GitHub Actions Toolkit

The GitHub Actions ToolKit provides a set of packages to make creating actions easier.

Get started with the javascript-action template!

Packages

✔️ @actions/core

Provides functions for inputs, outputs, results, logging, secrets and variables. Read more here

$ npm install @actions/core

🏃 @actions/exec

Provides functions to exec cli tools and process output. Read more here

$ npm install @actions/exec

🍨 @actions/glob

Provides functions to search for files matching glob patterns. Read more here

$ npm install @actions/glob

☎️ @actions/http-client

A lightweight HTTP client optimized for building actions. Read more here

$ npm install @actions/http-client

✏️ @actions/io

Provides disk i/o functions like cp, mv, rmRF, which etc. Read more here

$ npm install @actions/io

🔨 @actions/tool-cache

Provides functions for downloading and caching tools. e.g. setup-* actions. Read more here

See @actions/cache for caching workflow dependencies.

$ npm install @actions/tool-cache

@actions/github

Provides an Octokit client hydrated with the context that the current action is being run in. Read more here

$ npm install @actions/github

💾 @actions/artifact

Provides functions to interact with actions artifacts. Read more here

$ npm install @actions/artifact

🎯 @actions/cache

Provides functions to cache dependencies and build outputs to improve workflow execution time. Read more here

$ npm install @actions/cache

🔏 @actions/attest

Provides functions to write attestations for workflow artifacts. Read more here

$ npm install @actions/attest

Creating an Action with the Toolkit

❓ Choosing an action type

Outlines the differences and why you would want to create a JavaScript or a container based action.

➰ Versioning

Actions are downloaded and run from the GitHub graph of repos. This contains guidance for versioning actions and safe releases.

⚠️Problem Matchers

Problem Matchers are a way to scan the output of actions for a specified regex pattern and surface that information prominently in the UI.

⚠️Proxy Server Support

Self-hosted runners can be configured to run behind proxy servers.

Hello World JavaScript Action

Illustrates how to create a simple hello world javascript action.

...
constnameToGreet=core.getInput('who-to-greet');console.log(`Hello ${nameToGreet}!`);
...

JavaScript Action Walkthrough

Walkthrough and template for creating a JavaScript Action with tests, linting, workflow, publishing, and versioning.

asyncfunctionrun(){try{constms=core.getInput('milliseconds');console.log(`Waiting ${ms} milliseconds ...`)...

PASS./index.test.js✓throwsinvalidnumber✓wait500ms✓testruns
Test Suites: 1passed,1total
Tests: 3passed,3total

TypeScript Action Walkthrough

Walkthrough creating a TypeScript Action with compilation, tests, linting, workflow, publishing, and versioning.

import*ascorefrom'@actions/core';asyncfunctionrun(){try{constms=core.getInput('milliseconds');console.log(`Waiting ${ms} milliseconds ...`)...

PASS./index.test.js✓throwsinvalidnumber✓wait500ms✓testruns
Test Suites: 1passed,1total
Tests: 3passed,3total

Docker Action Walkthrough

Create an action that is delivered as a container and run with docker.

FROM alpine:3.10
COPY LICENSE README.md /
COPY entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh
ENTRYPOINT ["/entrypoint.sh"]

Docker Action Walkthrough with Octokit

Create an action that is delivered as a container which uses the toolkit. This example uses the GitHub context to construct an Octokit client.

FROM node:slim
COPY . .
RUN npm install --production
ENTRYPOINT ["node", "/lib/main.js"]

constmyInput=core.getInput('myInput');core.debug(`Hello ${myInput} from inside a container`);constcontext=github.context;console.log(`We can even get context data, like the repo: ${context.repo.repo}`)

Contributing

We welcome contributions. See how to contribute.

Code of Conduct

See our code of conduct.