I have a GitHub project in which I store data collected by bicycle counting stations scattered around Cologne, Germany. At the moment, I update the data manually by running a Python script, which fetches the data and appends it to CSV-files. I then add and push the changes using git to the GitHub Project.
I would like to automate this process using an existing Elixir + Phoenix application I have running on Heroku. Since that app doesn’t do much, I thought that I could add a reoccurring job, maybe using Oban, which would fetch and push the data on a daily basis. The problem that I am facing now is how to implement this “in a smart way”.
My current plan is to clone the git repository to my Heroku machine and perform the git actions using e.g. elixir-git-cli. However, this feels a bit clunky and I was wondering whether you have an idea or experiences with automating reoccurring jobs which use git commands? Is there maybe a way to push changes to GitHub without having to clone a git repository first?
Perhaps I’m misunderstanding the docs, but you would still need a git client to push the git object to GitHub’s remote to use that API, it doesn’t seem to offer a way to send a patch with your API request?
Hmm, that sound’s like a possible, but complex solution. I’ll check whether I can use GitHub Actions first, but if not, then I’ll have a closer look to this solution. So, thank you
I ended up using this GitHub Action to commit and push any changes made to the repo while running the GitHub Action. The full workflow can be found on GitHub. Thanks for the solution @lpil!
