What are GitHub Actions and how do they help in CI/CD?

Short answer: GitHub Actions is GitHub’s built-in Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) platform.

Explain a bit more

It lets you automate tasks — like running tests, building code, or deploying apps — every time code is pushed or a PR is opened. Example: You can create a workflow file .github/workflows/test.yml: name: Run Tests on: [push, pull_request] jobs: test: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: uses: actions/checkout@v4 name: Install dependencies run: npm install name: Run tests run: npm test Whenever code is pushed, GitHub automatically runs your tests — ensuring quality before merging.

Real-world example (ShopNest)

ShopNest’s team uses GitHub PRs with reviews and CI checks so broken builds never reach production unnoticed.

Say this in the interview

1. Define — one clear sentence (the short answer above).
2. Example — relate it to a project like ShopNest or your real work.
3. Trade-off — when you would not use it.