Using Dev Proxy in your GitHub Actions workflow on Ubuntu

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In my previous blog post, I explained how you could use the Microsoft’s Dev Proxy in a GitHub Actions workflow on a macOS runner. In this blog post, I will show you how to use the Dev Proxy in your GitHub Actions workflow on an Ubuntu runner.

Most of the steps are the same, except how you trust the root certificate.

Installing and running the Dev Proxy

Like the macOS runner, you can install the bash script provided in the Dev Proxy documentation on the Ubuntu runner. To include this into your GitHub Actions workflow, you can use the following step:

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- name: Install Dev Proxy
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  run: bash -c "$(curl -sL https://aka.ms/devproxy/setup.sh)"
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- name: Run Dev Proxy
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  run: ./devproxy/devproxy &

Once the Dev Proxy is installed, you can run it, but you cannot yet intercept HTTPS traffic. That is where the next step comes in. You need to trust the root certificate.

Trust the root certificate

Similar to the macOS configuration, we must trust the self-signed certificate the Dev Proxy created. Here are the steps to achieve the certificate trust on an Ubuntu runner:

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- name: Install the Dev Proxy's certificate
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  timeout-minutes: 1
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  run: |
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    echo "Export the Dev Proxy's Root Certificate"
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    openssl pkcs12 -in ~/.config/dev-proxy/rootCert.pfx -clcerts -nokeys -out dev-proxy-ca.crt -passin pass:""
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    echo "Installing the Dev Proxy's Root Certificate"
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    sudo cp dev-proxy-ca.crt /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/
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    echo "Updating the CA certificates"
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    sudo update-ca-certificates
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    echo "Certificate trusted."
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    # Set the system proxy settings (optional)
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    echo "http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8000" >> $GITHUB_ENV
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    echo "https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8000" >> $GITHUB_ENV

After running this step, you can start intercepting HTTPS traffic with the Dev Proxy.

The complete GitHub Actions workflow

Below, you can find the complete GitHub Actions workflow file, which includes the installation of the Dev Proxy and the trust of the root certificate.

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name: Ubuntu Dev Proxy
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on:
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  push:
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    branches:
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      - main
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      - dev
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  workflow_dispatch:
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jobs:
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  test:
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    timeout-minutes: 60
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    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
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    steps:
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      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
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      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
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      - name: Install Dev Proxy
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        run: bash -c "$(curl -sL https://aka.ms/devproxy/setup.sh)"
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      - name: Run Dev Proxy
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        run: ./devproxy/devproxy &
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      - name: Install the Dev Proxy's certificate
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        timeout-minutes: 1
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        run: |
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          echo "Export the Dev Proxy's Root Certificate"
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          openssl pkcs12 -in ~/.config/dev-proxy/rootCert.pfx -clcerts -nokeys -out dev-proxy-ca.crt -passin pass:""
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          echo "Installing the Dev Proxy's Root Certificate"
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          sudo cp dev-proxy-ca.crt /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/
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          echo "Updating the CA certificates"
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          sudo update-ca-certificates
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          echo "Certificate trusted."
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          # Set the system proxy settings (optional)
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          echo "http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8000" >> $GITHUB_ENV
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          echo "https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8000" >> $GITHUB_ENV
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      # Include the additional steps you want to run after the Dev Proxy started
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      - name: Test the Dev Proxy
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        run: |
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          curl -ix http://127.0.0.1:8000 https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts
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          # When you used the system proxy settings, you don't need to specify the proxy in the curl command
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          curl -i https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts

With this setup, you can use the Dev Proxy in your GitHub Actions workflow on a Ubuntu runner.

Using Dev Proxy in your GitHub Actions workflow on Ubuntu

Installing and running the Dev Proxy

Trust the root certificate

The complete GitHub Actions workflow

Related articles

Using Dev Proxy in your GitHub Actions workflow on macOS

Caching Dev Proxy in your GitHub Actions workflows

Use Playwright with Microsoft Dev Proxy on GitHub Actions

Report issues or make changes on GitHub

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Elio Struyf