actions

Actions authors can now specify that their action can run in Node.js 16 by specifying runs.using as node16 in the action's action.yml. This is in addition to the existing Node.js 12 support; actions can continue to specify runs.using: node12 to use the Node.js 12 runtime.

Runners supporting Node.js 16 actions are available on all GitHub-hosted runners and in GitHub Enterprise Server 3.4 and newer. GitHub Enterprise Server 3.3 and newer can manually install a newer runner to add support for Node.js 16 based actions.

As a result, actions authors who move from targeting Node.js 12 to Node.js 16 should release with a new major version number to communicate that there is a possible breaking change for GitHub Enterprise Server 3.3 and earlier.

A beta of the Ubuntu 22.04 runner image for GitHub Actions is now available. Start using GitHub Actions to build software on the latest version of Ubuntu by updating your jobs to include runs-on: ubuntu-22.04

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: '14'
      - run: npm install -g bats
      - run: bats -v

The Ubuntu 22.04 Actions runner image has different tools and tool versions than ubuntu 20.04. See the difference between the two OS versions here. Click here for the full list of software available on Ubuntu 22.04.

If you spot any issues with your workflows when using the image, please let us know by creating an issue in the virtual-environments repository.

While the runner image is in beta, you may experience longer queue times during peak usage hours.

GitHub Actions now lets you generate markdown files and publish them as a job summary.

We have heard a lot of feedback from users asking for the ability to output something beyond simple text. For example, after running a bunch of tests it would be great to see how many passed, failed, or were skipped at a glance rather than digging through hundreds of lines of log output. Now, using the same familiar functionality that powers pull requests and issues, an action can generate custom Markdown content on the run summary generated by each job.

A couple of GitHub Stars with early access have already incorporated this feature into their test loggers for dotnet test and Jest.

To learn more checkout the blog post from the GitHub Actions engineering team

GitHub Actions simplifies using secrets with reusable workflows with the secrets: inherit keyword.

Previously when passing secrets to a reusable workflow, you had to pass each secret as a separate argument. Now you can simply pass the secrets: inherit to the reusable workflow and the secrets will be inherited from the calling workflow.

Learn more about reusable workflows in GitHub Actions

The macOS 12 Actions runner image public beta is now available. Start using GitHub Actions to build and publish apps for the Apple ecosystem with the latest version of Xcode (13.3) by updating your jobs to include runs-on: macos-12

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: macos-12
     steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Build
        run: swift build
      - name: Run tests
        run: swift test

The macOS 12 Actions runner image has different tools and tool versions than macOS 11. See the full list of changed software.

If you spot any issues with your workflows when using the image, please let us know by creating an issue in the virtual-environments repository.

While the runner image is in beta, you may experience longer queue times during peak usage hours. Follow the public roadmap for information on general availability of this image.

If you manage self-hosted runners for GitHub Actions, you can now specify shell scripts that run before the runner starts running a job from a workflow, and after a job completes.

This allows you to perform a task on your self-hosted runner before a job starts and after a job ends, so you can set up your execution environment and clean up after workflow runs to ensure a consistent state on the runner itself, without requiring users to add that to their workflows.

Learn more about running scripts before or after a job

For questions, visit the GitHub Actions community

To see what's next for Actions, visit our public roadmap

You can now restrict self-hosted runner groups to only be accessible from certain workflows.

In addition to restricting which repositories can access specific enterprise and organization runner groups, administrators can further control access by selecting specific workflow files and versions. Combining this feature with reusable workflow can help you create more secure standard workflows in your organization.

Learn more about restricting access to self-hosted runners

For questions, visit the GitHub Actions community

To see what's next for Actions, visit our public roadmap

You can now re-run only failed jobs or an individual job in a GitHub Actions workflow run.

For more details see Save time with partial re-runs in GitHub Actions on the GitHub blog.

For questions, visit the GitHub Actions community

To see what's next for Actions, visit our public roadmap

You now have more control over when your self-hosted runners perform software updates. If you specify the --disableupdate flag to the runner then it will not try to perform an automatic software update if a newer version of the runner is available. This allows you to update the self-hosted runner on your own schedule, and is especially convenient if your self-hosted runner is in a container.

For compatibility with the GitHub Actions service, you will need to manually update your runner within 30 days of a new runner version being available. For instructions on how to install the latest runner version, please see the installation instructions for the latest release in the runner repo.

For questions, visit the GitHub Actions community

To see what's next for Actions, visit our public roadmap