Run Python Scripts for Free with GitHub Actions: A Complete Guide

6 min read

By David Muraya • December 15, 2025

You don't always need a cloud provider like Google Cloud or AWS to run a simple Python script. If your code is already hosted on GitHub, you can use GitHub Actions to run it for you.

GitHub Actions is mostly known for CI/CD - testing and deploying code when you push changes. But it also has a feature that lets you run workflows on a schedule, just like a cron job. This is perfect for scrapers, bots, or data cleanup scripts that need to run a few times a day.

This guide shows you how to set up a GitHub Actions workflow to run a Python script automatically.

The Workflow File

GitHub Actions looks for configuration files in a specific directory in your repository: .github/workflows. These files are written in YAML.

To get started, create a file named .github/workflows/scraper.yml (or any name you like) and paste in the configuration below. This example runs a scraper script four times a day.

name: Scraper Cron

on:
  # Schedule to run 4 times a day (UTC times)
  # 00:00, 06:00, 12:00, 18:00
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 0,6,12,18 * * *'

  # Allows you to manually trigger the workflow from the Actions tab for testing
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  run-scraper:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment: development

    steps:
      - name: Checkout Code
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v6
        with:
          # Use a stable version like 3.12 or 3.13
          python-version: '3.13'

      # We install dependencies directly here.
      # For larger projects, use a requirements.txt file.
      - name: Install Dependencies
        run: |
          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
          pip install bs4 aiohttp python-dotenv

      - name: Run Scraper Script
        env:
          # Mapping Secrets from GitHub to Environment Variables
          API_SECRET: ${{ secrets.API_SECRET }}

          # Configuration Variables
          API_BASE: "https://my-website-to-be-updated.com"

        # Pointing to the specific path of your script
        run: python src/python_scripts/scraper_gcp.py

Breaking Down the Configuration

Here is what is happening in that file.

1. The Schedule (on: schedule)

The on section tells GitHub when to run the workflow. We use the schedule event with a cron syntax. The line cron: '0 0,6,12,18 * * *' means "Run at minute 0 of the 0th, 6th, 12th, and 18th hour."

Note: GitHub Actions schedules are in UTC. You will need to convert your local time to UTC to get the schedule right.

We also added workflow_dispatch. This is important. It adds a button in the GitHub UI that lets you run the script manually. Without it, you have to wait for the schedule to trigger to see if your code works.

2. The Environment (runs-on)

runs-on: ubuntu-latest tells GitHub to provision a fresh Linux virtual machine for this job. This VM is ephemeral. It is created when the job starts and destroyed when it finishes. This means you cannot save files to the disk and expect them to be there next time. If your script saves data, it needs to send it to a database or an external storage service.

3. The Steps

The steps run sequentially:

1. Checkout Code: Uses the official actions/checkout action to pull your repository's code onto the VM.
2. Set up Python: Uses actions/setup-python to install the specific version of Python you need.
3. Install Dependencies: Runs pip install. In the example, we list packages inline. For production apps, I recommend using a file (pip install -r requirements.txt) to ensure you are using the exact same versions locally and in the cloud.
4. Run Scraper Script: Finally, it executes your Python script.

Handling Secrets

Your script likely needs API keys or database passwords. Never commit these to your code.

In the workflow file, you see this block:

env:
  API_SECRET: ${{ secrets.API_SECRET }}

This tells GitHub to take a value stored in the repository's "Secrets" and inject it as an environment variable named API_SECRET.

To set these up:

1. Go to your GitHub repository.
2. Click Settings.
3. On the left sidebar, click Secrets and variables > Actions.
4. Click New repository secret.
5. Add the name (e.g., API_SECRET) and the value.

Now your script can access os.environ["API_SECRET"] safely.

When to Use This vs. Cloud Functions

I previously wrote about running scripts on Google Cloud Functions and scheduling them with Cloud Scheduler. So, which one should you use?

Use GitHub Actions if:

• Your script is a "batch" job (runs once in a while).
• You want to keep everything in one place (code and infrastructure).
• You don't want to configure a cloud provider account and billing.

Use Cloud Functions if:

• You need an HTTP endpoint (a web API).
• Your script needs to run instantly in response to a user action.
• You need complex scaling or networking.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Is GitHub Actions free? For public repositories, yes, it is free. For private repositories, GitHub provides a generous amount of free minutes per month (usually 2,000 minutes). Unless your script runs constantly or takes hours to finish, you likely won't hit the limit.

2. Can I save files generated by the script? Not directly to the folder. The environment is destroyed after the run. If you need to save a CSV or JSON file, you have two options:

1. Artifacts: Use the actions/upload-artifact action to save files for download later.
2. External Storage: Upload the file to AWS S3 or Google Cloud Storage.

3. Why didn't my scheduled job run at the exact time? GitHub warns that scheduled events can be delayed during periods of high load. It is usually reliable, but don't use it for tasks that require second-level precision.

4. Can I use a custom Docker image? Yes. Instead of runs-on: ubuntu-latest, you can specify a container image. This is useful if your script has complex non-Python dependencies.

External Resources

• GitHub Actions Documentation
• Workflow Syntax for GitHub Actions
• Crontab Guru - A handy tool for calculating cron schedules.
• Python Setup Action