--- name: aws-cloudformation-task-ecs-deploy-gh description: Provides patterns to deploy ECS tasks and services with GitHub Actions CI/CD. Use when building Docker images, pushing to ECR, updating ECS task definitions, deploying ECS services, integrating with CloudFormation stacks, configuring AWS OIDC authentication for GitHub Actions, and implementing production-ready container deployment pipelines. Supports ECS deployments with proper security (OIDC or IAM keys), multi-environment support, blue/green deployments, ECR private repositories with image scanning, and CloudFormation infrastructure updates. allowed-tools: Read, Write, Bash ---

# AWS CloudFormation Task ECS Deploy with GitHub Actions

Comprehensive skill for deploying ECS containers using GitHub Actions CI/CD pipelines with CloudFormation infrastructure management.

## Overview

Deploy containerized applications to Amazon ECS using GitHub Actions workflows. This skill covers the complete deployment pipeline: authentication with AWS (OIDC recommended), building Docker images, pushing to Amazon ECR, updating task definitions, and deploying ECS services. Integrate with CloudFormation for infrastructure-as-code management and implement production-grade deployment strategies.

## When to Use

- Deploying Docker containers to Amazon ECS with GitHub Actions - Setting up CI/CD pipelines for ECS using CloudFormation - Configuring AWS OIDC authentication for GitHub Actions - Building Docker images and pushing to Amazon ECR - Updating ECS task definitions dynamically in CI/CD - Implementing blue/green or rolling deployments for ECS - Managing CloudFormation stacks from GitHub Actions

## Instructions

Follow these steps to set up ECS deployment with GitHub Actions:

1. **Configure AWS Authentication**: Set up OIDC provider for GitHub Actions 2. **Create IAM Roles**: Define roles for deployment actions 3. **Set Up ECR Repository**: Create repository with image scanning 4. **Create ECS Cluster**: Define cluster infrastructure 5. **Configure Task Definition**: Set up task and container definitions 6. **Set Up ECS Service**: Configure service with deployment strategy 7. **Create GitHub Workflow**: Define CI/CD pipeline steps 8. **Configure Secrets**: Store credentials securely in GitHub Secrets

## Quick Start

### Basic Deployment Workflow

```yaml name: Deploy to ECS on: push: branches: [main]

jobs: deploy: runs-on: ubuntu-latest permissions: id-token: write contents: read steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4

- name: Configure AWS credentials uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4 with: role-to-assume: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/github-actions-ecs-role aws-region: us-east-1

- name: Login to ECR uses: aws-actions/amazon-ecr-login@v2

- name: Build and push image env: ECR_REGISTRY: ${{ steps.login-ecr.outputs.registry }} ECR_REPOSITORY: my-app IMAGE_TAG: ${{ github.sha }} run: | docker build -t $ECR_REGISTRY/$ECR_REPOSITORY:$IMAGE_TAG . docker push $ECR_REGISTRY/$ECR_REPOSITORY:$IMAGE_TAG

- name: Verify image push run: | docker pull $ECR_REGISTRY/$ECR_REPOSITORY:$IMAGE_TAG echo "Image $ECR_REGISTRY/$ECR_REPOSITORY:$IMAGE_TAG verified"

- name: Update task definition uses: aws-actions/amazon-ecs-render-task-definition@v1 id: render-task with: task-definition: task-definition.json container-name: my-app image: ${{ steps.login-ecr.outputs.registry }}/my-app:${{ github.sha }}

- name: Validate task definition run: | # Validate JSON syntax cat ${{ steps.render-task.outputs.task-definition }} | jq empty && echo "Task definition JSON is valid" # Verify container image matches expected CONTAINER_IMAGE=$(cat ${{ steps.render-task.outputs.task-definition }} | jq -r '.containerDefinitions[0].image') EXPECTED_IMAGE="${{ steps.login-ecr.outputs.registry }}/my-app:${{ github.sha }}" if [ "$CONTAINER_IMAGE" = "$EXPECTED_IMAGE" ]; then echo "Container image matches expected: $CONTAINER_IMAGE" else echo "ERROR: Container image mismatch. Expected: $EXPECTED_IMAGE, Got: $CONTAINER_IMAGE" exit 1 fi

- name: Deploy to ECS uses: aws-actions/amazon-ecs-deploy-task-definition@v1 with: task-definition: ${{ steps.render-task.outputs.task-definition }} service: my-service cluster: my-cluster wait-for-service-stability: true ```

See [references/workflow-examples.md](references/workflow-examples.md) for complete workflow examples including multi-environment and blue/green deployments.

## Examples

### Multi-Environment Deployment

```yaml jobs: deploy: strategy: matrix: environment: [dev, staging, prod] steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 - name: Configure AWS credentials uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4 with: role-to-assume: arn:aws:iam::${{ matrix.env_account }}:role/github-actions-ecs-role aws-region: ${{ matrix.region }} - name: Deploy to ${{ matrix.environment }} run: | ECR_REGISTRY=${{ env.ECR_REGISTRY }} docker build -t $ECR_REGISTRY/my-app:${{ github.sha }} . docker push $ECR_REGISTRY/my-app:${{ github.sha }} ```

### Blue/Green Deployment with CodeDeploy

```yaml - name: Deploy with CodeDeploy run: | aws deploy create-deployment \ --application-name my-app \ --deployment-group-name ${{ matrix.environment }} \ --deployment-config-name CodeDeployDefault ECSAllAtOnce \ --revision "{\"revisionType\":\"AppSpecContent\",\"appSpecContent\":{\"content\":\"$(cat appspec.yml)\",\"filename\":\"appspec.yml\"}}" aws deploy wait deployment-successful --deployment-id $(aws deploy list-deployments --application-name my-app --query 'deployments[0]' --output text) ```

See [references/workflow-examples.md](references/workflow-examples.md) for additional patterns including ECR lifecycle policies, task definition templates, and CloudFormation stack updates.

## Best Practices

### Security 1. **Use OIDC authentication** instead of long-lived IAM keys 2. **Implement least privilege IAM roles** with specific permissions 3. **Enable ECR image scanning** on push 4. **Use AWS Secrets Manager** for sensitive data 5. **Encrypt ECR repositories** with KMS 6. **VPC endpoints** for ECR and ECS without internet gateway 7. **Security groups** restrict access to minimum required

### Performance 1. **Docker layer caching** with GitHub Actions cache 2. **Multi-stage builds** to minimize image size 3. **Parallel deployments** across multiple environments 4. **Fargate Spot** for cost savings on non-critical workloads 5. **CloudWatch Logs** with appropriate retention policies

### Cost Optimization 1. **ECR lifecycle policies** to clean up old images 2. **Fargate Spot** instances for development/testing 3. **Right-sized task CPU and memory** 4. **Auto-scaling** based on metrics 5. **Scheduled scaling** for predictable traffic patterns

See [references/best-practices.md](references/best-practices.md) for detailed security, performance, and cost optimization guidelines.

## Common Troubleshooting

### Authentication Failures - Verify OIDC trust relationship matches GitHub organization/repository - Check IAM role has proper permissions for ECR and ECS - Ensure GitHub Actions repository has `id-token: write` permission

### Deployment Failures - Check CloudWatch Logs for application errors - Verify task definition matches service requirements - Ensure sufficient CPU/memory in Fargate cluster - Review health check configuration

### ECR Push Failures - Verify repository exists and permissions are correct - Check image tag format and registry URL - Ensure Docker daemon is running in GitHub Actions runner - Verify image size doesn't exceed ECR limits

### CloudFormation Rollback - Review stack events in AWS Console - Check parameter values match resource constraints - Verify IAM role has `cloudformation:UpdateStack` permission - Enable termination protection for production stacks

See [references/best-practices.md](references/best-practices.md) for complete troubleshooting guide with debug commands.

## Related Skills

- [aws-cloudformation-ecs](../aws-cloudformation-ecs/) - Design and implement ECS cluster architecture - [aws-cloudformation-lambda](../aws-cloudformation-lambda/) - Deploy Lambda functions with GitHub Actions - [aws-cloudformation-security](../aws-cloudformation-security/) - Security best practices for ECS deployments

## References

### Complete Examples - **[references/workflow-examples.md](references/workflow-examples.md)** - Complete GitHub Actions workflows including basic deployment, multi-environment, blue/green, and CI/CD pipelines

### Configuration - **[references/authentication.md](references/authentication.md)** - OIDC provider setup, IAM roles, cross-account deployment, environment-specific roles - **[references/ecr-and-task-definitions.md](references/ecr-and-task-definitions.md)** - ECR repository configuration, task definition management, multi-container setups - **[references/deployment-strategies.md](references/deployment-strategies.md)** - Rolling and blue/green deployments, CloudFormation templates, stack updates

### Best Practices - **[references/best-practices.md](references/best-practices.md)** - Security guidelines, performance optimization, cost optimization, monitoring, and complete troubleshooting guide

## Constraints and Warnings

### Resource Limits - **GitHub Actions Limits**: Usage limits per account (minutes, storage) - **Workflow File Size**: Cannot exceed 1 MB - **Job Matrix Limits**: Limits on total matrix combinations - **Artifact Retention**: Default 90-day retention

### Authentication Constraints - **OIDC Tokens**: Limited lifetime (typically 5 minutes) - **Role Session Duration**: Maximum 12 hours - **Permission Scope**: Least-privilege permissions required - **Cross-Account Access**: Requires appropriate trust relationships

### Operational Constraints - **Deployment Speed**: CloudFormation deployments may take time - **Stack Locking**: Cannot update while another deployment is in progress - **ECR Rate Limits**: API rate limits may affect large deployments - **ECS Service Limits**: Limits on tasks per service and services per cluster

### Security Constraints - **Secret Management**: Never store secrets in repository or workflow files - **OIDC Provider**: Must be configured in AWS account before first use - **Repository Access**: Workflow secrets are scoped to repository - **Token Security**: Minimum required permissions only (contents: read, id-token: write)

### Cost Considerations - **GitHub Actions**: Minutes beyond free tier incur costs - **ECR Storage**: Monthly storage costs for container images - **ECS/Fargate**: Costs for vCPU and memory resources - **Data Transfer**: Costs for data transfer between GitHub and AWS

--- name: aws-cloudformation-task-ecs-deploy-gh description: Provides patterns to deploy ECS tasks and services with GitHub Actions CI/CD. Use when building Docker images, pushing to ECR, updating ECS task definitions, deploying ECS services, integrating with CloudFormation stacks, configuring AWS OIDC authentication for GitHub Actions, and implementing production-ready container deployment pipelines. Supports ECS deployments with proper security (OIDC or IAM keys), multi-environment support, blue/green deployments, ECR private repositories with image scanning, and CloudFormation infrastructure updates. allowed-tools: Read, Write, Bash ---

# AWS CloudFormation Task ECS Deploy with GitHub Actions

Comprehensive skill for deploying ECS containers using GitHub Actions CI/CD pipelines with CloudFormation infrastructure management.

## Overview

Deploy containerized applications to Amazon ECS using GitHub Actions workflows. This skill covers the complete deployment pipeline: authentication with AWS (OIDC recommended), building Docker images, pushing to Amazon ECR, updating task definitions, and deploying ECS services. Integrate with CloudFormation for infrastructure-as-code management and implement production-grade deployment strategies.

## When to Use

- Deploying Docker containers to Amazon ECS with GitHub Actions - Setting up CI/CD pipelines for ECS using CloudFormation - Configuring AWS OIDC authentication for GitHub Actions - Building Docker images and pushing to Amazon ECR - Updating ECS task definitions dynamically in CI/CD - Implementing blue/green or rolling deployments for ECS - Managing CloudFormation stacks from GitHub Actions

## Instructions

Follow these steps to set up ECS deployment with GitHub Actions:

1. **Configure AWS Authentication**: Set up OIDC provider for GitHub Actions 2. **Create IAM Roles**: Define roles for deployment actions 3. **Set Up ECR Repository**: Create repository with image scanning 4. **Create ECS Cluster**: Define cluster infrastructure 5. **Configure Task Definition**: Set up task and container definitions 6. **Set Up ECS Service**: Configure service with deployment strategy 7. **Create GitHub Workflow**: Define CI/CD pipeline steps 8. **Configure Secrets**: Store credentials securely in GitHub Secrets

## Quick Start

### Basic Deployment Workflow

```yaml name: Deploy to ECS on: push: branches: [main]

jobs: deploy: runs-on: ubuntu-latest permissions: id-token: write contents: read steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4

- name: Configure AWS credentials uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4 with: role-to-assume: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/github-actions-ecs-role aws-region: us-east-1

- name: Login to ECR uses: aws-actions/amazon-ecr-login@v2

- name: Build and push image env: ECR_REGISTRY: ${{ steps.login-ecr.outputs.registry }} ECR_REPOSITORY: my-app IMAGE_TAG: ${{ github.sha }} run: | docker build -t $ECR_REGISTRY/$ECR_REPOSITORY:$IMAGE_TAG . docker push $ECR_REGISTRY/$ECR_REPOSITORY:$IMAGE_TAG

- name: Verify image push run: | docker pull $ECR_REGISTRY/$ECR_REPOSITORY:$IMAGE_TAG echo "Image $ECR_REGISTRY/$ECR_REPOSITORY:$IMAGE_TAG verified"

- name: Update task definition uses: aws-actions/amazon-ecs-render-task-definition@v1 id: render-task with: task-definition: task-definition.json container-name: my-app image: ${{ steps.login-ecr.outputs.registry }}/my-app:${{ github.sha }}

- name: Validate task definition run: | # Validate JSON syntax cat ${{ steps.render-task.outputs.task-definition }} | jq empty && echo "Task definition JSON is valid" # Verify container image matches expected CONTAINER_IMAGE=$(cat ${{ steps.render-task.outputs.task-definition }} | jq -r '.containerDefinitions[0].image') EXPECTED_IMAGE="${{ steps.login-ecr.outputs.registry }}/my-app:${{ github.sha }}" if [ "$CONTAINER_IMAGE" = "$EXPECTED_IMAGE" ]; then echo "Container image matches expected: $CONTAINER_IMAGE" else echo "ERROR: Container image mismatch. Expected: $EXPECTED_IMAGE, Got: $CONTAINER_IMAGE" exit 1 fi

- name: Deploy to ECS uses: aws-actions/amazon-ecs-deploy-task-definition@v1 with: task-definition: ${{ steps.render-task.outputs.task-definition }} service: my-service cluster: my-cluster wait-for-service-stability: true ```

See [references/workflow-examples.md](references/workflow-examples.md) for complete workflow examples including multi-environment and blue/green deployments.

## Examples

### Multi-Environment Deployment

```yaml jobs: deploy: strategy: matrix: environment: [dev, staging, prod] steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 - name: Configure AWS credentials uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4 with: role-to-assume: arn:aws:iam::${{ matrix.env_account }}:role/github-actions-ecs-role aws-region: ${{ matrix.region }} - name: Deploy to ${{ matrix.environment }} run: | ECR_REGISTRY=${{ env.ECR_REGISTRY }} docker build -t $ECR_REGISTRY/my-app:${{ github.sha }} . docker push $ECR_REGISTRY/my-app:${{ github.sha }} ```

### Blue/Green Deployment with CodeDeploy

```yaml - name: Deploy with CodeDeploy run: | aws deploy create-deployment \ --application-name my-app \ --deployment-group-name ${{ matrix.environment }} \ --deployment-config-name CodeDeployDefault ECSAllAtOnce \ --revision "{\"revisionType\":\"AppSpecContent\",\"appSpecContent\":{\"content\":\"$(cat appspec.yml)\",\"filename\":\"appspec.yml\"}}" aws deploy wait deployment-successful --deployment-id $(aws deploy list-deployments --application-name my-app --query 'deployments[0]' --output text) ```

See [references/workflow-examples.md](references/workflow-examples.md) for additional patterns including ECR lifecycle policies, task definition templates, and CloudFormation stack updates.

## Best Practices

### Security 1. **Use OIDC authentication** instead of long-lived IAM keys 2. **Implement least privilege IAM roles** with specific permissions 3. **Enable ECR image scanning** on push 4. **Use AWS Secrets Manager** for sensitive data 5. **Encrypt ECR repositories** with KMS 6. **VPC endpoints** for ECR and ECS without internet gateway 7. **Security groups** restrict access to minimum required

### Performance 1. **Docker layer caching** with GitHub Actions cache 2. **Multi-stage builds** to minimize image size 3. **Parallel deployments** across multiple environments 4. **Fargate Spot** for cost savings on non-critical workloads 5. **CloudWatch Logs** with appropriate retention policies

### Cost Optimization 1. **ECR lifecycle policies** to clean up old images 2. **Fargate Spot** instances for development/testing 3. **Right-sized task CPU and memory** 4. **Auto-scaling** based on metrics 5. **Scheduled scaling** for predictable traffic patterns

See [references/best-practices.md](references/best-practices.md) for detailed security, performance, and cost optimization guidelines.

## Common Troubleshooting

### Authentication Failures - Verify OIDC trust relationship matches GitHub organization/repository - Check IAM role has proper permissions for ECR and ECS - Ensure GitHub Actions repository has `id-token: write` permission

### Deployment Failures - Check CloudWatch Logs for application errors - Verify task definition matches service requirements - Ensure sufficient CPU/memory in Fargate cluster - Review health check configuration

### ECR Push Failures - Verify repository exists and permissions are correct - Check image tag format and registry URL - Ensure Docker daemon is running in GitHub Actions runner - Verify image size doesn't exceed ECR limits

### CloudFormation Rollback - Review stack events in AWS Console - Check parameter values match resource constraints - Verify IAM role has `cloudformation:UpdateStack` permission - Enable termination protection for production stacks

See [references/best-practices.md](references/best-practices.md) for complete troubleshooting guide with debug commands.

## Related Skills

- [aws-cloudformation-ecs](../aws-cloudformation-ecs/) - Design and implement ECS cluster architecture - [aws-cloudformation-lambda](../aws-cloudformation-lambda/) - Deploy Lambda functions with GitHub Actions - [aws-cloudformation-security](../aws-cloudformation-security/) - Security best practices for ECS deployments

## References

### Complete Examples - **[references/workflow-examples.md](references/workflow-examples.md)** - Complete GitHub Actions workflows including basic deployment, multi-environment, blue/green, and CI/CD pipelines

### Configuration - **[references/authentication.md](references/authentication.md)** - OIDC provider setup, IAM roles, cross-account deployment, environment-specific roles - **[references/ecr-and-task-definitions.md](references/ecr-and-task-definitions.md)** - ECR repository configuration, task definition management, multi-container setups - **[references/deployment-strategies.md](references/deployment-strategies.md)** - Rolling and blue/green deployments, CloudFormation templates, stack updates

### Best Practices - **[references/best-practices.md](references/best-practices.md)** - Security guidelines, performance optimization, cost optimization, monitoring, and complete troubleshooting guide

## Constraints and Warnings

### Resource Limits - **GitHub Actions Limits**: Usage limits per account (minutes, storage) - **Workflow File Size**: Cannot exceed 1 MB - **Job Matrix Limits**: Limits on total matrix combinations - **Artifact Retention**: Default 90-day retention

### Authentication Constraints - **OIDC Tokens**: Limited lifetime (typically 5 minutes) - **Role Session Duration**: Maximum 12 hours - **Permission Scope**: Least-privilege permissions required - **Cross-Account Access**: Requires appropriate trust relationships

### Operational Constraints - **Deployment Speed**: CloudFormation deployments may take time - **Stack Locking**: Cannot update while another deployment is in progress - **ECR Rate Limits**: API rate limits may affect large deployments - **ECS Service Limits**: Limits on tasks per service and services per cluster

### Security Constraints - **Secret Management**: Never store secrets in repository or workflow files - **OIDC Provider**: Must be configured in AWS account before first use - **Repository Access**: Workflow secrets are scoped to repository - **Token Security**: Minimum required permissions only (contents: read, id-token: write)

### Cost Considerations - **GitHub Actions**: Minutes beyond free tier incur costs - **ECR Storage**: Monthly storage costs for container images - **ECS/Fargate**: Costs for vCPU and memory resources - **Data Transfer**: Costs for data transfer between GitHub and AWS

--- name: aws-cloudformation-task-ecs-deploy-gh description: Provides patterns to deploy ECS tasks and services with GitHub Actions CI/CD. Use when building Docker images, pushing to ECR, updating ECS task definitions, deploying ECS services, integrating with CloudFormation stacks, configuring AWS OIDC authentication for GitHub Actions, and implementing production-ready container deployment pipelines. Supports ECS deployments with proper security (OIDC or IAM keys), multi-environment support, blue/green deployments, ECR private repositories with image scanning, and CloudFormation infrastructure updates. allowed-tools: Read, Write, Bash ---

# AWS CloudFormation Task ECS Deploy with GitHub Actions

Comprehensive skill for deploying ECS containers using GitHub Actions CI/CD pipelines with CloudFormation infrastructure management.

## Overview

Deploy containerized applications to Amazon ECS using GitHub Actions workflows. This skill covers the complete deployment pipeline: authentication with AWS (OIDC recommended), building Docker images, pushing to Amazon ECR, updating task definitions, and deploying ECS services. Integrate with CloudFormation for infrastructure-as-code management and implement production-grade deployment strategies.

## When to Use

- Deploying Docker containers to Amazon ECS with GitHub Actions - Setting up CI/CD pipelines for ECS using CloudFormation - Configuring AWS OIDC authentication for GitHub Actions - Building Docker images and pushing to Amazon ECR - Updating ECS task definitions dynamically in CI/CD - Implementing blue/green or rolling deployments for ECS - Managing CloudFormation stacks from GitHub Actions

## Instructions

Follow these steps to set up ECS deployment with GitHub Actions:

1. **Configure AWS Authentication**: Set up OIDC provider for GitHub Actions 2. **Create IAM Roles**: Define roles for deployment actions 3. **Set Up ECR Repository**: Create repository with image scanning 4. **Create ECS Cluster**: Define cluster infrastructure 5. **Configure Task Definition**: Set up task and container definitions 6. **Set Up ECS Service**: Configure service with deployment strategy 7. **Create GitHub Workflow**: Define CI/CD pipeline steps 8. **Configure Secrets**: Store credentials securely in GitHub Secrets

## Quick Start

### Basic Deployment Workflow

```yaml name: Deploy to ECS on: push: branches: [main]

jobs: deploy: runs-on: ubuntu-latest permissions: id-token: write contents: read steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4

- name: Configure AWS credentials uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4 with: role-to-assume: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/github-actions-ecs-role aws-region: us-east-1

- name: Login to ECR uses: aws-actions/amazon-ecr-login@v2

- name: Build and push image env: ECR_REGISTRY: ${{ steps.login-ecr.outputs.registry }} ECR_REPOSITORY: my-app IMAGE_TAG: ${{ github.sha }} run: | docker build -t $ECR_REGISTRY/$ECR_REPOSITORY:$IMAGE_TAG . docker push $ECR_REGISTRY/$ECR_REPOSITORY:$IMAGE_TAG

- name: Verify image push run: | docker pull $ECR_REGISTRY/$ECR_REPOSITORY:$IMAGE_TAG echo "Image $ECR_REGISTRY/$ECR_REPOSITORY:$IMAGE_TAG verified"

- name: Update task definition uses: aws-actions/amazon-ecs-render-task-definition@v1 id: render-task with: task-definition: task-definition.json container-name: my-app image: ${{ steps.login-ecr.outputs.registry }}/my-app:${{ github.sha }}

- name: Validate task definition run: | # Validate JSON syntax cat ${{ steps.render-task.outputs.task-definition }} | jq empty && echo "Task definition JSON is valid" # Verify container image matches expected CONTAINER_IMAGE=$(cat ${{ steps.render-task.outputs.task-definition }} | jq -r '.containerDefinitions[0].image') EXPECTED_IMAGE="${{ steps.login-ecr.outputs.registry }}/my-app:${{ github.sha }}" if [ "$CONTAINER_IMAGE" = "$EXPECTED_IMAGE" ]; then echo "Container image matches expected: $CONTAINER_IMAGE" else echo "ERROR: Container image mismatch. Expected: $EXPECTED_IMAGE, Got: $CONTAINER_IMAGE" exit 1 fi

- name: Deploy to ECS uses: aws-actions/amazon-ecs-deploy-task-definition@v1 with: task-definition: ${{ steps.render-task.outputs.task-definition }} service: my-service cluster: my-cluster wait-for-service-stability: true ```

See [references/workflow-examples.md](references/workflow-examples.md) for complete workflow examples including multi-environment and blue/green deployments.

## Examples

### Multi-Environment Deployment

```yaml jobs: deploy: strategy: matrix: environment: [dev, staging, prod] steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 - name: Configure AWS credentials uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4 with: role-to-assume: arn:aws:iam::${{ matrix.env_account }}:role/github-actions-ecs-role aws-region: ${{ matrix.region }} - name: Deploy to ${{ matrix.environment }} run: | ECR_REGISTRY=${{ env.ECR_REGISTRY }} docker build -t $ECR_REGISTRY/my-app:${{ github.sha }} . docker push $ECR_REGISTRY/my-app:${{ github.sha }} ```

### Blue/Green Deployment with CodeDeploy

```yaml - name: Deploy with CodeDeploy run: | aws deploy create-deployment \ --application-name my-app \ --deployment-group-name ${{ matrix.environment }} \ --deployment-config-name CodeDeployDefault ECSAllAtOnce \ --revision "{\"revisionType\":\"AppSpecContent\",\"appSpecContent\":{\"content\":\"$(cat appspec.yml)\",\"filename\":\"appspec.yml\"}}" aws deploy wait deployment-successful --deployment-id $(aws deploy list-deployments --application-name my-app --query 'deployments[0]' --output text) ```

See [references/workflow-examples.md](references/workflow-examples.md) for additional patterns including ECR lifecycle policies, task definition templates, and CloudFormation stack updates.

## Best Practices

### Security 1. **Use OIDC authentication** instead of long-lived IAM keys 2. **Implement least privilege IAM roles** with specific permissions 3. **Enable ECR image scanning** on push 4. **Use AWS Secrets Manager** for sensitive data 5. **Encrypt ECR repositories** with KMS 6. **VPC endpoints** for ECR and ECS without internet gateway 7. **Security groups** restrict access to minimum required

### Performance 1. **Docker layer caching** with GitHub Actions cache 2. **Multi-stage builds** to minimize image size 3. **Parallel deployments** across multiple environments 4. **Fargate Spot** for cost savings on non-critical workloads 5. **CloudWatch Logs** with appropriate retention policies

### Cost Optimization 1. **ECR lifecycle policies** to clean up old images 2. **Fargate Spot** instances for development/testing 3. **Right-sized task CPU and memory** 4. **Auto-scaling** based on metrics 5. **Scheduled scaling** for predictable traffic patterns

See [references/best-practices.md](references/best-practices.md) for detailed security, performance, and cost optimization guidelines.

## Common Troubleshooting

### Authentication Failures - Verify OIDC trust relationship matches GitHub organization/repository - Check IAM role has proper permissions for ECR and ECS - Ensure GitHub Actions repository has `id-token: write` permission

### Deployment Failures - Check CloudWatch Logs for application errors - Verify task definition matches service requirements - Ensure sufficient CPU/memory in Fargate cluster - Review health check configuration

### ECR Push Failures - Verify repository exists and permissions are correct - Check image tag format and registry URL - Ensure Docker daemon is running in GitHub Actions runner - Verify image size doesn't exceed ECR limits

### CloudFormation Rollback - Review stack events in AWS Console - Check parameter values match resource constraints - Verify IAM role has `cloudformation:UpdateStack` permission - Enable termination protection for production stacks

See [references/best-practices.md](references/best-practices.md) for complete troubleshooting guide with debug commands.

## Related Skills

- [aws-cloudformation-ecs](../aws-cloudformation-ecs/) - Design and implement ECS cluster architecture - [aws-cloudformation-lambda](../aws-cloudformation-lambda/) - Deploy Lambda functions with GitHub Actions - [aws-cloudformation-security](../aws-cloudformation-security/) - Security best practices for ECS deployments

## References

### Complete Examples - **[references/workflow-examples.md](references/workflow-examples.md)** - Complete GitHub Actions workflows including basic deployment, multi-environment, blue/green, and CI/CD pipelines

### Configuration - **[references/authentication.md](references/authentication.md)** - OIDC provider setup, IAM roles, cross-account deployment, environment-specific roles - **[references/ecr-and-task-definitions.md](references/ecr-and-task-definitions.md)** - ECR repository configuration, task definition management, multi-container setups - **[references/deployment-strategies.md](references/deployment-strategies.md)** - Rolling and blue/green deployments, CloudFormation templates, stack updates

### Best Practices - **[references/best-practices.md](references/best-practices.md)** - Security guidelines, performance optimization, cost optimization, monitoring, and complete troubleshooting guide

## Constraints and Warnings

### Resource Limits - **GitHub Actions Limits**: Usage limits per account (minutes, storage) - **Workflow File Size**: Cannot exceed 1 MB - **Job Matrix Limits**: Limits on total matrix combinations - **Artifact Retention**: Default 90-day retention

### Authentication Constraints - **OIDC Tokens**: Limited lifetime (typically 5 minutes) - **Role Session Duration**: Maximum 12 hours - **Permission Scope**: Least-privilege permissions required - **Cross-Account Access**: Requires appropriate trust relationships

### Operational Constraints - **Deployment Speed**: CloudFormation deployments may take time - **Stack Locking**: Cannot update while another deployment is in progress - **ECR Rate Limits**: API rate limits may affect large deployments - **ECS Service Limits**: Limits on tasks per service and services per cluster

### Security Constraints - **Secret Management**: Never store secrets in repository or workflow files - **OIDC Provider**: Must be configured in AWS account before first use - **Repository Access**: Workflow secrets are scoped to repository - **Token Security**: Minimum required permissions only (contents: read, id-token: write)

### Cost Considerations - **GitHub Actions**: Minutes beyond free tier incur costs - **ECR Storage**: Monthly storage costs for container images - **ECS/Fargate**: Costs for vCPU and memory resources - **Data Transfer**: Costs for data transfer between GitHub and AWS

--- name: aws-cloudformation-task-ecs-deploy-gh description: Provides patterns to deploy ECS tasks and services with GitHub Actions CI/CD. Use when building Docker images, pushing to ECR, updating ECS task definitions, deploying ECS services, integrating with CloudFormation stacks, configuring AWS OIDC authentication for GitHub Actions, and implementing production-ready container deployment pipelines. Supports ECS deployments with proper security (OIDC or IAM keys), multi-environment support, blue/green deployments, ECR private repositories with image scanning, and CloudFormation infrastructure updates. allowed-tools: Read, Write, Bash ---

# AWS CloudFormation Task ECS Deploy with GitHub Actions

Comprehensive skill for deploying ECS containers using GitHub Actions CI/CD pipelines with CloudFormation infrastructure management.

## Overview

Deploy containerized applications to Amazon ECS using GitHub Actions workflows. This skill covers the complete deployment pipeline: authentication with AWS (OIDC recommended), building Docker images, pushing to Amazon ECR, updating task definitions, and deploying ECS services. Integrate with CloudFormation for infrastructure-as-code management and implement production-grade deployment strategies.

## When to Use

- Deploying Docker containers to Amazon ECS with GitHub Actions - Setting up CI/CD pipelines for ECS using CloudFormation - Configuring AWS OIDC authentication for GitHub Actions - Building Docker images and pushing to Amazon ECR - Updating ECS task definitions dynamically in CI/CD - Implementing blue/green or rolling deployments for ECS - Managing CloudFormation stacks from GitHub Actions

## Instructions

Follow these steps to set up ECS deployment with GitHub Actions:

1. **Configure AWS Authentication**: Set up OIDC provider for GitHub Actions 2. **Create IAM Roles**: Define roles for deployment actions 3. **Set Up ECR Repository**: Create repository with image scanning 4. **Create ECS Cluster**: Define cluster infrastructure 5. **Configure Task Definition**: Set up task and container definitions 6. **Set Up ECS Service**: Configure service with deployment strategy 7. **Create GitHub Workflow**: Define CI/CD pipeline steps 8. **Configure Secrets**: Store credentials securely in GitHub Secrets

## Quick Start

### Basic Deployment Workflow

```yaml name: Deploy to ECS on: push: branches: [main]

jobs: deploy: runs-on: ubuntu-latest permissions: id-token: write contents: read steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4

- name: Configure AWS credentials uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4 with: role-to-assume: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/github-actions-ecs-role aws-region: us-east-1

- name: Login to ECR uses: aws-actions/amazon-ecr-login@v2

- name: Build and push image env: ECR_REGISTRY: ${{ steps.login-ecr.outputs.registry }} ECR_REPOSITORY: my-app IMAGE_TAG: ${{ github.sha }} run: | docker build -t $ECR_REGISTRY/$ECR_REPOSITORY:$IMAGE_TAG . docker push $ECR_REGISTRY/$ECR_REPOSITORY:$IMAGE_TAG

- name: Verify image push run: | docker pull $ECR_REGISTRY/$ECR_REPOSITORY:$IMAGE_TAG echo "Image $ECR_REGISTRY/$ECR_REPOSITORY:$IMAGE_TAG verified"

- name: Update task definition uses: aws-actions/amazon-ecs-render-task-definition@v1 id: render-task with: task-definition: task-definition.json container-name: my-app image: ${{ steps.login-ecr.outputs.registry }}/my-app:${{ github.sha }}

- name: Validate task definition run: | # Validate JSON syntax cat ${{ steps.render-task.outputs.task-definition }} | jq empty && echo "Task definition JSON is valid" # Verify container image matches expected CONTAINER_IMAGE=$(cat ${{ steps.render-task.outputs.task-definition }} | jq -r '.containerDefinitions[0].image') EXPECTED_IMAGE="${{ steps.login-ecr.outputs.registry }}/my-app:${{ github.sha }}" if [ "$CONTAINER_IMAGE" = "$EXPECTED_IMAGE" ]; then echo "Container image matches expected: $CONTAINER_IMAGE" else echo "ERROR: Container image mismatch. Expected: $EXPECTED_IMAGE, Got: $CONTAINER_IMAGE" exit 1 fi

- name: Deploy to ECS uses: aws-actions/amazon-ecs-deploy-task-definition@v1 with: task-definition: ${{ steps.render-task.outputs.task-definition }} service: my-service cluster: my-cluster wait-for-service-stability: true ```

See [references/workflow-examples.md](references/workflow-examples.md) for complete workflow examples including multi-environment and blue/green deployments.

## Examples

### Multi-Environment Deployment

```yaml jobs: deploy: strategy: matrix: environment: [dev, staging, prod] steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 - name: Configure AWS credentials uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4 with: role-to-assume: arn:aws:iam::${{ matrix.env_account }}:role/github-actions-ecs-role aws-region: ${{ matrix.region }} - name: Deploy to ${{ matrix.environment }} run: | ECR_REGISTRY=${{ env.ECR_REGISTRY }} docker build -t $ECR_REGISTRY/my-app:${{ github.sha }} . docker push $ECR_REGISTRY/my-app:${{ github.sha }} ```

### Blue/Green Deployment with CodeDeploy

```yaml - name: Deploy with CodeDeploy run: | aws deploy create-deployment \ --application-name my-app \ --deployment-group-name ${{ matrix.environment }} \ --deployment-config-name CodeDeployDefault ECSAllAtOnce \ --revision "{\"revisionType\":\"AppSpecContent\",\"appSpecContent\":{\"content\":\"$(cat appspec.yml)\",\"filename\":\"appspec.yml\"}}" aws deploy wait deployment-successful --deployment-id $(aws deploy list-deployments --application-name my-app --query 'deployments[0]' --output text) ```

See [references/workflow-examples.md](references/workflow-examples.md) for additional patterns including ECR lifecycle policies, task definition templates, and CloudFormation stack updates.

## Best Practices

### Security 1. **Use OIDC authentication** instead of long-lived IAM keys 2. **Implement least privilege IAM roles** with specific permissions 3. **Enable ECR image scanning** on push 4. **Use AWS Secrets Manager** for sensitive data 5. **Encrypt ECR repositories** with KMS 6. **VPC endpoints** for ECR and ECS without internet gateway 7. **Security groups** restrict access to minimum required

### Performance 1. **Docker layer caching** with GitHub Actions cache 2. **Multi-stage builds** to minimize image size 3. **Parallel deployments** across multiple environments 4. **Fargate Spot** for cost savings on non-critical workloads 5. **CloudWatch Logs** with appropriate retention policies

### Cost Optimization 1. **ECR lifecycle policies** to clean up old images 2. **Fargate Spot** instances for development/testing 3. **Right-sized task CPU and memory** 4. **Auto-scaling** based on metrics 5. **Scheduled scaling** for predictable traffic patterns

See [references/best-practices.md](references/best-practices.md) for detailed security, performance, and cost optimization guidelines.

## Common Troubleshooting

### Authentication Failures - Verify OIDC trust relationship matches GitHub organization/repository - Check IAM role has proper permissions for ECR and ECS - Ensure GitHub Actions repository has `id-token: write` permission

### Deployment Failures - Check CloudWatch Logs for application errors - Verify task definition matches service requirements - Ensure sufficient CPU/memory in Fargate cluster - Review health check configuration

### ECR Push Failures - Verify repository exists and permissions are correct - Check image tag format and registry URL - Ensure Docker daemon is running in GitHub Actions runner - Verify image size doesn't exceed ECR limits

### CloudFormation Rollback - Review stack events in AWS Console - Check parameter values match resource constraints - Verify IAM role has `cloudformation:UpdateStack` permission - Enable termination protection for production stacks

See [references/best-practices.md](references/best-practices.md) for complete troubleshooting guide with debug commands.

## Related Skills

- [aws-cloudformation-ecs](../aws-cloudformation-ecs/) - Design and implement ECS cluster architecture - [aws-cloudformation-lambda](../aws-cloudformation-lambda/) - Deploy Lambda functions with GitHub Actions - [aws-cloudformation-security](../aws-cloudformation-security/) - Security best practices for ECS deployments

## References

### Complete Examples - **[references/workflow-examples.md](references/workflow-examples.md)** - Complete GitHub Actions workflows including basic deployment, multi-environment, blue/green, and CI/CD pipelines

### Configuration - **[references/authentication.md](references/authentication.md)** - OIDC provider setup, IAM roles, cross-account deployment, environment-specific roles - **[references/ecr-and-task-definitions.md](references/ecr-and-task-definitions.md)** - ECR repository configuration, task definition management, multi-container setups - **[references/deployment-strategies.md](references/deployment-strategies.md)** - Rolling and blue/green deployments, CloudFormation templates, stack updates

### Best Practices - **[references/best-practices.md](references/best-practices.md)** - Security guidelines, performance optimization, cost optimization, monitoring, and complete troubleshooting guide

## Constraints and Warnings

### Resource Limits - **GitHub Actions Limits**: Usage limits per account (minutes, storage) - **Workflow File Size**: Cannot exceed 1 MB - **Job Matrix Limits**: Limits on total matrix combinations - **Artifact Retention**: Default 90-day retention

### Authentication Constraints - **OIDC Tokens**: Limited lifetime (typically 5 minutes) - **Role Session Duration**: Maximum 12 hours - **Permission Scope**: Least-privilege permissions required - **Cross-Account Access**: Requires appropriate trust relationships

### Operational Constraints - **Deployment Speed**: CloudFormation deployments may take time - **Stack Locking**: Cannot update while another deployment is in progress - **ECR Rate Limits**: API rate limits may affect large deployments - **ECS Service Limits**: Limits on tasks per service and services per cluster

### Security Constraints - **Secret Management**: Never store secrets in repository or workflow files - **OIDC Provider**: Must be configured in AWS account before first use - **Repository Access**: Workflow secrets are scoped to repository - **Token Security**: Minimum required permissions only (contents: read, id-token: write)

### Cost Considerations - **GitHub Actions**: Minutes beyond free tier incur costs - **ECR Storage**: Monthly storage costs for container images - **ECS/Fargate**: Costs for vCPU and memory resources - **Data Transfer**: Costs for data transfer between GitHub and AWS