Automate Database Sanitization with Washery and GitHub Actions

Engineering teams often face a familiar problem: production data is essential for realistic testing, but it’s too risky to use directly in development. Manual sanitization takes time, slows down releases, and introduces compliance risks. The new Washery and GitHub Actions integration solves this by embedding database sanitization directly into CI/CD pipelines. Teams can now automatically create safe, compliant datasets for development and testing, without slowing down delivery or sacrificing data privacy. This streamlines workflows, reduces costs, and ensures compliance - all while giving developers the fresh data they need to move faster.

What are Washery GitHub actions?

Washery is a tool that sanitizes databases by removing or anonymizing sensitive data, making production snapshots safe for use in development and testing environments. GitHub Actions is a CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment) platform that automates workflows directly from a GitHub repository. By integrating Washery with GitHub Actions, teams can automate secure, compliant database sanitization as part of their deployment pipelines.

What are the benefits?

• Reduced Operational Overhead – Automation removes the need for manual sanitization, freeing up engineering time
• Improved Compliance Posture – Built-in sanitization ensures data privacy rules are met consistently
• Faster Development Cycles – Developers have immediate access to fresh, compliant data without delays
• Lower Infrastructure Costs – Selective processing cuts washing time and compute costs by 60 - 80%
• Enhanced Reliability – Operations work consistently across all supported MySQL versions and deployment types

How Does It Work?

• Washery runs directly and seamlessly inside your automated CI/CD workflows, with no need for extra authentication steps or manual triggers.
• Automatic AWS Credential Management ensures Washery can securely assume roles across different AWS accounts to access the necessary resources with the least privileges required.
• Choose specific databases and sanitize only the databases you need, significantly reducing washing time and infrastructure costs.
• Enhanced MySQL Reliability guarantees consistent sanitization across different MySQL versions and deployment environments, whether local, containerized, or running on AWS Fargate.
• Clear error handling and reporting for faster troubleshooting.

Why does it matter?

Integrating Washery into GitHub Actions transforms it from a standalone manual tool into a core part of the DevOps pipeline. It ensures that database sanitization happens automatically, every time, without slowing down development or risking compliance breaches. Teams benefit from faster release cycles, lower operational costs, and greater confidence in data security. This makes it especially valuable for organizations practicing continuous integration and operating in regulated industries. 

You can find more information on Washery in our blog post Streamline Your Data Management for Non-Production with Washery: A Tool for Amazon RDS.

For questions or to find out how you can leverage this feature, please contact the base2Services team.