This version of GitHub Enterprise was discontinued on 2021-09-23. No patch releases will be made, even for critical security issues. For better performance, improved security, and new features, upgrade to the latest version of GitHub Enterprise. For help with the upgrade, contact GitHub Enterprise support.

Enabling automatic access to GitHub.com actions using GitHub Connect

To allow GitHub Actions in your enterprise to use actions from GitHub.com, you can connect your enterprise instance to GitHub Enterprise Cloud.

Site administrators for GitHub Enterprise Server who are also owners of the connected GitHub Enterprise Cloud organization or enterprise account can enable access to all GitHub.com actions.

Note: GitHub Actions was available for GitHub Enterprise Server 2.22 as a limited beta. The beta has ended. GitHub Actions is now generally available in GitHub Enterprise Server 3.0 or later. For more information, see the GitHub Enterprise Server 3.0 release notes.


Note: GitHub-hosted runners are not currently supported on GitHub Enterprise Server. You can see more information about planned future support on the GitHub public roadmap.

Note: With GitHub Connect enabled, GitHub Actions will try to find the repository on your GitHub Enterprise Server instance first before falling back to GitHub. If a user creates an organization and repository in your enterprise that matches an organization and repository name on GitHub, the repository on your enterprise will be used in place of the GitHub repository. A malicious user could take advantage of this behavior to run code as part of a workflow.

By default, GitHub Actions workflows on GitHub Enterprise Server cannot use actions directly from GitHub.com or GitHub Marketplace.

To make all actions from GitHub.com available on your enterprise instance, you can use GitHub Connect to integrate GitHub Enterprise Server with GitHub Enterprise Cloud. For other ways of accessing actions from GitHub.com, see "About using actions in your enterprise."

Enabling automatic access to all GitHub.com actions

Before enabling access to all actions from GitHub.com on your enterprise instance, you must connect your enterprise to GitHub.com. For more information, see "Connecting your enterprise to GitHub Enterprise Cloud."

  1. In the top-right corner of GitHub Enterprise Server, click your profile photo, then click Enterprise settings. "Enterprise settings" in drop-down menu for profile photo on GitHub Enterprise Server

  2. In the enterprise account sidebar, click Settings. Settings tab in the enterprise account sidebar

  3. In the left sidebar, click GitHub Connect. GitHub Connect tab in the business account settings sidebar

  4. Under "Server can use actions from GitHub.com in workflows runs", use the drop-down menu and select Enabled. Drop-down menu to actions from GitHub.com in workflows runs

  5. After you enable GitHub Connect, you can use policies to restrict which public actions can be used in repositories in your enterprise. For more information, see "Enforcing GitHub Actions policies for your enterprise."