nomercy-ci

A self-hosted, zero-cost CI/CD test lab and GitHub Actions runner farm, running entirely on a single Proxmox VE host using LXC containers and KVM virtual machines.

Runners

Ephemeral self-hosted GitHub Actions runners. Fresh environment every job — identical to GitHub-hosted runners.

Setup

# 1. Configure
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env — fill in RUNNER_GH_TOKEN and review all settings

# 2. Create templates
./runners/setup_runner_templates.sh linux     # LXC — fully automated (~15 min)
./runners/setup_runner_templates.sh macos     # VM — downloads from Apple, manual install from console
./runners/setup_runner_templates.sh windows   # VM — unattended install (~30 min)

# 3. Start the runner pool (maintains N runners, recycles after each job)
./runners/runner_pool.sh all >> /var/log/nomercy-runners/pool.log 2>&1 & disown

# Or install as a service
cp runners/nomercy-runner-pool.service /etc/systemd/system/
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable --now nomercy-runner-pool

How it works

Pool manager starts
  ├── Slot 1: Clone LXC → Boot → Register (--ephemeral) → Run job → Destroy → Repeat
  ├── Slot 2: Clone LXC → Boot → Register (--ephemeral) → Run job → Destroy → Repeat
  ├── ...
  └── Slot N: Same cycle

Each runner picks up one job, runs it, auto-deregisters, gets destroyed, and the pool spawns a replacement. Clean state every job.

Runner types

OS	Type	Template setup	Install
Linux	LXC container	Fully automated (Ubuntu 24.04 LXC + all CI tools via SSH)	~15 min
macOS	KVM VM	Downloads recovery from Apple CDN + OpenCore bootloader. Manual OS install from Proxmox console	~30 min
Windows	KVM VM	Unattended install via autounattend XML + sysprep	~30 min

What's installed on Linux runners

Mirrors GitHub's ubuntu-24.04 hosted runner:

Category	Tools
Languages	Node 20+22, PHP 8.3+8.4, Java 8/11/17/21/25, .NET 8/9/10, Go 1.24, Ruby, Rust, Python 3
Build tools	CMake 3.31, Ninja, Gradle 8.14, Maven 3.9, Ant
Android	SDK platforms 34-36, build-tools 34-36.1, NDK 27/28/29
Containers	Docker CE + Compose + Buildx
CLIs	gh, aws v2, azure, kubectl, helm, packer, fastlane
Browsers	Chrome + ChromeDriver, Firefox + Geckodriver
Databases	PostgreSQL client, MySQL client, SQLite3

Commands

# Create templates (one-time)
./runners/setup_runner_templates.sh linux
./runners/setup_runner_templates.sh macos
./runners/setup_runner_templates.sh windows
./runners/setup_runner_templates.sh all

# Start runner pool (ephemeral — fresh clone every job)
./runners/runner_pool.sh all                  # all OS types, reads counts from .env
./runners/runner_pool.sh linux 5              # 5 Linux runners only

# Create persistent runners (non-ephemeral)
./runners/create_runner.sh linux 5
./runners/create_runner.sh macos 1
./runners/create_runner.sh windows 1
./runners/create_runner.sh all 2

# Destroy runners + deregister from GitHub
./runners/destroy_runners.sh all
./runners/destroy_runners.sh linux
./runners/destroy_runners.sh --vm 5103

# Resource usage overview
./runners/proxmox-usage.sh

macOS setup notes

macOS in a VM requires OpenCore as the bootloader. The script handles this automatically:

1. Downloads OpenCore v21 from thenickdude/KVM-Opencore
2. Downloads macOS recovery from Apple CDN (version configurable via RUNNER_MACOS_VERSION)
3. Imports both as disk images — OpenCore on sata1, recovery on sata0, install target on sata2
4. Configures Apple SMC passthrough, SMBIOS, CPU flags (GenuineIntel + invtsc)
5. All disks on SATA (macOS has no VirtIO SCSI drivers, no IDE)

The script creates the VM, starts it, then waits for SSH. Complete the install from the Proxmox console while the script is running:

1. OpenCore boot picker appears — select the macOS installer
2. Open Disk Utility — erase the ~50 GB SATA disk as APFS
3. Install macOS to that disk
4. VM reboots — select "macOS Installer" in OpenCore (continues install)
5. After final reboot — select "Macintosh HD" in OpenCore
6. Create user ci during initial setup
7. System Settings > General > Sharing > enable Remote Login (SSH)
8. Open Terminal: mkdir -p ~/.ssh && echo '<your-key>' >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Once SSH is available, the script automatically:

• Installs all CI tools via install_macos_runner.sh
• Shuts down the VM
• Converts to template

Same flow as Linux and Windows — you don't need to manually run anything after enabling SSH.

---

Test Matrix

Validates NoMercy MediaServer release binaries across Linux distros and Windows.

Setup

# 1. Bootstrap Proxmox host
TRUENAS_IP=<your-truenas-ip> ./setup/setup_proxmox_host.sh

# 2. Create test templates
./setup/setup_templates.sh                # Linux LXC templates
./setup/setup_windows_template.sh         # Windows VM templates

# 3. Run tests
./run_matrix.sh                           # test latest release
./run_matrix.sh v1.2.3                    # test specific tag

# 4. Webhook (optional)
cp webhook/nomercy-ci.service /etc/systemd/system/
systemctl enable --now nomercy-ci
# Point GitHub webhook at http://<proxmox-ip>:9000/webhook (release event)

Supported platforms

Platform	Type	Package
Ubuntu 24.04	LXC	.deb
Debian 13	LXC	.deb
Fedora 43	LXC	.rpm
Arch Linux	LXC	.pkg.tar.zst
Windows 10	KVM VM	.exe

Linux targets run in parallel. Windows runs sequentially.

---

Project Structure

├── config.sh                      # Central config (loads .env)
├── .env.example                   # All settings with defaults
├── run_matrix.sh                  # Test matrix orchestrator
│
├── runners/                       # GitHub Actions runner management
│   ├── setup_runner_templates.sh  # Create Proxmox templates per OS
│   ├── runner_pool.sh             # Ephemeral runner pool manager
│   ├── create_runner.sh           # Create persistent runners
│   ├── destroy_runners.sh         # Destroy runners + deregister
│   ├── proxmox-usage.sh           # Resource usage overview
│   ├── nomercy-runner-pool.service # systemd service for pool
│   ├── install_linux_runner.sh    # Ubuntu 24.04 tool install
│   ├── install_macos_runner.sh    # macOS tool install (Homebrew)
│   └── install_windows_runner.ps1 # Windows tool install (Chocolatey)
│
├── lib/
│   ├── util.sh                    # Logging, SSH wait, VMID allocation
│   ├── lxc.sh                     # LXC lifecycle
│   ├── vm.sh                      # KVM lifecycle
│   ├── verify.sh                  # HTTP health checks
│   └── logs.sh                    # Artifact collection
│
├── platforms/                     # MediaServer install scripts per distro
│   ├── install_ubuntu.sh
│   ├── install_debian.sh
│   ├── install_fedora.sh
│   ├── install_arch.sh
│   └── install_windows.ps1
│
├── setup/                         # One-time Proxmox setup
│   ├── setup_proxmox_host.sh
│   ├── setup_templates.sh
│   ├── setup_windows_template.sh
│   ├── setup_windows_postinstall.ps1
│   ├── autounattend_win10.xml
│   └── autounattend_win11.xml
│
└── webhook/
    ├── webhook_server.py
    ├── webhook_server.env
    └── nomercy-ci.service

Configuration

All settings in .env (loaded by config.sh).

Runner settings

Variable	Default	Description
RUNNER_GH_TOKEN	—	GitHub PAT with admin:org scope
RUNNER_ORG	—	GitHub organization
RUNNER_GROUP	Default	Runner group in GitHub
RUNNER_VERSION	—	GitHub Actions runner version
POOL_LINUX	5	Ephemeral Linux runner count
POOL_MACOS	1	Ephemeral macOS runner count
POOL_WINDOWS	1	Ephemeral Windows runner count
RUNNER_LINUX_LABELS	—	Comma-separated labels
RUNNER_MACOS_LABELS	—	Comma-separated labels
RUNNER_WINDOWS_LABELS	—	Comma-separated labels
RUNNER_LINUX_CORES / _MEM	4 / 8192	Resources per Linux runner
RUNNER_MACOS_CORES / _MEM	4 / 8192	Resources per macOS runner
RUNNER_WINDOWS_CORES / _MEM	4 / 8192	Resources per Windows runner
RUNNER_OPENCORE_ISO	—	OpenCore ISO on Proxmox storage
RUNNER_MACOS_VERSION	sonoma	macOS version to download from Apple
RUNNER_WINDOWS_ISO	—	Windows 10 ISO on Proxmox storage
STORAGE	local-lvm	Proxmox storage for VM/LXC disks
BRIDGE	vmbr0	Network bridge
ISO_STORAGE	nas	Proxmox storage for ISO files
VIRTIO_ISO	nas:iso/virtio-win.iso	VirtIO drivers ISO for Windows

Test matrix settings

Variable	Default	Description
PVE_NODE	pve	Proxmox node name
WEB_PORT	7626	NoMercy web UI port
LXC_CORES / LXC_MEM	2 / 2048	Linux test container resources
WIN_CORES / WIN_MEM	12 / 16384	Windows test VM resources
WEBHOOK_PORT	9000	Webhook listener port
ARTIFACT_ROOT	/mnt/vault/nomercy-artifacts	NFS artifact path

Design Principles

• Ephemeral everything — runners and test clones are created, used once, and destroyed
• Self-cleaning — trap cleanup EXIT purges resources on failure
• Zero cost — Proxmox Community Edition, no paid CI services
• Security-conscious — dedicated ci user, SSH key-only auth, no root SSH
• No Docker for runners — real LXC containers and VMs, full OS isolation

License

Copyright NoMercy Entertainment. All rights reserved.