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+# Copyright (C) 2026 Moko Consulting <hello@mokoconsulting.tech>
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later
+# BRIEF: Build and deploy to the RC environment on push to the rc branch.
+#        Portable across Go server repos: ALL deployment config comes from repo
+#        Actions variables (vars.*) and secrets (secrets.*), nothing hardcoded.
+#        The rc branch is created by promote-rc when a PR to main opens.
+# OWNER: Template-Go (canonical source; syncs to the root workflows dir). See Template-Go#3.
+#
+# Required repo VARIABLES (all tier-scoped so each environment is independent —
+# a repo may host its rc/dev/prod tiers on different machines):
+#   RC_SSH_HOST, RC_SSH_PORT, RC_SSH_USERNAME - SSH deploy target for the rc tier
+#   RC_REGISTRY, RC_REGISTRY_USER, RC_IMAGE   - container registry + login user + image
+#   RC_CONTAINER                              - compose service/container to recreate
+#   RC_COMPOSE_PROJECT                        - docker compose -p project name
+#   RC_COMPOSE_DIR                            - dir containing docker-compose.yml on host
+#   RC_SOURCE_DIR                             - build source checkout on host
+#   RC_TAG_ENV                                - compose env-var name that pins the image tag
+#   RC_HEALTH_URL                             - external URL to verify after deploy
+# Required SECRETS (already configured org-wide; reused, not re-set):
+#   DEPLOY_SSH_KEY       - deploy private key (repo/org secret)
+#   MOKOGITEA_TOKEN      - registry/API token (org secret)
+
+name: Deploy (RC)
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - rc
+
+concurrency:
+  group: deploy-rc
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+env:
+  FORCE_JAVASCRIPT_ACTIONS_TO_NODE24: true
+
+jobs:
+  deploy-rc:
+    name: "Build & Deploy to RC"
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout source
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: Determine version
+        id: config
+        run: |
+          VERSION=$(git describe --tags --always 2>/dev/null || echo "rc-$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)")
+          echo "tag=${VERSION}-rc" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          echo "Version: ${VERSION}-rc"
+
+      - name: Write deploy key
+        env:
+          DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_SSH_KEY }}
+        run: |
+          mkdir -p ~/.ssh
+          echo "$DEPLOY_KEY" > ~/.ssh/deploy_key
+          chmod 600 ~/.ssh/deploy_key
+
+      - name: Build and deploy to RC via SSH
+        env:
+          REGISTRY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.MOKOGITEA_TOKEN }}
+          TAG: ${{ steps.config.outputs.tag }}
+        run: |
+          # Runner-side values (TAG, REGISTRY_TOKEN) are injected into the remote shell
+          # via an env prefix; a *quoted* heredoc keeps every $var expanding once, on the
+          # remote. Repo variables (vars.*) are substituted inline by Actions before ssh.
+          ssh -i ~/.ssh/deploy_key -p ${{ vars.RC_SSH_PORT }} \
+            -o ConnectTimeout=30 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null \
+            -o ServerAliveInterval=30 -o ServerAliveCountMax=10 \
+            ${{ vars.RC_SSH_USERNAME }}@${{ vars.RC_SSH_HOST }} \
+            "TAG='$TAG' REGISTRY_TOKEN='$REGISTRY_TOKEN' bash -s" <<'DEPLOY_EOF'
+          set -e
+          echo 'SSH connected to RC environment'
+
+          if [ -z "$TAG" ]; then
+            echo 'ERROR: TAG is empty; refusing to build an untagged image' >&2
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          HEALTH_FMT='{{.State.Health.Status}}'
+
+          echo 'Cleaning Docker build cache...'
+          docker builder prune -af 2>/dev/null || true
+          docker image prune -af 2>/dev/null || true
+
+          echo 'Pulling source...'
+          SOURCE_DIR='${{ vars.RC_SOURCE_DIR }}'
+          if [ ! -d "$SOURCE_DIR/.git" ]; then
+            git clone -b rc ${{ github.server_url }}/${{ github.repository }}.git "$SOURCE_DIR"
+          fi
+          cd "$SOURCE_DIR"
+          git remote set-url origin ${{ github.server_url }}/${{ github.repository }}.git 2>/dev/null || true
+          git fetch origin rc
+          git reset --hard origin/rc
+
+          echo "Building image: ${{ vars.RC_REGISTRY }}/${{ vars.RC_IMAGE }}:$TAG"
+          docker build --no-cache --build-arg GOFLAGS='-p 1' \
+            --tag "${{ vars.RC_REGISTRY }}/${{ vars.RC_IMAGE }}:$TAG" \
+            -f Dockerfile .
+
+          echo 'Pushing to registry...'
+          echo "$REGISTRY_TOKEN" | docker login ${{ vars.RC_REGISTRY }} -u ${{ vars.RC_REGISTRY_USER }} --password-stdin
+          docker push "${{ vars.RC_REGISTRY }}/${{ vars.RC_IMAGE }}:$TAG"
+
+          echo 'Restarting RC container...'
+          cd '${{ vars.RC_COMPOSE_DIR }}'
+          # Drive the rc service image tag via its compose env-var (no sed on the shared
+          # file); remove any lingering fixed-name container first, then force-recreate.
+          docker rm -f '${{ vars.RC_CONTAINER }}' 2>/dev/null || true
+          ${{ vars.RC_TAG_ENV }}="$TAG" docker compose -p '${{ vars.RC_COMPOSE_PROJECT }}' up -d --force-recreate '${{ vars.RC_CONTAINER }}'
+
+          echo 'Health check...'
+          for i in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8; do
+            sleep 15
+            if docker inspect --format="$HEALTH_FMT" '${{ vars.RC_CONTAINER }}' 2>/dev/null | grep -q healthy; then
+              echo 'RC container healthy!'
+              exit 0
+            fi
+            echo "Waiting... (attempt $i/8)"
+          done
+          echo 'Health check failed'
+          docker logs '${{ vars.RC_CONTAINER }}' --tail 20
+          exit 1
+          DEPLOY_EOF
+
+      - name: Verify RC instance
+        run: |
+          sleep 5
+          curl -sf "${{ vars.RC_HEALTH_URL }}" && echo " RC API healthy"