Github Releases with codemagic.yaml

How to deploy an app to Github Releases using codemagic.yaml

Some general notes

Publishing to GitHub releases is available only for apps hosted in GitHub repositories.

Also, the publishing happens only for successful builds triggered on tag creation and is unavailable for manual builds.

Granting access to GitHub

In order to enable Codemagic to publish releases to GitHub, you need to grant it write access to your repository. For this, you need to set up a personal access token as described in the GitHub documentation.

Configuring Codemagic

1. Open your Codemagic app settings, and go to the Environment variables tab.

2. Enter the desired Variable name, e.g. GITHUB_TOKEN.

3. Enter the token value as Variable value.

4. Make sure the Secret option is selected.

5. Click the Add button to add the variable.

6. Include the GITHUB_TOKEN variable in your codemagic.yaml and configure build triggering on tag creation. Don’t forget to add a branch pattern and ensure the webhook exists.

  environment:
    vars:
      GITHUB_TOKEN
  ...
  triggering:
    events:
      - tag
    branch_patterns:
      - pattern: '*'
        include: true
        source: true

7. Add the following script after the build or publishing scripts. Edit the placeholders like your application name and the build artifacts path to match your setup.

   scripts:
     - name: Publish to GitHub
       script: | 
         #!/usr/bin/env zsh

         # Publish only for tag builds
         if [ -z ${CM_TAG} ]; then
           echo "Not a tag build, will not publish GitHub release"
           exit 0
         fi

         gh release create "${CM_TAG}" \
           --title "<Your Application Name> ${CM_TAG}" \
           --notes-file changelog.md \
           path/to/build-artifact.ipa \
           path/to/build-artifact.apk

         # Note that you don't need to include title and changelog if you do not want to.
         # Any number of artifacts can be included with the release.

See more options about gh release create usage from GitHub CLI official docs