Deploy failing: This command can only be run in a Serverless service directory.

[Blackglade]

I have a mono repo project and a separate directory that contains the serverless yaml file. Is there a way to set the directory to execute from in the github action.

I tried doing something like this:

 - name: Navigate to serverless
 run: cd serverless

 - name: Serverless Deploy
 uses: serverless/github-action@master
 with:
 args: deploy
 env:
 AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
 AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}

but without any luck.

[the1adi]

I am experiencing the same issue. I tried using the working directory setting and it still did not work.

This is my main.yml:

name: Deploy master branch

on:
 push:
 branches:
 - master

jobs:
 deploy:
 name: deploy
 runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 defaults:
 run:
 working-directory: ./app
 strategy:
 matrix:
 node-version: [12.x]
 steps:
 - uses: actions/checkout@v2
 - name: Use Node.js ${{ matrix.node-version }}
 uses: actions/setup-node@v1
 with:
 node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
 - run: npm ci
 - name: serverless deploy
 uses: serverless/github-action@master
 with:
 args: deploy
 env:
 # SERVERLESS_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.SERVERLESS_ACCESS_KEY }}
 # or if using AWS credentials directly
 AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
 AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}

This gave me the same error.

[deathemperor]

couldn't find anyway to make it run either. I think it's because of this:

-v "/home/runner/work/berry/berry":"/github/workspace"

By default the serverless docker maps the parent folder. Would be nice if there's an option to change that.

[deathemperor]

Ended up writing my own commands.

name: GitHub Actions Deploy ID Dev
on:
 push:
 branches:
 - main
jobs:
 deploy:
 name: deploy
 runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 strategy:
 matrix:
 node-version: [14.x]
 steps:
 - uses: actions/checkout@v2
 - name: Use Node.js ${{ matrix.node-version }}
 uses: actions/setup-node@v1
 with:
 node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
 - run: yarn install
 - run: yarn workspace @berry/shared build
 - run: node ./node_modules/serverless/bin/serverless.js config credentials --provider aws --key ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }} --secret ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }} --profile papaya --overwrite
 - run: node ../../node_modules/serverless/bin/serverless.js deploy --aws-s3-accelerate --stage dev --verbose
 working-directory: ./services/id
 env:
 SERVERLESS_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.SERVERLESS_ACCESS_KEY }}
 AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
 AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
 SLS_DEBUG: 1

[russellc92]

You need to set the config variable on the serverless deploy command to the path of the serverless.yml file:

name: serverless deploy
uses: serverless/github-action@master
with:
 args: deploy -s stage -c path/to/file/serverless.yml

[peimanja]

You need to set the config variable on the serverless deploy command to the path of the serverless.yml file:

name: serverless deploy
uses: serverless/github-action@master
with:
 args: deploy -s stage -c path/to/file/serverless.yml

This does not work if you are loading other files in your serverless.yml .

 Serverless Warning --------------------------------------
 
 A valid file to satisfy the declaration 'file(dev-config.yaml):environment' could not be found.

[Blackglade]

You need to set the config variable on the serverless deploy command to the path of the serverless.yml file:

name: serverless deploy
uses: serverless/github-action@master
with:
 args: deploy -s stage -c path/to/file/serverless.yml

This still doesn't work due to the fact that my repo is a monorepo and so all my serverless functions are inside a serverless folder inside my repo.

Repo Structure looks something like this

/package.json
/<ReactJS Project Files>
/serverless
/serverless/serverless.yml
/serverless/index.js <- contains function info
/serverless/package.json

Here was the deploy command I was using but couldn't get it to work:

name: Deploy to AWS Lambda

on:
 push:
 branches: [ master ]

jobs:
 build:
 runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 steps:
 - name: Checkout Code
 uses: actions/checkout@v2
 
 - name: Build w/ Node.js 14.x
 uses: actions/setup-node@v2
 with:
 node-version: 14.x
 - run: npm ci
 working-directory: ./serverless

 - name: Serverless Deploy
 uses: serverless/github-action@master
 with:
 args: -c "serverless plugin install --name serverless-domain-manager && serverless deploy -c serverless/serverless.yml -v"
 entrypoint: /bin/sh
 env:
 AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
 AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}

Honestly have sort of given up on this. It's clear Serverless has no intention of providing support for github actions.

[russellc92]

You need to set the config variable on the serverless deploy command to the path of the serverless.yml file:

name: serverless deploy
uses: serverless/github-action@master
with:
 args: deploy -s stage -c path/to/file/serverless.yml

This still doesn't work due to the fact that my repo is a monorepo and so all my serverless functions are inside a serverless folder inside my repo.

Repo Structure looks something like this

/package.json
/<ReactJS Project Files>
/serverless
/serverless/serverless.yml
/serverless/index.js <- contains function info
/serverless/package.json

Here was the deploy command I was using but couldn't get it to work:

name: Deploy to AWS Lambda

on:
 push:
 branches: [ master ]

jobs:
 build:
 runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 steps:
 - name: Checkout Code
 uses: actions/checkout@v2
 
 - name: Build w/ Node.js 14.x
 uses: actions/setup-node@v2
 with:
 node-version: 14.x
 - run: npm ci
 working-directory: ./serverless

 - name: Serverless Deploy
 uses: serverless/github-action@master
 with:
 args: -c "serverless plugin install --name serverless-domain-manager && serverless deploy -c serverless/serverless.yml -v"
 entrypoint: /bin/sh
 env:
 AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
 AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}

Honestly have sort of given up on this. It's clear Serverless has no intention of providing support for github actions.

Seems like the solution i provided previously only works for single lambdas.
I apologise that this does not represent most cases that people encounter in real life scenarios.

I have had luck calling serverless directly via npx, see here as an example. CLI commands/flags should work as indentended - but I havn't tried with a monorepo setup or using other yml files in the serverless.yml file (hopefully is not the same result as before).

I am keen to see the result of such running serverless with the above method - hopefully we can help progress this GHA.

[StephenGrable1]

Anyone encountering this thread who's following best practices and splitting their serverless app into separate directories, follow @deathemperor solution above (or my slightly simplified one below) to roll your own deployment step for each of your services.

Any semi-mature application will eventually need to split their code. I recommend you do not consolidate your separate services into the root folder just so this github action will work -- you will end up having to backtrack once your app grows.

It would be great if we could add support for this eventually, but in the meantime, I'm dropping this github action and using this manual deployment setup:

name: GitHub Actions Deploy Prod
on:
 push:
 branches:
 - master
jobs:
 deploy:
 name: deploy
 runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 strategy:
 matrix:
 node-version: [14.x]
 steps:
 - uses: actions/checkout@v2
 - name: Use Node.js ${{ matrix.node-version }}
 uses: actions/setup-node@v1
 with:
 node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
 - run: npm install
 - run: npm run build
 - run: node ./node_modules/serverless/bin/serverless.js config credentials --provider aws --key ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }} --secret ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
 - run: node ../../node_modules/serverless/bin/serverless.js deploy --stage prod --verbose
 working-directory: ./serverless/backend-api
 env:
 AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
 AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
 SLS_DEBUG: 1

thanks again for the suggestion @deathemperor

[hutch120]

Update... if you add org and app properties to serverless.yaml then the serverless client requires a SERVERLESS_ACCESS_KEY configured in serverless.com UX console.

My subdirectory is called server, note the use of working-directory at top level rather than for each step.

name: Deploy main branch serverless

on:
 push:
 branches:
 - main

jobs:
 deploy:
 name: deployserver
 runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 defaults:
 run:
 working-directory: ./server
 strategy:
 matrix:
 node-version: [14.x]
 steps:
 - uses: actions/checkout@v2
 - name: Use Node.js ${{ matrix.node-version }}
 uses: actions/setup-node@v1
 with:
 node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
 - run: yarn
 - run: node ./node_modules/serverless/bin/serverless.js deploy --stage prod --verbose
 env:
 SERVERLESS_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.SERVERLESS_ACCESS_KEY }}
 SLS_DEBUG: 1