transfer project from gitlab to github -> ci/cd

I am transfering a project from gitlab to github, I can pull and push etc, the only thing I can't make work is the ci/cd,

in gitlab I have a .gitlab-ci.yml file like

image: kroniak/ssh-client

stages:
  - deploy

deploy_azure:
  stage: deploy
  only:
    - main
  retry: 1
  before_script:
    - eval $(ssh-agent -s)
    - echo "$SSH_AZURE_PRIVATE_KEY" | tr -d '\r' | ssh-add -
    - mkdir -p ~/.ssh
    - chmod 700 ~/.ssh
    - ssh-keyscan -p<port> -t rsa <host> >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts
    - echo "Host <host>" >> ~/.ssh/config
    - echo "    ForwardAgent yes" >> ~/.ssh/config
    - cat ~/.ssh/config
  script:
    - ssh -p<port> <user>@<host> "<command>"

I wanted to do something similar on github and I found appleboy/ssh-action@v0.1.10, file looks like

name: Node.js CD

# Controls when the action will run. 
on:
  # Triggers the workflow on push or pull request events but only for the master branch
  push:
    branches: [ "main" ]

# A workflow run is made up of one or more jobs that can run sequentially or in parallel
jobs:
  # This workflow contains a single job called "build"
  build:
    name: Build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - name: executing remote ssh commands using password
      uses: appleboy/ssh-action@v0.1.10
      with:
        host: ${{ secrets.HOST }}
        username: ${{ secrets.USERNAME }}
        key: ${{ secrets.PRIVATE_KEY }}
        password: ''
        port: <port>
        script: <command>

but I can't make it work, I always have timeout error
I even made a new ssh key in my server and named it id_rsa_github (with the .pub of course), I added the .pub into authorized_keys file, verified multiple time my variables in github (secrets), I don't have a password, I tried all day to do this but I can't find anything that works so if someone has any ideas pls let me know.
Thanks in advance

I would first check the SSH logs on your server to see if there is more information about why the connection is being refused. On most Linux systems, you can check the logs with the command sudo tail /var/log/auth.log.

If there is nothing, add in your GitHub pipeline a check to ensure your server is reachable from said GitHub pipeline server:

You can use the nc (netcat) command, which is a much more powerful networking tool and can be used to check both TCP and UDP connections. Here is an example of how you might use it in a GitHub Actions workflow:

jobs:
  check-ssh:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - name: Check SSH connection
      run: nc -vz ${{ secrets.HOST }} 22

This command attempts to open a connection to the specified host on port 22 (the default port for SSH). The -v flag tells nc to operate in verbose mode, and the -z flag tells it to just scan for listening daemons, without sending any data.

If the connection is successful, this step will complete without errors. If the connection fails, this step will fail and your workflow will stop.

Do replace ${{ secrets.HOST }} with your actual server's IP address or domain name, or keep it if you have stored the host information in your GitHub secrets.

I see your GitLab pipeline uses a ~/.ssh/config with a ForwardAgent yes option, which means that you are forwarding your SSH agent to your remote host. This allows you to use your local SSH key to authenticate with other servers from the remote host, without having to store your private keys on the remote server.

As illustrated by appleboy/ssh-action issue 13 and PR 15, appleboy/ssh-action also supports ForwardAgent but you should not need it in your case.

If you are still having trouble, you might want to try a different GitHub action for SSH. For example, you could try using webfactory/ssh-agent@v0.7.0, which is another popular choice.