CI with GitHub Actions: Run UI + API on Every Push

The idea, in one line

CI is a robot that runs your test suites for you every time code changes. With GitHub Actions you describe that robot in a YAML file under .github/workflows/.

The words to know

• on — the trigger. When should this run? push, pull_request.
• jobs — units of work. They run in parallel by default; each picks a machine with runs-on.
• steps — run in order inside a job. uses pulls in a prebuilt action (like checkout); run executes a shell command.
• with — passes inputs to an action.
• needs — makes one job wait for another. Use it only when there's a real dependency.

name: tests
on:
  push:
  pull_request:

jobs:
  api:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: "3.12"
      - run: pip install -r requirements.txt
      - run: pytest tests/api --alluredir=allure-results
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        if: always()               # upload even when tests fail
        with:
          name: allure-api
          path: allure-results

  ui:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        browser: [chromium, firefox]   # fan out across browsers
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: pytest tests/ui --browser=${{ matrix.browser }}

Read it top to bottom: two jobs, api and ui, run side by side. The api job installs Python, runs the API tests, and saves the report. The ui job runs its tests once per browser.

Advanced — two touches that mark a senior

• Split UI and API into separate jobs so they run at the same time, and a UI failure doesn't hide an API failure.
• Always publish results as artifacts with actions/upload-artifact, and set if: always() so reports upload even when tests fail. A failed run with no logs tells you nothing.
• Use a matrix to fan one job across versions or browsers — one file becomes a full cross-environment grid.

Grounded in the official GitHub Actions workflow-syntax docs and the actions/upload-artifact README