# Publish from GitHub Actions

> Publish Maven, Gradle, npm, Python and Docker artifacts to CloudRepo from a GitHub Actions workflow, with a repository token held as a GitHub secret.

A GitHub Actions workflow publishes to CloudRepo the way your laptop does: the build tool sends a repository token with the upload. What changes is where the token lives. Keep it in a GitHub secret, hand it to the one step that needs it as an environment variable, and let a committed config file name that variable instead of holding the token.

## Before you start

- A repository, and a [repository token](/docs/authenticate/repository-tokens.html) that reaches it. A token that publishes is **Read + write**; a build that only pulls needs **Read only**.
- A token you create under **Repository Tokens** belongs to your account. Deleting a user from your organization deletes that user’s tokens, and any build using one stops authenticating. So create the token as an account that outlives any one person: a user you make for builds (see [Create Your First User](/docs/get-started/add-users.html)), signed in to the admin portal when it mints the token. The owner can instead create a [service key](/docs/authenticate/repository-tokens.html#service-keys-for-your-pipelines), which belongs to your organization rather than to a user.
- Your repository URL, `https://your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/your-repo`, and the username that Maven, Gradle, Python and Docker clients send: the email address of the account that created the token. npm sends the token alone.

## Store the token as a secret

1. In your GitHub repository, click **Settings**, then under **Security** click **Secrets and variables**, then **Actions**.
2. On the **Secrets** tab, click **New repository secret**. Name it `CLOUDREPO_TOKEN` and paste the token as the value.

For one token shared by several repositories, GitHub also keeps secrets for an organization; see [Using secrets in GitHub Actions](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/security-for-github-actions/security-guides/using-secrets-in-github-actions).

The workflows below hand the secret to one step through that step’s `env:`, where the tool reads it as `CLOUDREPO_TOKEN`. GitHub’s own guidance is to avoid passing secrets between processes on the command line, where other users can see them with `ps`, and the blocks on this page follow it: the token reaches each tool through the environment or a file the tool reads, never as an argument.

GitHub passes no secret except `GITHUB_TOKEN` to a workflow triggered from a fork. In that run `CLOUDREPO_TOKEN` is empty, so a publish step cannot authenticate.

## Publish from a workflow

Pick your client. The choice is remembered on every page of these docs. Each tab has the same three parts: a file that names the token’s variable, the repository settings of your build, and the workflow. Commit all three; none of them holds the token.

**Maven**

Maven reads the credential from a settings file. Commit this one as `.mvn/settings.xml`; `${env.CLOUDREPO_TOKEN}` is replaced by the environment variable when Maven runs. Replace `you@example.com` with the email address of the account that created the token.

`.mvn/settings.xml`

```xml
<settings>
  <servers>
    <server>
      <id>cloudrepo</id>
      <username>you@example.com</username>
      <password>${env.CLOUDREPO_TOKEN}</password>
    </server>
  </servers>
</settings>
```

The `<id>` must match the repository’s `<id>` in your `pom.xml`. `<distributionManagement>` is where `mvn deploy` publishes:

`pom.xml`

```xml
<distributionManagement>
  <repository>
    <id>cloudrepo</id>
    <url>https://your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/your-repo</url>
  </repository>
</distributionManagement>
```

The workflow runs on a tag push. It passes the settings file with `--settings` and gives the secret to the deploy step:

`.github/workflows/publish.yml`

```yaml
name: Publish
on:
  push:
    tags: ["release-*"]
jobs:
  publish:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-java@v4
        with:
          distribution: temurin
          java-version: "17"
      - name: Publish to CloudRepo
        env:
          CLOUDREPO_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CLOUDREPO_TOKEN }}
        run: mvn --batch-mode --settings .mvn/settings.xml deploy
```

Expected: the job ends with `BUILD SUCCESS`, and the artifact is listed in the repository in the [admin portal](https://admin.cloudrepo.io). To resolve dependencies from the same repository in a build, add a `<repositories>` block with the same URL; see [Maven Repositories](/docs/formats/maven.html).

**Gradle**

Gradle reads the token from the environment in the build script, so nothing needs to sit in `~/.gradle` on the runner. Replace `you@example.com` with the email address of the account that created the token.

`build.gradle.kts`

```kotlin
publishing {
    publications {
        create<MavenPublication>("library") {
            from(components["java"])
        }
    }
    repositories {
        maven {
            url = uri("https://your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/your-repo")
            credentials {
                username = "you@example.com"
                password = providers.environmentVariable("CLOUDREPO_TOKEN").orNull
            }
        }
    }
}
```

`.orNull` keeps every other Gradle command working on a machine where the variable is not set; only `publish` needs it. Add the `java-library` and `maven-publish` plugins to the `plugins` block if your build does not have them.

`.github/workflows/publish.yml`

```yaml
name: Publish
on:
  push:
    tags: ["release-*"]
jobs:
  publish:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-java@v4
        with:
          distribution: temurin
          java-version: "17"
      - name: Publish to CloudRepo
        env:
          CLOUDREPO_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CLOUDREPO_TOKEN }}
        run: gradle publish
```

If your project has the Gradle wrapper, run `./gradlew publish` instead. A Groovy build script takes the same `maven { ... }` block under `publishing { repositories { ... } }`, with the credential read from `System.getenv("CLOUDREPO_TOKEN")`.

**npm**

npm replaces `${CLOUDREPO_TOKEN}` in `.npmrc` with the environment variable of that name, so this file can be committed. Keep the trailing `/` on both lines, and keep the second line identical to the registry URL without `https:`.

`.npmrc`

```ini
registry=https://your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/your-repo/
//your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/your-repo/:_authToken=${CLOUDREPO_TOKEN}
```

npm sends the token on its own, so there is no username to set.

`.github/workflows/publish.yml`

```yaml
name: Publish
on:
  push:
    tags: ["release-*"]
jobs:
  publish:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - name: Publish to CloudRepo
        env:
          CLOUDREPO_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CLOUDREPO_TOKEN }}
        run: npm publish
```

The same `.npmrc` and secret serve `npm ci` and `npm install` in a job that only pulls. For a scoped package, or a repository that sits beside the public registry, see [npm Repositories](/docs/formats/npm.html).

**pip**

twine uploads a built package. It reads its username and password from `TWINE_USERNAME` and `TWINE_PASSWORD`, which the step sets from the secret, and takes the repository URL without `/simple/`. Replace `you@example.com` with the email address of the account that created the token.

`.github/workflows/publish.yml`

```yaml
name: Publish
on:
  push:
    tags: ["release-*"]
jobs:
  publish:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: "3.x"
      - name: Build
        run: pip wheel . --no-deps -w dist
      - name: Install twine
        run: pip install twine
      - name: Publish to CloudRepo
        env:
          TWINE_USERNAME: you@example.com
          TWINE_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.CLOUDREPO_TOKEN }}
        run: twine upload --repository-url https://your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/your-repo dist/*
```

To install from the repository in a job, set `PIP_INDEX_URL` from the secret rather than passing `--index-url`, which would put the token on the command line. See [Repository Tokens](/docs/authenticate/repository-tokens.html) for the URL, and write the `@` in your email address as `%40`.

**Docker**

Log in to the host alone, with your email address and the token on standard input, then build and push. The image reference carries the repository after the host.

`.github/workflows/publish.yml`

```yaml
name: Publish
on:
  push:
    tags: ["release-*"]
jobs:
  publish:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - name: Log in to CloudRepo
        env:
          CLOUDREPO_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CLOUDREPO_TOKEN }}
        run: echo "$CLOUDREPO_TOKEN" | docker login your-org.mycloudrepo.io --username you@example.com --password-stdin
      - name: Build and push
        run: |
          docker build -t your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/your-repo/my-app:1.0.0 .
          docker push your-org.mycloudrepo.io/repositories/your-repo/my-app:1.0.0
```

Use your own image name and tag. The password is the repository token, not a portal password. More: [Docker Repositories](/docs/formats/docker.html).

## When publishing fails

- **`401 Unauthorized`.** The credential was refused. The username must be the email address of the account that created the token, and the token must not be expired or revoked. Check that the secret is named `CLOUDREPO_TOKEN`, is set on this repository (or shared with it), and that the step names it in `env:`. The full list is on [Repository Tokens](/docs/authenticate/repository-tokens.html#when-a-client-answers-401-403-or-404).
- **`403 Forbidden`.** The token does not reach this repository, or it is **Read only** and the step publishes. Create a **Read + write** token that includes the repository.
- **`409 Conflict` from `mvn deploy`.** The release version you are publishing already exists, and Overwrite Protection refuses to replace it. Publish a new version, or use a `-SNAPSHOT` version while you iterate. See [Maven Overwrite Protection](/docs/formats/maven.html#maven-overwrite-protection). Python repositories have the same setting: [Python Repositories](/docs/formats/python.html#overwrite-protection).

---

The page: https://www.cloudrepo.io/docs/ci/github-actions.html