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Cover image for P2: AppBrickie - Github Action to deliver your app PRs and Builds on Telegram automatically!
Hemanth Krishna
Hemanth Krishna

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P2: AppBrickie - Github Action to deliver your app PRs and Builds on Telegram automatically!

My Workflow

AppBrickie - A GitHub Action that will test, sign and deliver your android apk build right to you on your Telegram with just a push of commit!

Being an android app developer, I found it a very tedious chore to build my app, transfer the apk to my phone and then manually share and upload the file for my team to check it out.
Lets be honest, Gradle builds are slow and time taking process and when you are an open source enthusiast, reviewing PRs to confirm changes and to ensure there aren't any runtime errors you are bound to build every PR and check before merging it to your main branch.

To tackle this issue I leveraged the power of Docker, Telegram and GitHub Action to make my life easier, whenever I push a commit to my main branch or whenever there is a PR against my main branch, I automatically receive a tested, signed, built apk right onto my phone which is installable on One-Tap! Convenient, isn't it?

  • No More Patches of PRs and to compile the PR manually
  • No more wires, no more build history management!
  • Get your builds right into your phone and install them in One-Tap!
  • Supports both Flutter and Native Android Builds (Java/Kotlin)

Submission Category:

  • Phone Friendly : This Github Action can significantly boost development of Java, Kotlin and, Flutter apps as it helps in automatic testing , building and signing and publishing your app to masses or even to your beta testers in an instant!

Upcoming Features:

  • Slack integration/support, cause why not?

Link to Code

GitHub logo DarthBenro008 / app-brickie

A GitHub Action to automatically build your android apps with ease!

Banner

License: MIT Github: Action

AppBrickie - Your Friendly App Builder Action.

Automate your android builds and get your APK delivered to you on Telegram Groups, Chat, Channels, any of them!

What can you do with AppBrickie?

  • Get your APK delivered to you on telegram with just a push of commit!
  • Automated Android APK Builds.
  • Unit Tests on Android Builds.
  • Supports Firebase based apps and signed builds with your custom key!
  • Forget wires, patches and building pull requests manually!
  • Slack support coming soon! (star and watch the project to stay updated !)

Installation

Step 1: Add the following yaml file as build.yml in .github/workflows folder of your app repository.

Note: If your project uses any services of firebase, please refer to the WIKI for instructions. The below instructions are only for vanilla builds.

For Native Android Builds (Java/Kotlin) :

name: CI
on
  push
    branches: [master]
  pull_request
    branches: [master]

jobs

Use Cases:

  • You can add the @AppBrickieBot to telegram channel and groups and publish apk builds instantly to masses!
  • You can create a channel for beta testing the master branch and deliver the build instantly to your beta testers
  • You can set this action up to share the build immediately with all your team members
  • You can create a channel and use this action to get the build of PRs delivered so that you can just install the app in one tap and verify the changes with no hassle anywhere anytime !
  • Helpful for maintainers and app developers to automatically run unit test and build their app and get it delivered right to their phone.

Additional Resources / Info

  • API and Telegram Bot Handler - I made a Custom API and Telegram Bot for AppBrickie to generate Unique IDs and send the files. leveraging the power of Docker and GoLang which is fast and less resource intensive, perfect for such tasks!

  • For More Info you can refer the AppBrickie Wiki

One of the Open Source Projects by IEEE-VIT is using this Action in their open source app named Gakko, which helps education easier in the pandemic situation

Happy developing! hope this action boosts your productivity to make wonderful apps! :D

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