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By centralizing common jobs—like deployment—into standalone workflows, you can reduce duplication, simplify updates, and enforce best practices across all your repositories. This guide shows you how to extract deployment logic into a reusable workflow and invoke it from language-specific CI pipelines.

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Sample CI Workflow for a Node.js App

Here’s an example .github/workflows/ci-testing.yml that runs tests, coverage, dependency scanning, build, and deployments in sequence: 
name: CI Workflow
on: push

jobs:
  unit-tests:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        os: [macos-latest, ubuntu-latest, windows-latest]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm install
      - name: Run unit tests
        run: npm test

  code-coverage:
    needs: unit-tests
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Generate coverage report
        run: npm run coverage

  dependency-scan:
    needs: code-coverage
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Scan for vulnerabilities
        run: npm audit

  build:
    needs: dependency-scan
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Build application
        run: npm run build

  deploy-dev:
    needs: build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v2
        with:
          node-version: '14'
      - name: Authenticate to DEV
        run: echo "Authenticating to DEV"
      - name: Deploy to development
        run: echo "Deploying to development environment"
      - name: Notify team
        run: echo "Development deployment complete"

  deploy-prod:
    needs: deploy-dev
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v2
        with:
          node-version: '14'
      - name: Authenticate to PROD
        run: echo "Authenticating to PROD"
      - name: Deploy to production
        run: echo "Deploying to production environment"
      - name: Notify team
        run: echo "Production deployment complete"
Copy-pasting deployment steps across multiple workflows leads to fragmented updates and higher maintenance costs. A single change requires edits in every file.

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Why Use Reusable Workflows?

A reusable workflow is a YAML file that other workflows can invoke via workflow_call. Benefits include:
BenefitDescription
Avoid duplicationDefine deployment logic once and reuse everywhere.
Simplify maintenanceUpdate a single file to apply changes organization-wide.
Enforce standardsShare audited, best-practice workflows across teams.

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Example Repository Layout

Assume the following structure in your XYZ/nodejs-app-repo:
  • .github/workflows/awesome-app.yaml
  • .github/workflows/reusable-workflow.yaml

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Original Workflow: awesome-app.yaml

This caller workflow builds the app, runs tests, and then invokes the reusable deployment job: 
name: My Awesome App
on: push

jobs:
  unit-testing:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - run: npm test

  code-coverage:
    needs: unit-testing
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - run: npm run coverage

  build:
    needs: code-coverage
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - run: npm run build

  dev-deploy:
    needs: build
    uses: ./.github/workflows/reusable-workflow.yaml
    with:
      environment: development
    secrets:
      DEPLOY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.DEV_DEPLOY_TOKEN }}

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Reusable Workflow: reusable-workflow.yaml

By declaring on.workflow_call, you expose inputs, secrets, and jobs that any caller workflow can use: 
name: Reusable Deployment
on:
  workflow_call:
    inputs:
      environment:
        type: string
        required: true
    secrets:
      DEPLOY_TOKEN:
        required: true

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v2
        with:
          node-version: '14'

      - name: Authenticate with cloud
        run: echo "Authenticating for ${{ inputs.environment }} using ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_TOKEN }}"

      - name: Deploy to ${{ inputs.environment }}
        run: echo "Deploying to ${{ inputs.environment }} environment"

      - name: Notify team
        run: echo "${{ inputs.environment }} deployment complete"

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Invoking the Reusable Workflow

You can call this reusable workflow from any repository or branch: 
dev-deploy:
  needs: build
  uses: ./.github/workflows/reusable-workflow.yaml
  with:
    environment: development
  secrets:
    DEPLOY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.DEV_DEPLOY_TOKEN }}

prod-deploy:
  needs: dev-deploy
  uses: ./.github/workflows/reusable-workflow.yaml
  with:
    environment: production
  secrets:
    DEPLOY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.PROD_DEPLOY_TOKEN }}
Inputs and secrets are strongly typed. Ensure that every workflow_call declaration and invocation matches the expected names and types.

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Key Terminology

  • Caller workflow: The YAML file that uses uses: to invoke a reusable workflow.
  • Called workflow: The reusable workflow that declares on.workflow_call.

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