Set up a GitHub Self-Hosted Runner

Overview

This section shows you how to deploy a GitHub Actions self-hosted runner on your Arm64 Google Axion C4A instance. You will install Git and GitHub CLI, authenticate with GitHub, and register the runner so CI/CD workflows run on Arm infrastructure.

Set up your development environment

Start by installing the required dependencies using the apt package manager:

    

        
        
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y git gh vim

    

Configure your Git identity:

    

        
        
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"
git config --global user.name "Your Name"

    

Now you are ready to connect the machine to GitHub. The command below is used to authenticate the GitHub CLI with your GitHub account. It allows you to securely log in using a web browser or token, enabling the CLI to interact with repositories, actions, and other GitHub features on your behalf.

Authenticate with GitHub:

    

        
        
gh auth login

    

Follow the prompts and accept the defaults:

Screenshot of GitHub authentication prompt

    

        
        
https://github.com/login/device

    

When authentication succeeds, you will see a confirmation screen in your browser:

Screenshot of successful GitHub login confirmation

Test GitHub CLI and Git

The command below creates a new public GitHub repository named test-repo using the GitHub CLI. It sets the repository visibility to public, meaning that anyone can view it:

    

        
        
gh repo create test-repo --public

    

You should see an output similar to:

    

        
        ✓ Created repository <your-github-account>/test-repo on GitHub
  https://github.com/<your-github-account>/test-repo

        
    

Configure the self-hosted runner

In your repository, go to Settings → Actions → Runners and select Add runner, or view existing self-hosted runners.

Screenshot of repository Runners settings page

Click New self-hosted runner. In the setup panel, choose Linux as the operating system and ARM64 as the architecture. Copy the generated setup commands and run them on your C4A VM.

Screenshot of the Add new self-hosted runner panel

The final command links the runner to your GitHub repository using a one-time registration token. During setup, you will be prompted for the runner group, runner name, and work folder. Press Enter at each prompt to accept the defaults. The output should look similar to:

    

        
        --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|        ____ _ _   _   _       _          _        _   _                      |
|       / ___(_) |_| | | |_   _| |__      / \   ___| |_(_) ___  _ __  ___      |
|      | |  _| | __| |_| | | | | '_ \    / _ \ / __| __| |/ _ \| '_ \/ __|     |
|      | |_| | | |_|  _  | |_| | |_) |  / ___ \ (__| |_| | (_) | | | \__ \     |
|       \____|_|\__|_| |_|\__,_|_.__/  /_/   \_\___|\__|_|\___/|_| |_|___/     |
|                                                                              |
|                       Self-hosted runner registration                        |
|                                                                              |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Authentication

√ Connected to GitHub
# Runner Registration
Enter the name of the runner group to add this runner to: [press Enter for Default]
Enter the name of runner: [press Enter for lpprojectubuntuarm64]
This runner will have the following labels: 'self-hosted', 'Linux', 'ARM64'
Enter any additional labels (ex. label-1,label-2): [press Enter to skip]
√ Runner successfully added
√ Runner connection is good

        
    

Finally, start the runner by executing:

    

        
        
./run.sh

    

You should see an output similar to:

    

        
        √ Connected to GitHub

Current runner version: '2.326.0'
2025-07-15 05:51:13Z: Listening for Jobs

        
    

The runner will now be visible in the GitHub actions:

Screenshot of runner visible in GitHub

For now, you can terminate the ./run.sh command with Ctrl+C. Move on to the next section to set up a simple web server using the runner.