AppLate - Android CI/CD Template

Automate Android APK & AAB Builds with GitHub Actions

AppLate is a streamlined Android Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) template that simplifies the building of Android applications. Using GitHub Actions, this template automates the creation of APK and AAB files, enabling efficient distribution. The workflow supports both debug and release builds with manual triggering for controlled release management.

🚀 Features

✅ Automated CI/CD with GitHub Actions for APK & AAB builds.
✅ Customizable Project Setup using an initialization script.
✅ Secure Signing via environment variables.
✅ Manual Workflow Triggers for release management.
✅ Easy Artifact Downloads directly from GitHub Actions.

📌 Getting Started

1️⃣ Update Workflow Permissions

Ensure that your GitHub Actions workflow has the necessary read and write permissions:

1. Navigate to your GitHub repository.
2. Click on Settings.
3. Select Actions from the left sidebar.
4. Scroll down to Workflow permissions.
5. Choose Read and write permissions.
6. Click Save.

2️⃣ Initialize Your Project

1. Update metadata in devAssets/_meta.json under objects > new with the latest project details.
2. Run the Initialize workflow from the Actions section to replace old metadata across all Android project-related files.
3. Validate changes by checking:
   • AndroidManifest.xml
   • build.gradle
   • Package names in source code
4. Ensure no outdated references remain before proceeding.

3️⃣ Add Environment Variables

To sign builds securely, add the following GitHub Secrets in your repository:

Secret Name	Description
KEYSTORE_BASE_64	Base64-encoded keystore file
DEBUG_KEYSTORE_PASSWORD	Password for the debug keystore
DEBUG_KEYSTORE_ALIAS	Alias for the debug keystore
DEBUG_KEY_PASSWORD	Password for the key

🎯 Running GitHub Actions Workflows

To trigger a build, follow these steps:

1. Go to GitHub Actions.
2. Select the workflow:
   • Build Release App → Generates production-ready builds.
   • Build Debug App → Generates test/debug builds.
3. Download build artifacts (release-build.zip or debug-build.zip) after the workflow completes.

📖 Credits

• XML formatting is done using Android XML Formatter.
• This workflow is inspired of Lloyd Dcosta’s workflow example on Medium and further enhanced by @MFM-347.

📜 License

This project is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.