Tutorial: How to start a self-hosted GitHub Actions runner in 1 minute

If you prefer to watch a video, the first 30 seconds of the video below shows how to start a GitHub Actions runner on DimeRun:

First of all, open https://beta.dime.run/ and type in your username and password. You will see something like this:

Click "New runner". You have a few options and will be guided through the process.

The first step is to choose if the runner is for a personal repository or an organization.

Here I'm choosing "an organzation". If you choose "a personal repository", it will ask for the repository URL afterwards.

When you choose to start the runner for an organization, you will then have two choices. GitHub allows you to create the runner for all repositories in the organzation. Alternatively, you can also create the runner for a specific repository under that organization.

Next you will be asked to provide your organization name. If you choose to start the runner for a specific repository, you will be asked for the repository URL instead.

Finally you will be provided with a page like this:

Clicking on the first button will bring you to a GitHub settings page.

When running a self-hosted runner on your own machines, you also go to this settings page to get the commands to configure and start the runner. Now with DimeRun, we will be running the commands for you. But you still need to provide us with the correct command arguments.

Click on the ./config.sh line to copy the command, and go back to DimeRun and paste it.

After pasting the config line, you also get to choose a product. Then create "Start runner" and the runner will be started after a while. You will also be able to see it on GitHub.

To use the runner, change your workflow file to something like

runs-on: dimerun-d3-ubuntu2204

See this file for an example: https://github.com/dimerun/demo-pd/blob/main/.github/workflows/demo.yaml