jmhobbs / chromatic-github-action-monorepo

Example configuration for the Chromatic GitHub action in a monorepo.

Chromatic GitHub Action Monorepo Examples

This repository exists to highlight the configuration options for using the Chromatic GitHub Action in a monorepo.

Essentially, this comes down to two key steps.

1. Use the workingDir input on the chromatic step
2. Use working-directory on other steps so they run in the correct place as well

working-directory Options

There are three options for setting working-directory on your jobs. Be aware that this refers only to run steps, other steps will have their own specific inputs, much like Chromatic has workingDir. Please refer to their documentation directly for details.

Directly On Step

The first option is to place it directly into the run steps, like this.

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v1
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: yarn
        working-directory: marketing

The file .github/workflows/marketing.yaml is an example of this method.

Job Level Default

If you have multiple run steps in your job, a job level default would reduce repetition.

jobs:
  chromatic-frontend:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    defaults:
      run:
        working-directory: frontend
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v1
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: yarn
      - name: Prebuild storybook
        run: yarn build-storybook

The file .github/workflows/frontend.yaml is an example of this method.

Workflow Level Default

Lastly, you can set it as a workflow level default. This would be useful if you have several jobs in the workflow that all need to run in the subdirectory.

name: 'Admin'

on: push

defaults:
  run:
    working-directory: admin

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v1
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: yarn
      - name: Run tests
        run: yarn test
  chromatic:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v1
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: yarn
      - name: Publish to Chromatic
        uses: chromaui/action@v1
        with:
          workingDir: admin
          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          projectToken: ${{ secrets.CHROMATIC_PROJECT_TOKEN_ADMIN }}

Why doesn't the Chromatic action use working-directory?

The working-directory keyword is specific to the run step, and is not exposed to the Chromatic action.