ViralVidVault is part of a family of video platforms, each running on separate LiteSpeed shared hosting. Same codebase, different configurations. Deploying manually to multiple hosts was error-prone and tedious. Here's the GitHub Actions pipeline that replaced it.
Constraints
Shared hosting means no SSH, no Docker on the server, no git pull. The only deployment option is FTP. The pipeline needs to:
- Run PHP linting and tests
- Deploy to multiple hosts in parallel
- Exclude sensitive files (
.env,data/) - Clear LiteSpeed cache after deploy
- Verify each deployment succeeded
The Workflow
# .github/workflows/deploy.yml
name: Test and Deploy
on:
push:
branches: [main]
workflow_dispatch:
inputs:
site:
description: 'Deploy specific site (or all)'
required: false
default: 'all'
type: choice
options: [all, dwv, tvh, vvv, tvs]
jobs:
test:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: shivammathur/setup-php@v2
with:
php-version: '8.3'
extensions: sqlite3, pdo_sqlite, curl
- name: Lint PHP files
run: |
EXIT_CODE=0
while IFS= read -r file; do
php -l "$file" > /dev/null 2>&1 || EXIT_CODE=1
done < <(find app/ public/ cron/ -name '*.php')
exit $EXIT_CODE
- name: Run test suite
run: php tests/run.php
env:
APP_ENV: testing
deploy:
needs: test
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
strategy:
matrix:
site: [dwv, tvh, vvv, tvs]
fail-fast: false
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Deploy via FTP
uses: SamKirkland/FTP-Deploy-Action@v4.3.5
with:
server: ${{ secrets[format('{0}_FTP_HOST', matrix.site)] }}
username: ${{ secrets[format('{0}_FTP_USER', matrix.site)] }}
password: ${{ secrets[format('{0}_FTP_PASS', matrix.site)] }}
server-dir: /public_html/
exclude: |
**/.env
**/data/**
**/*.log
**/.git/**
**/tests/**
**/backlink/**
- name: Clear LiteSpeed cache
run: |
curl -sf "${{ secrets[format('{0}_URL', matrix.site)] }}/task/clear-cache?key=${{ secrets.TASK_KEY }}" \
--max-time 10 || echo "Cache clear timed out (non-fatal)"
The workflow_dispatch input lets you deploy a single site manually from the GitHub UI. Useful when you need to hotfix one site without touching the others.
Matrix Strategy Deep Dive
The matrix keyword creates four parallel jobs, one per site. Each job has its own runner and its own set of secrets:
strategy:
matrix:
site: [dwv, tvh, vvv, tvs]
fail-fast: false
fail-fast: false is critical. Without it, if the tvh deploy fails (say, FTP timeout), GitHub cancels the vvv, dwv, and tvs jobs too. That turns one problem into four.
Secrets Organization
Twelve repository secrets, three per site:
DWV_FTP_HOST=ftp.dailywatch.video
DWV_FTP_USER=deploy@dailywatch.video
DWV_FTP_PASS=<password>
VVV_FTP_HOST=ftp.viralvidvault.com
VVV_FTP_USER=deploy@viralvidvault.com
VVV_FTP_PASS=<password>
# ... same pattern for TVH, TVS
The format() function dynamically resolves the right secret:
server: ${{ secrets[format('{0}_FTP_HOST', matrix.site)] }}
# When matrix.site = 'vvv', resolves to secrets.VVV_FTP_HOST
Post-Deploy Verification
Deploy doesn't mean working. Add a verification step:
- name: Verify deployment
run: |
URL="${{ secrets[format('{0}_URL', matrix.site)] }}"
echo "Checking $URL..."
# Basic availability check
HTTP_CODE=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}' "$URL" --max-time 15)
if [ "$HTTP_CODE" != "200" ]; then
echo "::error::${{ matrix.site }} returned HTTP $HTTP_CODE"
exit 1
fi
# Version check via health endpoint
DEPLOYED=$(curl -sf "$URL/health" --max-time 10 | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin).get('commit','unknown'))")
echo "${{ matrix.site }}: HTTP $HTTP_CODE, version $DEPLOYED"
This catches silent failures — FTP uploads that seem to succeed but actually fail due to permissions, disk space, or path misconfigurations.
Notifications on Failure
A deploy that fails silently is worse than a deploy that fails loudly:
notify:
needs: deploy
if: failure()
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: Alert on failure
run: |
curl -X POST "${{ secrets.DISCORD_WEBHOOK }}" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"content": "Deploy FAILED for ${{ github.sha }}. Check: ${{ github.server_url }}/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }}"}'
Production Results
Since switching to this pipeline for ViralVidVault and the other sites:
- Deploy time went from 15 minutes (manual, sequential) to 4 minutes (automated, parallel)
- Zero missed deployments (no more "forgot to deploy to tvs")
- Three bad deploys caught by the verification step before any user noticed
The FTP constraint makes this less elegant than a container-based deploy, but the reliability improvement is the same. Automate the boring parts, verify the important parts.
This article is part of the Building ViralVidVault series.