github-webhooks-exec

Execute shell commands on GitHub webhook events.

• Works with pm2 to start automatically on boot
• Queues commands to ensure sequential execution

Requirements

• Node.js
• pm2

Installation

npm install github-webhooks-exec

Initial setup

webhooks.js

Create webhooks.js in the directory where you want to execute shell commands from:

const { webhooks, queue, logger } = require('github-webhooks-exec');

webhooks.on('push', event => {
  logger.info('Received push event');
  const commands = [
    'set -e',
    // etc.
  ];
  queue.push(commands.join('; '));
});

.env

Create .env in the same directory:

GITHUB_WEBHOOKS_PORT=3000
GITHUB_WEBHOOKS_SECRET=password

Generate a long random string for GITHUB_WEBHOOKS_SECRET.

ecosystem.config.js

Create ecosystem.config.js:

module.exports = {
  apps: [
    {
      name: 'my-project-webhooks',
      script: './webhooks.js',
    },
  ],
};

Running the server

Ensure pm2 is installed and set up:

npm install -g pm2
pm2 startup

Start the server:

pm2 start ecosystem.config.js

Save the pm2 app list to be restored on reboot:

pm2 save

Adding the webhook on GitHub

In Settings > Webhooks of any GitHub repository or organization, add a webhook with the following settings:

Field	Value
Payload URL	https://your.domain:3000/api/github/webhooks
Content type	application/json
Secret	The value of GITHUB_WEBHOOKS_SECRET in the .env file
Which events would you like to trigger this webhook?	Just the push event
Active	checked

Viewing logs

Install pino-pretty:

npm i -g pino-pretty

Tail logs:

pm2 logs --raw | pino-pretty

API Reference

github-webhooks-exec provides the following named exports:

webhooks

A Webhooks instance initialized with GITHUB_WEBHOOKS_SECRET from .env.

See https://github.com/octokit/webhooks.js/

queue

A fastq instance that runs shell commands sequentially.

See https://github.com/mcollina/fastq

logger

A pino logger instance.

See https://github.com/pinojs/pino