Quickstart

This guide will walk you through how to connect a repository to IronCD and run your first workflow.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

An IronCD account with admin access
Access to a GitHub organization (private or public)
Permission to install GitHub Apps for your organization
A basic understanding of YAML workflow syntax
One or more GitHub Actions workflows to integrate

Getting Started

Follow the steps below to connect your first repository and run your first workflow.

Step 1: Link a GitHub Organization

First, you will need to install the IronCD GitHub App in your organization.

Visit console.ironcd.io and sign in.
Navigate to Settings, then Organization.
Under the Connections section, click Connect New.

You will be prompted to authorize IronCD with your GitHub organization or repository. After authorization, you will be redirected back to IronCD.

Step 2: Connect Your Repository

Your organization is now fully connected to IronCD. Now, you’ll need to tell IronCD which GitHub repositories it should run builds for.

From the Console , navigate to Repositories.
Find your repository from the list. Click Set Up to register the repository with IronCD.

Step 3: Integrate Your Repository

Now you’ll need to update your GitHub Actions workflows to integrate with IronCD, and define a policy file. The policy file tells IronCD which hosts on the Internet your workflows can access. You’ll perform these steps in your repository’s codebase.

First, update your GitHub Actions workflows to integrate with IronCD by setting runs-on to ironcd-2cpu-ubuntu-24-04. This will route your builds to IronCD’s secure infrastructure.

For example:


# .github/workflows/example.yml
name: Example Pipeline
on: [push]
 
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: [ironcd-2cpu-ubuntu-24-04] # change this line
    steps:
      -  # your steps here

Tip

See the runner types reference for a list of available runner types and their specifications.

Then, define a policy file in your repository’s root directory. This file will tell IronCD which hosts on the Internet your workflows can access.

A working default policy file which allows HTTPS traffic for all common build systems is below:


mode: enforce
allow:
  - preset: all-https

Tip

Policy files support a lot of customization. For all supported policy options, see the policy file reference.

Step 4: Run Your Builds

Run a GitHub Action workflow as you would normally. IronCD will run the builds, and log all egress to the Dashboard .