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This workflow helps you clone your database on a schedule or manually trigger it. It’s useful for creating regular backups or setting up test environments.

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Workflow configuration

name: Xata clone (daily, on-demand)

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: "0 0 * * *" # Run daily at midnight
  workflow_dispatch: # Allow manual triggers

env:
  XATA_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.XATA_API_KEY }}
  XATA_ORGANIZATIONID: ${{ secrets.XATA_ORGANIZATIONID }}
  XATA_PROJECTID: ${{ secrets.XATA_PROJECTID }}
  XATA_BRANCHID: ${{ secrets.XATA_BRANCHID }}
  XATA_BRANCHNAME: ${{ secrets.XATA_BRANCHNAME }}
  XATA_DATABASENAME: ${{ secrets.XATA_DATABASENAME }}
  XATA_CLI_SOURCE_POSTGRES_URL: ${{ secrets.XATA_CLI_SOURCE_POSTGRES_URL }}

jobs:
  clone:
    name: Xata Clone
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Install Xata CLI
        run: |
          curl -fsSL https://xata.io/install.sh | bash
          echo "/home/runner/.config/xata/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH

      - name: Check Xata status
        run: |
          xata status
          xata branch describe

      - name: Xata clone
        run: |
          xata clone start --source-url ${{ env.XATA_CLI_SOURCE_POSTGRES_URL }}

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Authentication and environment variables

The workflow requires several environment variables to be set:
  • XATA_API_KEY: Your Xata API key (set as a GitHub secret)
  • XATA_ORGANIZATIONID: Your Xata organization ID
  • XATA_PROJECTID: Your Xata project ID
  • XATA_BRANCHID: The ID of the main branch
  • XATA_BRANCHNAME: The name of the main branch
  • XATA_DATABASENAME: Your database name
  • XATA_CLI_SOURCE_POSTGRES_URL: The source PostgreSQL database URL (set as a GitHub secret)
If you have the Xata CLI configured with your project locally, you can obtain these values with the following commands: 
# XATA_API_KEY
xata keys organization create

# XATA_ORGANIZATIONID
xata organization get id

# XATA_PROJECTID
xata project get id

# XATA_BRANCHID
xata branch get id

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Workflow steps

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1. Checkout code

- uses: actions/checkout@v3
  with:
    fetch-depth: 0
This step checks out your repository code with full history and proper credentials configuration.

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2. Install Xata CLI

- name: Install Xata CLI
  run: |
    curl -fsSL https://xata.io/install.sh | bash
This step installs the Xata CLI using the official installer script and adds it to the GitHub Actions PATH.

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3. Check Xata status

- name: Check Xata status
  run: |
    xata status
    xata branch describe
This step verifies that your Xata CLI is properly configured and can connect to your database. For more details, see:

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4. Checkout clone branch

- name: Checkout Xata dev branch
  run: |
    echo XATA_BRANCHID=`xata branch get clone_demo id` >> $GITHUB_ENV
This step:
  • Checks out the clone_demo branch
  • Extracts the branch ID using jq
  • Stores it in an environment variable

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5. Start clone process

- name: Xata clone
  run: |
    xata clone start --source-url ${{ env.XATA_CLI_SOURCE_POSTGRES_URL }}
This step initiates the cloning process from your source PostgreSQL database. For more details, see the clone start command documentation.

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Triggering the workflow

The workflow can be triggered in two ways:
  1. Scheduled run 
    schedule:
  - cron: "0 8 * * *"
    Runs daily at 8:00 AM UTC
  2. Manual trigger 
    workflow_dispatch:
    Can be triggered manually from the GitHub Actions UI

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Concurrency control

The workflow uses GitHub Actions concurrency to prevent multiple runs from interfering with each other: 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
This ensures that:
  • Only one workflow run is active at a time
  • New runs cancel any in-progress runs
  • Prevents race conditions during cloning

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Best practices

  1. Set appropriate timeout
    • The workflow has a 10-minute timeout
    • Adjust based on your database size and cloning duration
  2. Use environment variables
    • Store sensitive information in GitHub secrets
    • Use environment variables for configuration
  3. Schedule regular clones
    • Set up a schedule that matches your backup needs
    • Consider your database size and update frequency
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