CI/CD Build Nuget Packages and Publish to GitHub Packages with GitHub Actions

Before we start

I went trough several issues to achieve this, so I decide to do twrite this, hopefully you'll fine it useful.

Let's start

Assuming that you already have your repo on GitHub, with you VS solution and projects ready to be packagesd as nuget, for example https://github.com/emiliano84/Yugen.Toolkit

• https://github.com/emiliano84/Yugen.Toolkit/tree/master/Yugen.Toolkit.Standard
• https://github.com/emiliano84/Yugen.Toolkit/tree/master/Yugen.Toolkit.Uwp

GitHub Actions Setup

Let's create a file in .github/workflows/nuget.yml this conatins all the workflow instructions, for example

• https://github.com/emiliano84/Yugen.Toolkit/blob/master/.github/workflows/nugetStandard.yml for .net standard

• https://github.com/emiliano84/Yugen.Toolkit/blob/master/.github/workflows/nugetUwp.yml for uwp class library

• Let’s define our action that will triggered when we push or merge to master branch

name: Build, Pack and Publish Nuget
on:
  push:
    branches:    
      - master   

• Let's define our job and tell him which OS to use, we're going to use Windows of course

jobs:   
  build_pack_publish:
    runs-on: windows-latest
    name: Build

• Let's write the steps

1. Checkout the current Docs repo

steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v1   

2. Setup MSbuild, restore the nuget packages and build the solution in Release mode

- name: Setup MSBuild.exe
  uses: warrenbuckley/Setup-MSBuild@v1

- name: MSBuild Restore
  run: msbuild Yugen.Toolkit.Standard\Yugen.Toolkit.Standard.csproj /p:Configuration="Release" /t:restore     

- name: MSBuild Build
  run: msbuild Yugen.Toolkit.Standard\Yugen.Toolkit.Standard.csproj /p:Configuration="Release"

3. Only for a .net standard project we can use this step to build the nuget package, all the nuget properties required will be set in the project file, details later

- name: MSBuild Pack
  run: msbuild Yugen.Toolkit.Standard\Yugen.Toolkit.Standard.csproj /p:Configuration="Release" /t:pack 

4. Setup Nuget

- name: Setup Nuget.exe
  uses: warrenbuckley/Setup-Nuget@v1

5. Only for a UWP project we need to use this step to build the nuget package, all the nuget properties require will be in the nuspec file, details later

    - name: Nuget Pack
      run: nuget pack Yugen.Toolkit.Uwp\Yugen.Toolkit.Uwp.csproj -properties Configuration=Release

6. Setup our Nuget source and push the package

- name: Nuget Add Source
  run: nuget source Add -Name "GitHub" -Source "https://nuget.pkg.github.com/emiliano84/index.json" -UserName emiliano84 -Password ${{ secrets.PERSONAL_TOKEN }}

- name: Nuget SetAPIKey
  run: nuget setApiKey ${{ secrets.PERSONAL_TOKEN }} -Source "GitHub"

- name: Nuget Push
  run: nuget push Yugen.Toolkit.Standard\bin\Release\*.nupkg -Source "GitHub"

I defined a USERNAME and PACKAGES_TOKEN secrets, for the token I generate one with the following permissions: Repo, read:package, write:packages

Nuget properties

• For the .net standard project, you need to update the project file with the following properties

<Version>1.0.6</Version>
<PackageProjectUrl>https://github.com/emiliano84/Yugen.Toolkit</PackageProjectUrl>
<RepositoryUrl>https://github.com/emiliano84/Yugen.Toolkit.git</RepositoryUrl>

for example https://github.com/emiliano84/Yugen.Toolkit/blob/master/Yugen.Toolkit.Standard/Yugen.Toolkit.Standard.csproj

• For the UWP project, you need to update the nuspec file with the following properties

<id>Yugen.Toolkit.Uwp</id>
<version>1.0.6</version>
<authors>emiliano84</authors>
<description>Yugen.Toolkit.Uwp</description>
<repository type="git" url="https://github.com/emiliano84/Yugen.Toolkit.git" /> 
<projectUrl>https://github.com/emiliano84/Yugen.Toolkit</projectUrl>

for exmple https://github.com/emiliano84/Yugen.Toolkit/blob/master/Yugen.Toolkit.Uwp/Yugen.Toolkit.Uwp.nuspec

That's all folks