diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..276581d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# Common ignores for all releases
+.github/ export-ignore
+.gitignore export-ignore
+
+# Simple release ignores (activated when creating release with export-ignore)
+mge/vpi/__pycache__/ export-ignore
+.github/ export-ignore
+.gitignore export-ignore
+*.bat export-ignore
+*.py export-ignore
+requirements.txt export-ignore 
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/dev.yml b/.github/workflows/dev.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2270e26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/dev.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+# This is a basic workflow to help you get started with Actions
+
+name: CI
+
+# Controls when the workflow will run
+on:
+  # Triggers the workflow on push or pull request events but only for the main branch
+  push:
+    branches: [ dev ]
+
+  # Allows you to run this workflow manually from the Actions tab
+  workflow_dispatch:
+  
+concurrency:
+  group: dev
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+# A workflow run is made up of one or more jobs that can run sequentially or in parallel
+jobs:
+  # This workflow contains a single job called "build"
+  build:
+    # The type of runner that the job will run on
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    # Steps represent a sequence of tasks that will be executed as part of the job
+    steps:
+      # Checks-out your repository under $GITHUB_WORKSPACE, so your job can access it
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      
+      # Install wakeonlan
+      # - name: Make scripts executable
+      #   run: sudo apt-get install -y wakeonlan
+
+      - name: Setup SSH Keys and known_hosts
+        env:
+            SSH_AUTH_SOCK: /tmp/ssh_agent.sock
+        run: |
+            ssh-agent -a $SSH_AUTH_SOCK > /dev/null
+            ssh-add - <<< "${{ secrets.DEPLOY_KEY }}"
+        
+      # Runs a set of commands using the runners shell
+      - name: Sync with game servers
+        env:
+            SSH_AUTH_SOCK: /tmp/ssh_agent.sock
+        run: |
+          # For potato.tf servers (pterodactyl user)
+          for i in "22 pterodactyl@us.potato.tf" "22 pterodactyl@ustx.potato.tf" "22 pterodactyl@br.potato.tf" "27040 pterodactyl@us.potato.tf" "3438 pterodactyl@us.potato.tf" "2849 pterodactyl@us.potato.tf" "22 pterodactyl@usw2.potato.tf" "27035 pterodactyl@eu.potato.tf" "22 pterodactyl@eu2.potato.tf" "22 pterodactyl@10.243.40.231" "22 pterodactyl@sgp.potato.tf"; do a=( $i ); 
+          {
+            rsync -a \
+            --exclude='mge/vpi/vpi_interfaces.py' \
+            --exclude='mge/vpi/vpi_watch.bat' \
+            --exclude='mge/vpi/vpi.nut' \
+            --exclude='mge/cfg/config.nut' \
+            --exclude='requirements.txt' \
+            --exclude='mge_windows_setup.bat' \
+            -e "ssh -p ${a[0]} -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no" ./mge ${a[1]}:/var/tf2server/tf/scripts/vscripts &
+
+            rsync -a -e "ssh -p ${a[0]} -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no" ./mapspawn.nut ${a[1]}:/var/tf2server/tf/scripts/vscripts/mge_init.nut &
+          } &
+          done
+          wait
diff --git a/mge/cfg/config.nut b/mge/cfg/config.nut
index 2ae5320..44f1e3b 100644
--- a/mge/cfg/config.nut
+++ b/mge/cfg/config.nut
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 //CONFIG CONSTANTS
 const DEFAULT_LANGUAGE                        = "english"
 
+const SECRET_VPI_KEY                          = "" //set this to a random string to act as a secret key for the vpi interface
+
 /********************************************************************************************************************
  * how long to wait before restarting the map/server in seconds                                                     *
  * this uses a hack with point_intermission to trigger a changelevel to whatever the `nextlevel` cvar is set to     *