How It Works

1. releases.yml runs on push to master - semantic-release creates GitHub release + tag
2. GitHub release published - triggers build-and-deploy.yml. Note that the schedule also triggers this workflow.
3. Workflow runs npm ci - grunt build - deploys to master branch of adaptlearning/adaptlearning.github.io repo in the v5demo directory.
4. No cleanup needed (workflow runs in isolated environment)

Deployment Options Considered

peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v4 (chosen):

• Community action with 11k+ stars, well-maintained since 2019
• Single-step deployment process
• Works with traditional gh-pages branch approach
• Supports external repository deployment
• Perfect for custom build tools like Grunt
• Simpler for release-triggered workflows

actions/deploy-pages (official GitHub alternative):

• Official GitHub action (launched ~2022)
• Two-step process: upload artifact - deploy
• Requires "Deploy from GitHub Actions" source setting (not branch-based)
• GitHub's stated direction for Pages
• Better for static site generators or complex CI/CD
• More modular but adds complexity for simple use cases

Key Differences

Deployment Method:

• peaceiris: Pushes content directly to a branch (typically gh-pages)
• actions/deploy-pages: Uses artifacts uploaded via actions/upload-pages-artifact

Official Status:

• peaceiris documentation acknowledges: "See also the GitHub official GitHub Pages Action first"
• GitHub announced in August 2022: "GitHub Pages now uses Actions by default"

Why We Chose peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v4

For our specific use case (release-triggered Adapt course deployments with Grunt builds):

1. Simplicity - Single-step deployment vs two-step artifact approach
2. Branch-based - Works with traditional gh-pages branch setup
3. Proven - Widely used, well-documented, stable
4. No workflow changes needed - Works seamlessly with our release workflow

Both actions are valid and actively maintained. We chose peaceiris for simplicity, not because it's superior to the official action.