GitHub Actions Deploy Progress

GitHub Actions deployments often take a few minutes and move through several stages: build, test, upload, rollout, or whatever your workflow runs before production is ready.

Checking progress usually means opening GitHub Actions, finding the right run, and seeing whether it is still building, already deploying, failed, or live.

ActivitySmith turns that run into a Live Activity with real-time progress on the Lock Screen. The current step stays visible on paired iOS devices, and the final Push Notification makes it clear when the production change is ready to test.

Before you start

ActivitySmith account

Create an account so you can generate an API key for GitHub Actions.

API key in GitHub secrets

Save your ActivitySmith API key as ACTIVITYSMITH_API_KEY in the repository or environment secrets.

Open API Keys GitHub secrets docs

At least one paired iOS device

Pair an iPhone or iPad with ActivitySmith so the deploy progress and Push Notification have somewhere to appear.

Quickstart guide Download iOS app

Add deploy progress to your GitHub Actions workflow

Live Activity progress

Use a Live Activity when the deploy has stages worth following while the workflow is still running.

Step 1

Start progress when the deploy starts

Place the start step before the expensive work so progress appears as soon as the deployment begins.

ActivitySmith Live Activity showing the start of a deployment

Step 2

Update progress at each stage

Update after real milestones such as build, test, upload, or rollout, not after every log line.

ActivitySmith Live Activity showing deployment progress update

Step 3

End progress when the deploy finishes

End the Live Activity on success or failure so the Lock Screen does not keep showing an old deployment.

ActivitySmith Live Activity showing completed deployment progress

Result Push Notification

After the deploy step finishes, send a success or failure Push Notification to the people who need the result.

Team visibility

Invite teammates so release owners, QA, and engineering can pair their own iPhone or iPad and see the same deploy progress.

Use channels to target specific people or devices, such as engineering, devops, or qa.

Reference implementation

Live Activity progress

1
name: Deploy
2
3
on:
4
  push:
5
    branches: [main]
6
7
jobs:
8
  production:
9
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
10
    steps:
11
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
12
13
      - name: Start deployment Live Activity
14
        id: start_activity
15
        uses: ActivitySmithHQ/activitysmith-github-action@v1
16
        with:
17
          action: start_live_activity
18
          api-key: ${{ secrets.ACTIVITYSMITH_API_KEY }}
19
          channels: deploys,engineering
20
          payload: |
21
            content_state:
22
              title: "Production deploy"
23
              subtitle: "build"
24
              number_of_steps: 4
25
              current_step: 1
26
              type: "segmented_progress"
27
              color: "yellow"
28
29
      - name: Build
30
        run: npm ci && npm run build
31
32
      - name: Mark tests stage
33
        uses: ActivitySmithHQ/activitysmith-github-action@v1
34
        with:
35
          action: update_live_activity
36
          api-key: ${{ secrets.ACTIVITYSMITH_API_KEY }}
37
          live-activity-id: ${{ steps.start_activity.outputs.live_activity_id }}
38
          payload: |
39
            content_state:
40
              title: "Production deploy"
41
              subtitle: "tests"
42
              current_step: 2
43
44
      - name: Test
45
        run: npm test
46
47
      - name: Mark rollout stage
48
        uses: ActivitySmithHQ/activitysmith-github-action@v1
49
        with:
50
          action: update_live_activity
51
          api-key: ${{ secrets.ACTIVITYSMITH_API_KEY }}
52
          live-activity-id: ${{ steps.start_activity.outputs.live_activity_id }}
53
          payload: |
54
            content_state:
55
              title: "Production deploy"
56
              subtitle: "rollout"
57
              current_step: 3
58
59
      - name: Deploy
60
        run: ./scripts/deploy-production.sh
61
62
      - name: End deployment Live Activity
63
        if: ${{ always() && steps.start_activity.outputs.live_activity_id != '' }}
64
        uses: ActivitySmithHQ/activitysmith-github-action@v1
65
        with:
66
          action: end_live_activity
67
          api-key: ${{ secrets.ACTIVITYSMITH_API_KEY }}
68
          live-activity-id: ${{ steps.start_activity.outputs.live_activity_id }}
69
          payload: |
70
            content_state:
71
              title: "Production deploy"
72
              subtitle: "finished"
73
              current_step: 4
74
              auto_dismiss_minutes: 2

Add an action button to the Live Activity

Add an action button when you want the Live Activity to open the workflow behind the deployment. For GitHub Actions, that usually means linking to the exact run.

ActivitySmith Live Activity with an action button on iPhone — The Live Activity can include a single button for the next useful action.

1
- name: Start deployment Live Activity
2
  id: start_activity
3
  uses: ActivitySmithHQ/activitysmith-github-action@v1
4
  with:
5
    action: start_live_activity
6
    api-key: ${{ secrets.ACTIVITYSMITH_API_KEY }}
7
    channels: deploys,engineering
8
    payload: |
9
      content_state:
10
        title: "Deploying payments-api"
11
        subtitle: "Running database migrations"
12
        number_of_steps: 5
13
        current_step: 3
14
        type: "segmented_progress"
15
        color: "purple"
16
      action:
17
        title: "Open Workflow"
18
        type: "open_url"
19
        url: "https://github.com/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }}"

Result Push Notification

Send a Push Notification when the deploy finishes. Keep the basic version simple when the alert only needs to say whether production succeeded or failed.

1
name: Deploy
2
3
on:
4
  push:
5
    branches: [main]
6
7
jobs:
8
  production:
9
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
10
    steps:
11
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
12
13
      - name: Build
14
        run: npm ci && npm run build
15
16
      - name: Test
17
        run: npm test
18
19
      - name: Deploy
20
        run: ./scripts/deploy-production.sh
21
22
      - name: Send failure Push Notification
23
        if: ${{ failure() }}
24
        uses: ActivitySmithHQ/activitysmith-github-action@v1
25
        with:
26
          action: send_push_notification
27
          api-key: ${{ secrets.ACTIVITYSMITH_API_KEY }}
28
          channels: deploys,devops
29
          payload: |
30
            title: "Production deploy failed"
31
            message: "${{ github.repository }} failed on main"
32
33
      - name: Send success Push Notification
34
        if: ${{ success() }}
35
        uses: ActivitySmithHQ/activitysmith-github-action@v1
36
        with:
37
          action: send_push_notification
38
          api-key: ${{ secrets.ACTIVITYSMITH_API_KEY }}
39
          channels: deploys,engineering
40
          payload: |
41
            title: "Production deploy finished"
42
            message: "${{ github.repository }} is live on production"

Add tap redirection and long-press actions

Use redirection for the default tap target. Add actions when a long press should show extra URL or webhook buttons, such as opening the failed run or creating an incident.

ActivitySmith deploy Push Notification with long-press actions on iPhone — A long press can show URL and webhook actions for follow-up.

1
- name: Send failure Push Notification with actions
2
  if: ${{ failure() }}
3
  uses: ActivitySmithHQ/activitysmith-github-action@v1
4
  with:
5
    action: send_push_notification
6
    api-key: ${{ secrets.ACTIVITYSMITH_API_KEY }}
7
    channels: deploys,devops
8
    payload: |
9
      title: "Production deploy failed"
10
      message: "${{ github.repository }} failed on main"
11
      redirection: "https://github.com/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }}"
12
      actions:
13
        - title: "Open Failing Run"
14
          type: "open_url"
15
          url: "https://github.com/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }}"
16
        - title: "Create Incident"
17
          type: "webhook"
18
          url: "https://hooks.example.com/incidents/create"
19
          method: "POST"
20
          body:
21
            repository: "${{ github.repository }}"
22
            run_id: "${{ github.run_id }}"
23
            severity: "high"
24
25
- name: Send success Push Notification with redirection
26
  if: ${{ success() }}
27
  uses: ActivitySmithHQ/activitysmith-github-action@v1
28
  with:
29
    action: send_push_notification
30
    api-key: ${{ secrets.ACTIVITYSMITH_API_KEY }}
31
    channels: deploys,engineering
32
    payload: |
33
      title: "Production deploy finished"
34
      message: "${{ github.repository }} is live on production"
35
      redirection: "https://github.com/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }}"

Deployment status without refreshing

Release owners can see the current deploy phase without opening GitHub Actions.
Failures reach the deploy or DevOps channel with a link back to the exact workflow run.
Successful rollouts get a clear closing signal instead of leaving people to refresh logs.

Track your next deployment in real time

See each deploy stage on the Lock Screen, then get the final success or failure result when the run finishes.

Start Free Trial Book a Demo

GitHub Actions deployment progress on your Lock Screen

Before you start

ActivitySmith account

API key in GitHub secrets

At least one paired iOS device

Add deploy progress to your GitHub Actions workflow

Live Activity progress

Start progress when the deploy starts

Update progress at each stage

End progress when the deploy finishes

Result Push Notification

Team visibility

Reference implementation

Live Activity progress

Add an action button to the Live Activity

Result Push Notification

Add tap redirection and long-press actions

Deployment status without refreshing

Track your next deployment in real time

Related use cases

Cron job monitoring with Live Activities

Business events with Push Notifications

AI agent run status on the Lock Screen

System health metrics on your Lock Screen