Slipway vs GitHub Actions
GitHub Actions is excellent CI that lives where your code is. Its deployment story (environments, deployment protection rules, reusable workflows) is intentionally lightweight. Slipway adds a full deployment model and works with GitHub as an SCM.
Where they overlap
Section titled “Where they overlap”YAML pipelines in the repository, matrix builds, caches, artifacts, service containers, reusable units (actions and templates), OIDC federation into clouds, environments with approvals, self-hosted runners.
Differences that matter
Section titled “Differences that matter”| Topic | GitHub Actions | Slipway |
|---|---|---|
| Code host | Tied to GitHub | Any SCM: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure Repos, Gitea |
| Deployment model | Environments with protection rules; the rest is up to you | Services, releases, lifecycles, channels, strategies, promotion, rollback, drift, DORA |
| Canary and verification | DIY | Built in with metric verification (Team+) |
| Release object | Git tags and GitHub Releases | Immutable release with artifacts, variables snapshot and provenance |
| Runners | Hosted per-minute; self-hosted free | Hosted per-minute (priced below GitHub’s list rate); self-hosted free and unlimited |
| Expressions | ${{ }} with its own expression language |
${{ }} with CEL |
| Marketplace | Very large | Growing registry; GitHub Actions compatibility shim for JavaScript and Docker actions is planned |
| Workflow commands | $GITHUB_OUTPUT, ::add-mask:: |
$SLIPWAY_OUTPUT, ::mask:: (same ideas) |
Using them together
Section titled “Using them together”Slipway integrates with GitHub through a GitHub App: pushes and pull requests trigger Slipway runs, and Slipway posts commit statuses, checks, PR comments and deployment statuses back. A common adoption path is to keep GitHub Actions for lint and unit tests and add Slipway for release and deployment, then consolidate later.
You can also let a GitHub Actions workflow create a Slipway release:
- run: slipway release create api ${{ github.sha }} --artifact image=ghcr.io/acme/api@${{ steps.build.outputs.digest }} env: { SLIPWAY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SLIPWAY_TOKEN }}, SLIPWAY_PROJECT: api }Concept mapping
Section titled “Concept mapping”See Migrate from GitHub Actions for the full table and a worked conversion.
Choose GitHub Actions when
Section titled “Choose GitHub Actions when”Your code is on GitHub, your deployment needs are simple, and the marketplace breadth matters most.
Choose Slipway when
Section titled “Choose Slipway when”You deploy to several environments with approvals and strategies, want canary verification, want one tool across SCMs, or want free unlimited self-hosted runners with a real deployment model.