wp-performance-action

A GitHub action to measure performance metrics of WordPress sites.

Results are posted as comments to pull requests and as GitHub Action job summaries.

It collects data from the Server-Timing header and runs Lighthouse on a given set of URLs.

Note: Tests are run using WordPress Playground, which means you can use blueprints to prepare the test environment suitable to your needs.

Example

Usage

See action.yml

- uses: swissspidy/wp-performance-action@v2
  with:
    # Personal access token (PAT) used to comment on pull requests.
    #
    # [Learn more about creating and using encrypted secrets](https://help.github.com/en/actions/automating-your-workflow-with-github-actions/creating-and-using-encrypted-secrets)
    #
    # Default: ${{ github.token }}
    github-token: ''

    # Whether to create PR comments with performance results.
    #
    # Might require a custom `github-token` to be set.
    #
    # Default: false
    create-comment: ''

    # Whether to add results to the workflow summary.
    #
    # Default: true
    print-results: ''

    # Whether to upload any artifacts.
    #
    # Default: true
    upload-artifacts: ''

    # Whether to log additional debugging information
    #
    # Default: ${{ runner.debug == '1' }}
    debug: ''

    # List of URLs on the WordPress site to test.
    #
    # Each URL should be separated with new lines.
    #
    # Default: ''
    urls: ''

    # List of plugin directories to mount.
    #
    # Each plugin should be separated with new lines.
    # Needs to be a path to a local directory.
    # For installing plugins from the plugin directory
    # or a ZIP file, use a blueprint.
    #
    # Default: ''
    plugins: ''

    # List of theme directories to mount.
    #
    # Each theme should be separated with new lines.
    # Needs to be a path to a local directory.
    # For installing themes from the theme directory
    # or a ZIP file, use a blueprint.
    #
    # Default: ''
    themes: ''

    # Blueprint to use for setting up the environment.
    #
    # Use this to install or activate additional plugins, defining constants,
    # and much more.
    #
    # See https://wordpress.github.io/wordpress-playground/blueprints for more information.
    #
    # Default: ''
    blueprint: ''

    # WordPress version to use.
    #
    # Loads the specified WordPress version.
    # Accepts the last four major WordPress versions.
    # You can also use the generic values 'latest', 'nightly', or 'beta'.
    #
    # Default: 'latest'
    wp-version: ''

    # PHP version to use.
    #
    # Accepts 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3.
    #
    # Default: 'latest'
    php-version: ''
 
    # Number of times the tests should be repeated.
    #
    # Default: 2
    repetitions: ''

    # Number of iterations (loops) within a single run.
    #
    # Default: 20
    iterations: ''

    # Shard to use if running tests in parallel.
    # Valid values are 1/2, 1/4, etc.
    #
    # Default: ''
    shard: ''

    # Action to perform, can be either "test" or "merge".
    # Merging is needed when running tests in parallel
    # in a test matrix, where you later need to merge
    # the results from the individual jobs together.
    #
    # Default: 'test'
    action: ''

    # Path to a file with previous performance results for comparison.
    # Useful when running tests for a pull request and
    # the target branch, so that the performance impact can be measured.
    #
    # Default: ''
    previous-results: ''

Basic

Add a workflow (.github/workflows/build-test.yml):

steps:
  - name: Checkout
    uses: actions/checkout@v4
  
  - name: Run performance tests
    uses: swissspidy/wp-performance-action@v2
    with:
      plugins: |
        ./my-awesome-plugin
      urls: |
        /
        /sample-page/

Advanced

Add a workflow (.github/workflows/build-test.yml):

steps:
  - name: Checkout
    uses: actions/checkout@v4
  
  - name: Run performance tests
    uses: swissspidy/wp-performance-action@v2
    with:
      urls: |
        /
        /sample-page/
      plugins: |
        ./my-awesome-plugin
      blueprint: ./my-custom-blueprint.json
      iterations: 5
      repetitions: 1

Add a blueprint (my-custom-blueprint.json):

{
  "$schema": "https://playground.wordpress.net/blueprint-schema.json",
  "plugins": [
    "performant-translations",
    "akismet"
  ],
  "steps": [
    {
      "step": "defineWpConfigConsts",
      "consts": {
        "WP_DEBUG": true
      }
    },
    {
      "step": "activatePlugin",
      "pluginName": "My Awesome Plugin",
      "pluginPath": "/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/my-awesome-plugin"
    }
  ]
}

Running tests in parallel (sharding)

jobs:
  matrix:
    timeout-minutes: 60
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        shard: [1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4]
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4

    - name: Run performance tests
      uses: swissspidy/wp-performance-action@v2
      id: run-tests
      with:
        urls: |
          /
          /sample-page/
        plugins: |
          ./my-awesome-plugin
        shard: ${{ matrix.shard }}

  merge-reports:
    if: always()
    needs: [matrix]
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4

    - name: Merge performance test results
      uses: swissspidy/wp-performance-action@v2
      with:
        action: 'merge'

Performance results output

The results step output contains information regarding where the raw performance results numbers are stored. This output can be used for a variety of purposes such as logging or for a comparison with previous results.

In addition to that, the raw results are also uploaded as a workflow artifact.

steps:
  - name: Checkout
    uses: actions/checkout@v4
  
  - name: Run performance tests
    uses: swissspidy/wp-performance-action@v2
    id: performance-tests
    with:
      plugins: |
        ./my-awesome-plugin
      urls: |
        /
        /sample-page/

  - name: 'Echo results path'
    run: echo ${{steps.performance-tests.outputs.results}}