🚀 PythonAnywhere Redeploy Action

This GitHub Action automates the redeployment process of a Django application hosted on PythonAnywhere using SSH.
It simplifies the workflow of pulling the latest code, installing dependencies, running migrations, and restarting the web server with minimal configuration.

✅ Requirements

Before using this action, make sure that:

• You have a paid PythonAnywhere account, as SSH access is only available for paid plans.
• SSH access is enabled on your PythonAnywhere account.
• Your Django project is deployed on PythonAnywhere and cloned via Git.

📦 What does this action do?

• Connects to PythonAnywhere via SSH
• Pulls the latest code from the main branch
• Installs Python dependencies with pip
• Runs collectstatic and migrate
• Runs tests
• Restarts the web server by touching the WSGI file

🛠️ Usage

Workflow example

name: Redeploy to PythonAnywhere

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Redeploy to PythonAnywhere
        uses: MiguelRizzi/[email protected]
        with:
          # Optional: specify the SSH host (defaults to ssh.pythonanywhere.com)
          # ssh_host: ssh.eu.pythonanywhere.com

          # Required: your PythonAnywhere username
          username: ${{ secrets.PA_USERNAME }}

          # Required (if no ssh_private_key): your PythonAnywhere password
          # password: ${{ secrets.PA_PASSWORD }}

          # Required (if no password): SSH private key
          ssh_private_key: ${{ secrets.PA_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}

          # Required: target working directory on PythonAnywhere
          working_directory: ${{ secrets.PA_WORKING_DIRECTORY }}

          # Required: path to your virtual environment
          venv_directory: ${{ secrets.PA_VENV_DIRECTORY }}

          # Required: path to your WSGI file
          wsgi_file: /var/www/webapp_name_wsgi.py

💡 Use ssh.pythonanywhere.com for US accounts or ssh.eu.pythonanywhere.com for EU-based accounts.
🔐 You must provide at least one of the following: password or ssh_private_key

Inputs

Name	Description	Required	Example
ssh_host	Optional SSH host for PythonAnywhere (default: ssh.pythonanywhere.com)	No	ssh.eu.pythonanywhere.com
username	Your PythonAnywhere username	Yes	username
password	Your PythonAnywhere password	No	password
ssh_private_key	SSH private key (optional, but required if password is not provided)	No	contents of your private key
working_directory	Target working directory on PythonAnywhere	Yes	/home/username/webapp_name
venv_directory	Path to the Python virtual environment	Yes	/home/username/webapp_name/.venv
wsgi_file	Path to the WSGI file to reload the app	Yes	/var/www/webapp_name_wsgi.py

🔐 Security

Always store sensitive data like credentials and SSH keys as GitHub Secrets:

• Recommended secrets:
  • username
  • password
  • ssh_private_key

These values can expose your account if leaked, even in public forks or workflow logs.

• For paths such as working_directory, venv_directory, and wsgi_file:
  • Using secrets is optional.
  • You can define them directly in the YAML file if they do not contain sensitive data and remain consistent across environments.
  • Using secrets is recommended if:
    • They include your username
    • You want to keep the configuration more private or flexible

📂 Creating GitHub Secrets

1. In your GitHub repository, go to Settings
2. Navigate to Secrets and variables → Actions
3. Click New repository secret
4. Name the secret (e.g., PA_USERNAME, PA_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY, etc.)
5. Paste the corresponding value

Repeat for each required secret.

⚠️ Do not commit secrets directly into your repository. Always use GitHub Secrets to store sensitive information.

📋 Using an SSH Key (Recommended)

1. Generate an SSH key (if you don't have one):

If you don’t already have an SSH key pair for authentication, you can generate one using the following command:

$ ssh-keygen -t ed25519

• When prompted, press Enter to accept the default file location (~/.ssh/id_ed25519).

• You may set a passphrase for added security (optional).

2. Add the public key to PythonAnywhere:

To add the public key to PythonAnywhere, run the following command:

$ ssh-copy-id <username>@ssh.pythonanywhere.com

Enter your PythonAnywhere password when prompted.

💡 Use ssh.eu.pythonanywhere.com for EU-based accounts.

3. Store the private key securely:

To store the private key securely, follow these steps:

• Copy the contents of the private key file (.ssh/id_ed25519) running the command

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

• Create a new secret in your GitHub repository following the instructions in the Creating GitHub Secrets section.
• Paste the contents of the private key into the secret field.

💡 Make sure to keep your private key secure and do not share it with anyone.

For more information on SSH setup, refer to: SSH Access on PythonAnywhere

⚠️ Repository Structure

This action is composed of:

• action.yml
  Defines the input interface of the GitHub Action (required inputs) and specifies the execution environment. In this case, it sets up execution in a Docker container that runs the deploy.sh script.

• deploy.sh
  Main script executed inside the container. It uses SSH to connect to PythonAnywhere, performs git pull, installs dependencies, runs migrations, collects static files and restarts the web server by touching the WSGI.py file.

• Dockerfile
  Defines a custom Docker image based on ubuntu, installs the necessary tools for SSH connections, and copies the required scripts. This ensures the environment has all the necessary tools to perform the redeploy process without relying on the host runner.

• .github/workflows/example.yml
  Provides an example of how to use the action in a workflow. You can use it as a template or reference when setting up your own deployment workflow.

📝 License

This GitHub Action is distributed under the MIT License.

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Made with ❤️ to simplify PythonAnywhere deployments.