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GitHub CLI vs act: What are the differences?

Introduction: When comparing GitHub CLI and act, it's essential to understand the key differences between the two tools for better utilization in software development workflows.

1. Activation Method: GitHub CLI enables users to interact with repositories, issues, pull requests, and more directly from the command line, while act is utilized for running GitHub Actions locally. GitHub CLI primarily focuses on managing repository tasks, whereas act is specifically designed for testing and running GitHub Actions on local machines.

2. Scope of Functionality: GitHub CLI primarily provides a command-line interface for GitHub actions like creating, listing, and viewing different aspects of repositories. On the other hand, act is specifically tailored for running GitHub Actions workflows locally, executing them without pushing any code changes to the repository, providing a testing environment for automation workflows.

3. User Interfaces: GitHub CLI is text-based and operates via command-line instructions, simplifying interactions with GitHub repositories in a terminal environment. In contrast, act offers a visual representation of running GitHub Actions locally, allowing users to monitor the execution and debug any issues that may arise during the workflow.

4. Continuous Integration/Testing: While GitHub CLI offers functionalities for managing repositories and interacting with GitHub features, act is mainly focused on facilitating local testing of GitHub Actions, enabling developers to validate their automation workflows without the need for pushing changes to the repository, ensuring a streamlined continuous integration process.

5. Workflow Automation: GitHub CLI streamlines the process of managing GitHub repositories through the command line interface, automating tasks such as creating pull requests, reviewing changes, and merging branches. On the other hand, act automates the testing and execution of GitHub Actions workflows locally, providing developers with a way to validate their automation scripts before integrating them into the repository.

In Summary, the key differences between GitHub CLI and act lie in their activation method, scope of functionality, user interfaces, focus on continuous integration/testing, and workflow automation, catering to distinct aspects of managing repositories and testing GitHub Actions locally.

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What is act?

Rather than having to commit/push every time you want test out the changes you are making to your .github/workflows/ files (or for any changes to embedded GitHub actions), you can use this tool to run the actions locally. The environment variables and filesystem are all configured to match what GitHub provides.

What is GitHub CLI?

It is a free and open-source command-line for GitHub. It provides GitHub's graphical features like pull requests, issues, releases, etc. into a terminal. So, anyone can perform the whole GitHub operation from a terminal or with a script.

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What tools integrate with act?
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What are some alternatives to act and GitHub CLI?
dbt
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React
Lots of people use React as the V in MVC. Since React makes no assumptions about the rest of your technology stack, it's easy to try it out on a small feature in an existing project.
Git
Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency.
GitHub
GitHub is the best place to share code with friends, co-workers, classmates, and complete strangers. Over three million people use GitHub to build amazing things together.
Visual Studio Code
Build and debug modern web and cloud applications. Code is free and available on your favorite platform - Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows.
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