Implementation:MarketSquare Robotframework browser Github Release Workflow

Document Type

External Tool Doc -- Documents the GitHub Actions workflow file .github/workflows/on-release.yml that automates the multi-platform build, test, and publish pipeline triggered when a GitHub release is published.

Tool Summary

This GitHub Actions workflow orchestrates the complete release pipeline for the robotframework-browser project. It builds distribution packages on 5 platform/architecture combinations, smoke-tests them, publishes to PyPI, builds and pushes multi-architecture Docker images to Docker Hub and GHCR, and deploys keyword documentation to GitHub Pages.

Source Reference

File	Lines	Description
.github/workflows/on-release.yml	L1-366	Complete release workflow definition

Trigger

name: Release tasks

on:
  release:
    types: [ published ]

The workflow runs when a GitHub release is published. This is typically done by a maintainer after completing the release preparation steps (version bump, docs, release notes).

Job 1: gh-pages

Purpose: Deploy keyword documentation to GitHub Pages.

Runner: ubuntu-latest

gh-pages:
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v6
    - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
      with:
        node-version: 22.x
    - uses: actions/setup-python@v6
      with:
        python-version: 3.12
    - name: Dependencies for building docs
      run: |
        npm ci
        python -m pip install --upgrade pip
        pip install uv
        uv pip install -r Browser/dev-requirements.txt  --python 3.12 --system
        uv pip install -r pyproject.toml  --python 3.12 --system
        inv build
    - name: Build docs
      run: |
        inv docs
        inv gh-pages-index
    - name: Deploy
      uses: JamesIves/github-pages-deploy-action@v4.8.0
      with:
        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        BRANCH: gh-pages
        FOLDER: docs

Key details:

• Installs all dependencies and builds the project
• Generates keyword docs (inv docs) and index page (inv gh-pages-index)
• Deploys the docs/ folder to the gh-pages branch

Job 2: build_browser_wheels

Purpose: Build distribution packages on all supported platforms.

Runner: Matrix of 5 platforms

build_browser_wheels:
  name: Build wheels on ${{ matrix.os }}
  runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
  strategy:
    fail-fast: false
    matrix:
      include:
        - os: ubuntu-latest
        - os: ubuntu-24.04-arm
        - os: windows-latest
        - os: macos-15-intel
        - os: macos-latest
          arch: arm64

Steps performed on each platform:

1. Set up Node.js 22.x and Python 3.13
2. Install dependencies with inv deps
3. Build stubs (Ubuntu only): inv node-build
4. Create Browser wheel (Ubuntu only): inv create-package
5. Build test app: inv create-test-app
6. Package demo app: inv demo-app
7. Build BrowserBatteries wheel: inv package-nodejs

Artifacts uploaded:

Artifact Name	Content	Platform
rfbrowser-wheel	robotframework_browser-*-py3-none-any.whl	Ubuntu only (universal)
browser-batteries-wheels-{os}	robotframework_browser_batteries-*.whl	Each platform
demoapp-{os}	Zipped demo application	Each platform

Job 3: test_browser_wheels

Purpose: Validate built packages with smoke tests on clean installations.

Depends on: build_browser_wheels

Runner: Same 5-platform matrix

Key steps:

1. Download the universal Browser wheel and platform-specific BrowserBatteries wheel
2. Download the platform-specific demo app
3. Install both wheels with pip
4. Run rfbrowser install --with-deps to install Playwright browsers
5. Remove source directories (Browser/, node/, browser_batteries/) to ensure tests use installed packages
6. Unzip demo app
7. Run acceptance tests:
   • Ubuntu: xvfb-run --auto-servernum invoke atest-robot --smoke
   • Windows/macOS: inv atest-robot

Uses Python 3.14 for testing to validate forward compatibility.

Job 4: publish-browser-to-pypi

Purpose: Publish the Browser library wheel to PyPI.

Depends on: build_browser_wheels, test_browser_wheels

publish-browser-to-pypi:
  needs:
    - build_browser_wheels
    - test_browser_wheels
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  environment:
    name: pypi
    url: https://pypi.org/p/robotframework-browser
  permissions:
    id-token: write
  steps:
    - name: Check
      run: |
        twine check dist/*
    - name: Publish Browser distribution to PyPI
      uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1

Key details:

• Uses PyPI trusted publisher (OIDC) authentication -- no API tokens needed
• Runs twine check to validate the package before uploading
• Publishes to https://pypi.org/p/robotframework-browser

Job 5: publish-browserbatteries-to-pypi

Purpose: Publish all platform-specific BrowserBatteries wheels to PyPI.

Depends on: build_browser_wheels, test_browser_wheels

publish-browserbatteries-to-pypi:
  needs:
    - build_browser_wheels
    - test_browser_wheels
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  environment:
    name: pypi
    url: https://pypi.org/p/robotframework-browser-batteries
  permissions:
    id-token: write
  steps:
    - name: Download rfbrowser-browser-wheels
      uses: actions/download-artifact@v7
      with:
        pattern: browser-batteries-wheels-*
        path: dist
        merge-multiple: true
    - name: Publish BrowserBatteries distribution to PyPI
      uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1

Key details:

• Downloads all BrowserBatteries wheels from all platforms using the merge-multiple: true option
• All platform-specific wheels are published in a single upload

Job 6: docker-image

Purpose: Build and push multi-architecture Docker images.

Depends on: publish-browser-to-pypi

docker-image:
  needs: publish-browser-to-pypi
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  steps:
    - uses: docker/setup-qemu-action@v3
    - uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
    - name: Login to Docker Hub
      uses: docker/login-action@v3
    - name: Push tag to Docker Hub
      uses: docker/build-push-action@v6
      with:
        file: docker/Dockerfile.latest_release
        platforms: linux/arm64/v8,linux/amd64
        push: true
    - name: Login to GitHub Container Registry
      uses: docker/login-action@v3
      with:
        registry: ghcr.io
    - name: Push to GitHub Packages
      uses: docker/build-push-action@v6
      with:
        platforms: linux/arm64/v8,linux/amd64
        file: docker/Dockerfile.latest_release
        push: true

Docker Hub image: marketsquare/robotframework-browser

GHCR image: ghcr.io/marketsquare/robotframework-browser/rfbrowser-stable

Tags applied (via docker/metadata-action):

Tag Pattern	Example
Semantic version (full)	19.13.0
Semantic version (major.minor)	19.13
Semantic version (major)	19
Latest	latest

Architectures: linux/arm64/v8 and linux/amd64 (built via QEMU cross-compilation)

Job 7: test-docker-image

Purpose: Validate the published Docker image with acceptance tests.

Depends on: docker-image

test-docker-image:
  needs: docker-image
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  steps:
    - name: Install dependencies
      run: |
        invoke deps
    - name: Build testing docker image
      run: |
        invoke docker-tester
    - name: Run tests with latest stable docker image
      run: |
        invoke docker-test

Key details:

• Installs project dependencies
• Builds a test Docker image (docker/Dockerfile.tests)
• Runs acceptance tests inside the container using xvfb-run

Complete Job Dependency Graph

[gh-pages]                              (runs independently)

[build_browser_wheels]                  (runs independently)
         |
         v
[test_browser_wheels]                   (needs: build)
         |
    +----+----+
    |         |
    v         v
[publish-    [publish-
 browser-     browserbatteries-
 to-pypi]     to-pypi]
    |
    v
[docker-image]
    |
    v
[test-docker-image]

Secrets Required

Secret	Used By	Purpose
GITHUB_TOKEN	gh-pages, GHCR login	Automatic GitHub token
DOCKER_USERNAME	docker-image	Docker Hub authentication
DOCKER_TOKEN	docker-image	Docker Hub authentication
PyPI OIDC	publish jobs	Trusted publisher (no secret needed)

Related

• MarketSquare_Robotframework_browser_Release_Publication -- Principle document for the release pipeline
• MarketSquare_Robotframework_browser_Inv_Version_Docs -- Release preparation tasks that precede this workflow
• MarketSquare_Robotframework_browser_Inv_Build -- Local build tasks mirrored in CI

Requires Environment

• Environment:MarketSquare_Robotframework_browser_CI_GitHub_Actions
• Environment:MarketSquare_Robotframework_browser_Docker_Container

Uses Heuristic

• Heuristic:MarketSquare_Robotframework_browser_Docker_Chrome_Security