GitHub Runners on AWS EC2

What is a Runner?

Runner = the machine that executes your workflow jobs.

When you push code:

1. GitHub Actions starts
2. A runner is assigned
3. That runner runs your steps (install, test, deploy)

Types of Runners

GitHub-hosted

• Provided by GitHub
• Ready to use
• Ephemeral (fresh VM each job)

runs-on: ubuntu-latest

Self-hosted

• Your own machine (EC2, on-prem, laptop)
• Full control of tools and network
• Ideal when deploy must hit this server

runs-on: self-hosted

Why EC2 for a Self-Hosted Runner?

• Full control of the Node / PM2 environment
• Deploy happens on the app host (no separate SSH dance per step)
• Faster, predictable path for a single-server backend

Setup on AWS EC2

1. Launch and connect

• Ubuntu EC2; open 22, and 80/443 (or 3000 during early testing)

ssh -i your-key.pem ubuntu@your-ec2-ip

2. Install app tooling

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y nodejs npm git
npm install -g pm2   # optional but recommended

3. Add a runner from GitHub

1. Repo → Settings → Actions → Runners → New self-hosted runner
2. Choose Linux
3. Follow the download / extract commands GitHub shows (versions change over time), for example:

mkdir actions-runner && cd actions-runner
# Use the exact curl URL from the GitHub UI for the current runner version
tar xzf ./actions-runner-linux-x64-*.tar.gz

4. Configure and run

./config.sh
# Enter repo URL, token from GitHub, and a runner name
 
./run.sh

The EC2 host is now ready to pick up runs-on: self-hosted jobs.

5. Install as a service (important)

Keep the runner alive after logout / reboot:

sudo ./svc.sh install
sudo ./svc.sh start
# sudo ./svc.sh stop   # when you need to stop it

Final Flow

Push Code → GitHub Actions → EC2 Runner → Deploy App