup-pnpm/
      action.yml    — Reusable: install Node + pnpm + cache

---

Core CI Workflow

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

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]
    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened]

# Cancel in-progress runs when a new run starts
concurrency:
  group: ci-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

env:
  TURBO_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.TURBO_TOKEN }}
  TURBO_TEAM: ${{ vars.TURBO_TEAM }}
  NODE_VERSION: '22'
  PNPM_VERSION: '10.28.0'

jobs:
  # Fast path: skip if only docs/assets changed
  changes:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    outputs:
      code: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.code }}
      docs: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.docs }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: dorny/paths-filter@v3
        id: filter
        with:
          filters: |
            code:
              - 'apps/**/*.ts'
              - 'apps/**/*.tsx'
              - 'packages/**/*.ts'
              - 'turbo.json'
              - 'package.json'
              - 'pnpm-lock.yaml'
            docs:
              - 'apps/docs/**'
              - '**/*.md'

  lint:
    needs: changes
    if: needs.changes.outputs.code == 'true'
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 2  # Required for turbo affected detection

      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
        with:
          version: ${{ env.PNPM_VERSION }}

      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
          cache: 'pnpm'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

      - name: Lint
        run: pnpm turbo run lint

      - name: Type check
        run: pnpm turbo run type-check

  test:
    needs: changes
    if: needs.changes.outputs.code == 'true'
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    services:
      postgres:
        image: postgres:17-alpine
        env:
          POSTGRES_DB: ecosire_test
          POSTGRES_USER: ecosire
          POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password
        ports:
          - 5433:5432
        options: >-
          --health-cmd pg_isready
          --health-interval 10s
          --health-timeout 5s
          --health-retries 5

      redis:
        image: redis:7-alpine
        ports:
          - 6379:6379
        options: >-
          --health-cmd "redis-cli ping"
          --health-interval 10s
          --health-timeout 5s
          --health-retries 5

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 2

      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
        with:
          version: ${{ env.PNPM_VERSION }}

      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
          cache: 'pnpm'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

      - name: Run unit tests
        run: pnpm turbo run test
        env:
          DATABASE_URL: postgresql://ecosire:password@localhost:5433/ecosire_test
          REDIS_URL: redis://localhost:6379

      - name: Upload coverage
        uses: codecov/codecov-action@v4
        with:
          token: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
          files: ./apps/api/coverage/lcov.info

  build:
    needs: [lint, test]
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 2

      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
        with:
          version: ${{ env.PNPM_VERSION }}

      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
          cache: 'pnpm'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

      - name: Build all apps
        run: pnpm turbo run build
        env:
          NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL: ${{ vars.STAGING_API_URL }}

      - name: Upload build artifacts
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: build-${{ github.sha }}
          path: |
            apps/web/.next/
            apps/api/dist/
          retention-days: 1  # Keep briefly for deploy job

---

E2E Test Job with Playwright

  e2e:
    needs: build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        project: [chromium, firefox, mobile-chrome]
      fail-fast: false  # Don't cancel other browsers if one fails

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
        with:
          version: ${{ env.PNPM_VERSION }}

      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
          cache: 'pnpm'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

      - name: Install Playwright browsers
        run: cd apps/web && npx playwright install ${{ matrix.project }} --with-deps

      - name: Download build artifacts
        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: build-${{ github.sha }}

      - name: Start test servers
        run: |
          cd apps/api && node dist/main.js &
          cd apps/web && npx next start &
          npx wait-on http://localhost:3000 http://localhost:3001/health
        env:
          DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.TEST_DATABASE_URL }}

      - name: Run E2E tests
        run: cd apps/web && npx playwright test --project=${{ matrix.project }}
        env:
          BASE_URL: http://localhost:3000

      - name: Upload test results
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        if: failure()
        with:
          name: playwright-report-${{ matrix.project }}
          path: apps/web/playwright-report/
          retention-days: 7

---

Security Scanning Workflow

# .github/workflows/security.yml
name: Security Scan

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 2 * * 1'  # Weekly Monday 2am UTC
  push:
    paths:
      - '**/package.json'
      - 'pnpm-lock.yaml'

jobs:
  audit:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
        with:
          version: '10.28.0'

      - name: Run pnpm audit
        run: pnpm audit --audit-level moderate
        continue-on-error: true  # Don't fail CI, just report

      - name: Run Snyk security scan
        uses: snyk/actions/node@master
        env:
          SNYK_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SNYK_TOKEN }}
        with:
          command: test
          args: --severity-threshold=high

  secret-scanning:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0  # Full history for secret scanning

      - name: Run Gitleaks
        uses: gitleaks/gitleaks-action@v2
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

---

Deployment Workflow

# .github/workflows/deploy.yml
name: Deploy to Production

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      environment:
        description: 'Deploy environment'
        required: true
        default: 'production'
        type: choice
        options:
          - production
          - staging

# Only one production deploy at a time
concurrency:
  group: deploy-${{ inputs.environment }}
  cancel-in-progress: false  # Don't cancel in-flight deploys

jobs:
  quality-gate:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
        with:
          version: '10.28.0'

      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '22'
          cache: 'pnpm'

      - run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

      - name: Run quality checks
        run: |
          pnpm turbo run lint type-check test
        env:
          TURBO_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.TURBO_TOKEN }}
          TURBO_TEAM: ${{ vars.TURBO_TEAM }}

  deploy:
    needs: quality-gate
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment: ${{ inputs.environment }}  # Requires approval for production
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Deploy via SSH
        uses: appleboy/ssh-action@v1
        with:
          host: ${{ secrets.SSH_HOST }}
          username: ${{ secrets.SSH_USER }}
          key: ${{ secrets.SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}
          script: |
            set -e

            cd /opt/ecosire/app

            echo "Pulling latest changes..."
            git pull origin main

            echo "Installing dependencies..."
            pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

            echo "Building..."
            TURBO_TOKEN=${{ secrets.TURBO_TOKEN }} \
            TURBO_TEAM=${{ vars.TURBO_TEAM }} \
            npx turbo run build

            echo "Running migrations..."
            pnpm --filter @ecosire/db db:migrate

            echo "Restarting services..."
            pm2 restart ecosystem.config.cjs --update-env

            echo "Health check..."
            sleep 10
            curl -f https://ecosire.com/api/health || exit 1
            curl -f https://api.ecosire.com/api/health || exit 1

            echo "Deploy complete!"

      - name: Notify on success
        if: success()
        uses: actions/github-script@v7
        with:
          script: |
            github.rest.repos.createCommitComment({
              owner: context.repo.owner,
              repo: context.repo.repo,
              commit_sha: context.sha,
              body: `Deployed to ${process.env.ENVIRONMENT} at ${new Date().toISOString()}`
            })
        env:
          ENVIRONMENT: ${{ inputs.environment }}

      - name: Notify on failure
        if: failure()
        uses: actions/github-script@v7
        with:
          script: |
            github.rest.issues.create({
              owner: context.repo.owner,
              repo: context.repo.repo,
              title: `Deploy failed: ${process.env.ENVIRONMENT}`,
              body: `Deploy to ${process.env.ENVIRONMENT} failed at ${new Date().toISOString()}\n\nRun: ${context.serverUrl}/${context.repo.owner}/${context.repo.repo}/actions/runs/${context.runId}`
            })
        env:
          ENVIRONMENT: ${{ inputs.environment }}

---

Caching Strategy

Effective caching is the difference between 2-minute and 8-minute CI runs:

# Reusable setup step (extract to composite action)
# .github/actions/setup-pnpm/action.yml
name: Setup pnpm
runs:
  using: composite
  steps:
    - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
      with:
        version: '10.28.0'

    - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
      with:
        node-version: '22'
        cache: 'pnpm'

    # Turbo cache (separate from pnpm cache)
    - uses: actions/cache@v4
      with:
        path: .turbo
        key: turbo-${{ runner.os }}-${{ github.sha }}
        restore-keys: |
          turbo-${{ runner.os }}-

    - name: Install dependencies
      run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
      shell: bash

---

Security Best Practices

Never echo secrets:

# Wrong — secret appears in logs
- run: echo "API key is ${{ secrets.API_KEY }}"

# If you must generate and use runtime secrets
- run: |
    echo "::add-mask::$GENERATED_SECRET"
    GENERATED_SECRET=$(generate-secret)
    echo "GENERATED_SECRET=$GENERATED_SECRET" >> $GITHUB_ENV

Restrict permissions:

# Minimum permissions at workflow level
permissions:
  contents: read
  actions: read
  checks: write  # Add only what you need

jobs:
  test:
    permissions:
      contents: read  # Override at job level if needed

Prevent pull request injection:

# For PRs from forks — never expose secrets
on:
  pull_request:

jobs:
  test:
    # Secrets not available in fork PRs by default
    # Use pull_request_target only for trusted actions
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

---

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I trigger a workflow only when specific packages change?

Use dorny/paths-filter to detect which packages changed, then pass the filter outputs to job conditions. For Turbo's built-in affected detection, ensure fetch-depth: 2 in your checkout step so Turbo can compare against the previous commit. Use pnpm turbo run test --filter="...[HEAD^1]" to run tests only for changed packages and their dependents.

How should I handle database migrations in CI?

Run migrations in a separate job that runs after tests but before the final build artifact is created. Use a dedicated test database URL in CI (separate from dev and production). Never run migrations against production from CI automatically — use workflow_dispatch with manual approval via GitHub environment protection rules for production database changes.

What's the best way to manage secrets across multiple environments?

Use GitHub Environments (Settings > Environments) with protection rules. Create separate environments for staging and production. Store environment-specific secrets under each environment, not at the repository level. For shared secrets (like Turbo remote cache token), use repository-level secrets. The environment: key in job configuration enables environment-specific secrets and protection rules.

How do I speed up pnpm install in CI?

The actions/setup-node@v4 with cache: 'pnpm' caches the pnpm store. For large monorepos, also use pnpm install --prefer-offline after restoring the cache. The combination of pnpm store caching and Turbo remote caching typically reduces install + build time by 60-80% on cache hits.

How do I run different workflows for PRs vs. main branch pushes?

Use the on trigger conditions: on.push.branches for main and on.pull_request.branches for PRs. You can run a faster subset of tests for PRs (lint, unit tests) and the full suite on main. Use github.event_name == 'push' conditions to run deploy jobs only on push to main, not on PR events.

---

Next Steps

A well-designed CI/CD pipeline is the foundation of a high-velocity engineering team — it gives you confidence to ship frequently and catch regressions automatically. ECOSIRE runs GitHub Actions CI with lint, type-check, 1,301 unit tests, Playwright E2E, and zero-downtime SSH deployments on every push to main.

Whether you need CI/CD architecture consulting, Turborepo monorepo setup, or complete DevOps support, explore our engineering services.