Create additional documentation for testing GitHub Actions using nektos/act

[egcuriel]

Overview

We need to create additional documentation to supplement the existing 'How to Test GitHub Actions' series that is available in the Google Drive, to provide a testing track for developers who need to test or modify complex, event-driven GitHub Actions workflows locally before pushing changes or reviewing pull requests.

Action Items

The documentation should provide a step-by-step walkthrough for configuring act locally, specifically addressing the unique hurdles of our repository and should be broken down into universal testing steps and OS-specific setup:

Universal Emulation Steps (Mac, Windows, Linux):

• Mocking GitHub Context: Explain why event-driven workflows crash locally without payload data, and provide the exact curl/jq commands to fetch live issue data and format it into an event.json payload.
• Secure Authentication & Context Spoofing:
  • Setting up a .secrets file with a Personal Access Token (PAT) for GraphQL API queries.
  • Overriding the GITHUB_REPOSITORY environment variable during execution so act queries the main hackforla/website repository instead of a personal fork.
• Git Remote Configuration: (Optional but recommended) Ensuring developers have their Git remotes configured for SSH to streamline the testing and pushing pipeline.

Linux/WSL Specific Setup:

• Installation & Compilation Hurdles: How to bypass outdated apt packages to install modern Go (1.21+) and compile act from source (this serves as a crucial troubleshooting fallback for developers when standard package managers fail).

Resources/Instructions

Hack for LA Google Drive:
'\HackforLA.org website\HackforLA.org website folder\3 - Developers\GitHub Actions (GHA)\1. How to test GitHub Actions.gdoc'
1. How to Test GitHub Actions - using nektos/act

'\HackforLA.org website\HackforLA.org website folder\3 - Developers\GitHub Actions (GHA)\2. Additional Notes for GitHub Actions.docx'
2. Additional Notes for GitHub Actions

External Resources:
nektos/act Official Repository
GitHub API: Fetching an Issue
jq Manual (for JSON parsing)

[HackforLABot]

Hi @egcuriel, we notice that you are assigned to an issue that you authored. Please remember to add the Draft label to this issue while you are working on it.

[egcuriel]

Availability: T-S (7 pm - 11 pm)
ETA: 08/11/2026