# CI/CD deployment

So far we have covered the steps of deploying a project manually from the command line.
In many cases, you will want to automate this process through a CI/CD system.
In this section, we explain how to set up a CI/CD system to register, execute and promote workflows on Union.ai.
We will use GitHub Actions as the example CI/CD system.

## Create a Union.ai API key

An API key is registered in your Union.ai control plane to enable external systems to perform actions on your behalf.
To allow your CI/CD system to authenticate with Union.ai, create a Union.ai API key.
See [Managing API keys](https://www.union.ai/docs/v1/union/user-guide/development-cycle/ci-cd-deployment/managing-api-keys) for details.

```shell
$ union create api-key admin --name my-cicd-key
```

Copy the `UNION_API_KEY` value for later use; this is the only time the secret is displayed.

## Store the secret in your CI/CD secrets store

Store the secret in your CI/CD secrets store.
In GitHub, from the repository page:

1. Select **Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions**.
2. Select the **Secrets** tab and click **New repository secret**.
3. Give a meaningful name to the secret, like `UNION_CICD_API_KEY`.
4. Paste in the string from above as the value.
5. Click **Add secret**.

## Configure your CI/CD workflow file

Create the CI/CD workflow file. For GitHub Actions, you might add `example-project/.github/workflows/deploy.yaml` similar to:

```yaml
name: Deploy

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

env:
  PROJECT: flytesnacks
  DOMAIN: production

jobs:
  build_and_register:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
      packages: write

    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Install python & uv 
        run: |
          sudo apt-get install python3
          curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: uv sync
      - name: Register to Union
        env:
          UNION_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.CICD_API_KEY }}
        run: |
          source .venv/bin/activate
          union register --version ${{ github.sha }} -p ${{ env.PROJECT }} \
          -d ${{ env.DOMAIN }} --activate-launchplans ./launchplans
```

> [!NOTE]
> The `Register to Union` step registers the launch plans and related Flyte entities in the `launchplans` directory. It sets the project and domain, activates launch plans automatically, and pins the version to the Git commit SHA for traceability across all registered Flyte entities. See union [register](https://www.union.ai/docs/v1/union/user-guide/api-reference/union-cli#register) for additional options.

Once this is set up, every push to the main branch in your repository will build and deploy your project to Union.ai.

---
**Source**: https://github.com/unionai/unionai-docs/blob/main/content/user-guide/development-cycle/ci-cd-deployment.md
**HTML**: https://www.union.ai/docs/v1/union/user-guide/development-cycle/ci-cd-deployment/