Deploying GitHub self-hosted runners on Kubernetes with ARC

Actions Runner Controller (ARC) is a Kubernetes operator that orchestrates and scales self-hosted runners for GitHub Actions. In this talk, we’ll discuss why and how to use ARC runners.

GitHub Actions has emerged as a powerful tool for automating software workflows, enabling developers to build, test, and deploy code right from GitHub. However, as projects grow in complexity and size, the limitations of GitHub-hosted runners in terms of customization, compute resources, and cost become apparent.

This talk introduces a robust solution to these challenges: Deploying GitHub self-hosted runners on Kubernetes by using ARC.

We’ll begin by exploring the fundamentals of GitHub Actions and the rationale behind choosing self-hosted and GitHub-hosted runners, including enhanced control over the CI/CD environment, scalability, and cost-efficiency.

The core of the talk will focus on ARC, an open-source project that facilitates the deployment and management of GitHub Actions runners on Kubernetes. We'll cover its installation, configuration, and how it leverages Kubernetes' features like auto-scaling, high availability, and self-healing to dynamically manage runner pods based on the workload.

In conclusion, attendees will gain a comprehensive understanding of how to leverage GitHub Actions with Kubernetes for their CI/CD needs, making their development workflows more scalable, efficient, and cost-effective.

This talk is for developers, DevOps professionals, and anyone interested in enhancing their CI/CD pipelines with the power of GitHub Actions and Kubernetes.