diff --git a/.github/workflows/mysql-service.yml b/.github/workflows/mysql-service.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e724488
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/mysql-service.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+name: MySQL Service Example
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+    - main
+  pull_request:
+    branches:
+    - main
+
+defaults:
+  run:
+    working-directory: ./mysql
+
+jobs:
+  container-job:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    # runs all of the steps inside the specified container rather than on the VM host.
+    # Because of this the network configuration changes from host based network to a container network.
+    container:
+      image:  node:10.16-jessie
+
+    services:
+      mysql:
+        image: mysql:5.7
+        env:
+          MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD: yes
+        ports:
+        - 3306:3306
+        # needed because the mysql container does not provide a healthcheck
+        options: --health-cmd="mysqladmin ping" --health-interval=10s --health-timeout=10s --health-retries=10
+
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+    - run: npm ci
+    - run: node client.js
+      env:
+        # use mysql for the host here because we have specified a container for the job.
+        # If we were running the job on the VM this would be localhost
+        MYSQL_HOST: mysql
+        MYSQL_PORT: ${{ job.services.mysql.ports[3306] }}
+
+  # Runs all steps on the VM
+  # The service containers will use host port binding instead of container networking so you access them via localhost rather than the service name
+  vm-job:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    services:
+      mysql:
+        image: mysql:5.7
+        env:
+          MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD: yes
+        ports:
+        # will assign a random free host port
+        - 3306/tcp
+        # needed because the mysql container does not provide a healthcheck
+        options: --health-cmd="mysqladmin ping" --health-interval=10s --health-timeout=10s --health-retries=10
+
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+    - run: npm ci
+    - run: node client.js
+      env:
+        # use localhost for the host here because we are running the job on the VM.
+        # If we were running the job on in a container this would be mysql
+        MYSQL_HOST: localhost
+        MYSQL_PORT: ${{ job.services.mysql.ports[3306] }} # get randomly assigned published port
diff --git a/mysql/client.js b/mysql/client.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..35f6108
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mysql/client.js
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+const mysql = require('mysql');
+
+const mysqlConnection = mysql.createConnection({
+  host: process.env.MYSQL_HOST,
+  port: process.env.MYSQL_PORT,
+  user: 'root',
+  password: '',
+  database: 'mysql'
+});
+
+mysqlConnection.connect();
+
+mysqlConnection.query('SELECT NOW()', (err, res) => {
+  if (err) throw err
+  console.log(res)
+  mysqlConnection.end()
+});
diff --git a/mysql/package-lock.json b/mysql/package-lock.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff069df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mysql/package-lock.json
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+{
+  "requires": true,
+  "lockfileVersion": 1,
+  "dependencies": {
+    "bignumber.js": {
+      "version": "9.0.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/bignumber.js/-/bignumber.js-9.0.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-t/OYhhJ2SD+YGBQcjY8GzzDHEk9f3nerxjtfa6tlMXfe7frs/WozhvCNoGvpM0P3bNf3Gq5ZRMlGr5f3r4/N8A=="
+    },
+    "core-util-is": {
+      "version": "1.0.2",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/core-util-is/-/core-util-is-1.0.2.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha1-tf1UIgqivFq1eqtxQMlAdUUDwac="
+    },
+    "inherits": {
+      "version": "2.0.4",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/inherits/-/inherits-2.0.4.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-k/vGaX4/Yla3WzyMCvTQOXYeIHvqOKtnqBduzTHpzpQZzAskKMhZ2K+EnBiSM9zGSoIFeMpXKxa4dYeZIQqewQ=="
+    },
+    "isarray": {
+      "version": "1.0.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/isarray/-/isarray-1.0.0.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha1-u5NdSFgsuhaMBoNJV6VKPgcSTxE="
+    },
+    "mysql": {
+      "version": "2.18.1",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/mysql/-/mysql-2.18.1.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-Bca+gk2YWmqp2Uf6k5NFEurwY/0td0cpebAucFpY/3jhrwrVGuxU2uQFCHjU19SJfje0yQvi+rVWdq78hR5lig==",
+      "requires": {
+        "bignumber.js": "9.0.0",
+        "readable-stream": "2.3.7",
+        "safe-buffer": "5.1.2",
+        "sqlstring": "2.3.1"
+      }
+    },
+    "process-nextick-args": {
+      "version": "2.0.1",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/process-nextick-args/-/process-nextick-args-2.0.1.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-3ouUOpQhtgrbOa17J7+uxOTpITYWaGP7/AhoR3+A+/1e9skrzelGi/dXzEYyvbxubEF6Wn2ypscTKiKJFFn1ag=="
+    },
+    "readable-stream": {
+      "version": "2.3.7",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/readable-stream/-/readable-stream-2.3.7.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-Ebho8K4jIbHAxnuxi7o42OrZgF/ZTNcsZj6nRKyUmkhLFq8CHItp/fy6hQZuZmP/n3yZ9VBUbp4zz/mX8hmYPw==",
+      "requires": {
+        "core-util-is": "~1.0.0",
+        "inherits": "~2.0.3",
+        "isarray": "~1.0.0",
+        "process-nextick-args": "~2.0.0",
+        "safe-buffer": "~5.1.1",
+        "string_decoder": "~1.1.1",
+        "util-deprecate": "~1.0.1"
+      }
+    },
+    "safe-buffer": {
+      "version": "5.1.2",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/safe-buffer/-/safe-buffer-5.1.2.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-Gd2UZBJDkXlY7GbJxfsE8/nvKkUEU1G38c1siN6QP6a9PT9MmHB8GnpscSmMJSoF8LOIrt8ud/wPtojys4G6+g=="
+    },
+    "sqlstring": {
+      "version": "2.3.1",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/sqlstring/-/sqlstring-2.3.1.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha1-R1OT/56RR5rqYtyvDKPRSYOn+0A="
+    },
+    "string_decoder": {
+      "version": "1.1.1",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/string_decoder/-/string_decoder-1.1.1.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-n/ShnvDi6FHbbVfviro+WojiFzv+s8MPMHBczVePfUpDJLwoLT0ht1l4YwBCbi8pJAveEEdnkHyPyTP/mzRfwg==",
+      "requires": {
+        "safe-buffer": "~5.1.0"
+      }
+    },
+    "util-deprecate": {
+      "version": "1.0.2",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/util-deprecate/-/util-deprecate-1.0.2.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha1-RQ1Nyfpw3nMnYvvS1KKJgUGaDM8="
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/mysql/package.json b/mysql/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49ed5f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mysql/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{
+  "dependencies": {
+    "mysql": "^2.18.1"
+  }
+}