How to Successfully Run Postgres in GitHub Actions to Test Your Go API

Discover how to efficiently set up and connect to a `Postgres` database in `GitHub Actions` for seamless testing of your `Go API`.
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This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/66134691/ asked by the user 'Ari' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/5091805/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/66134769/ provided by the user 'Emon46' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/7044608/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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Running Postgres in GitHub Actions to Test My Go API

In today's development environment, automating tests is crucial, especially for backend services. If you're using Go and need to ensure your API interacts smoothly with a PostgreSQL database in a CI/CD pipeline, you'll likely want to run your tests in GitHub Actions. However, you may run into connection issues when trying to connect your Go application to a Postgres instance within a Docker container. In this guide, we'll walk through a practical solution to this common problem.

The Problem: Connection Failure

When setting up your GitHub Actions workflow to start a Postgres instance in a Docker container, you might encounter a frustrating error:

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This error occurs because, in a Docker container, localhost refers to the container itself, not your host machine. This can lead to connection issues when your application attempts to connect to the database.

The Solution: Correcting Database Connection Settings

To resolve this issue, we need to ensure that our database connection configuration aligns accurately with the Docker network that GitHub Actions creates. Here’s how you can do it.

Step 1: Update Your GitHub Actions Workflow

First, let's modify the ports section of the PostgreSQL service in the workflow YAML file. Instead of just exposing the port, we will utilize port forwarding.

Original Section

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Updated Section

Change it to:

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This update forwards connections from the container's port 5432 to the same port on the host side, making it accessible from your Go application.

Step 2: Refine Connection Strings in Your Go Code

Make sure that your Go code is set up to connect to the right host. When running inside Docker, instead of localhost, you'll typically want to use localhost as it refers to the context of your application in the container.

Here’s how the connection might be wired in your main function:

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Additional Notes

Health Checks: Keep the health check configuration as it is. It ensures that the Postgres service is up and running before your Go application attempts to connect.

Dependencies: Ensure that necessary Go dependencies, such as GORM and the Postgres driver, are correctly included in your project.

Conclusion

By making these adjustments to your GitHub Actions workflow and your Go application, you should be able to successfully establish a connection to your Postgres database without running into localhost connection issues. Automating your testing workflow not only enhances the reliability of your API but also streamlines your development process.

Now, you can proceed with confidence, knowing that your Go API is properly tested against your Postgres instances in a Docker environment within GitHub Actions!

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