Workflow commands for GitHub Actions

About workflow commands

Actions can communicate with the runner machine to set environment variables, output values used by other actions, add debug messages to the output logs, and other tasks.

Workflow commands use the echo command in a specific format.

echo "::workflow-command parameter1={data},parameter2={data}::{command value}"

Using workflow commands to access toolkit functions

The actions/toolkit includes a number of functions that can be executed as workflow commands. Use the :: syntax to run the workflow commands within your YAML file; these commands are then sent to the runner over stdout. For example, instead of using code to set an environment variable, as below:

core.exportVariable('SELECTED_COLOR', 'green');

You can use the set-env command in your workflow to set the same value:

      - name: Set selected color
        run: echo '::set-env name=SELECTED_COLOR::green'
      - name: Get color
        run: echo 'The selected color is' $SELECTED_COLOR

The following table shows which toolkit functions are available within a workflow:

Setting an environment variable

::set-env name={name}::{value}

Creates or updates an environment variable for any actions running next in a job. The action that creates or updates the environment variable does not have access to the new value, but all subsequent actions in a job will have access. Environment variables are case-sensitive and you can include punctuation.

Example

echo "::set-env name=action_state::yellow"

Setting an output parameter

::set-output name={name}::{value}

Sets an action's output parameter.

Optionally, you can also declare output parameters in an action's metadata file. For more information, see "Metadata syntax for GitHub Actions."

Example

echo "::set-output name=action_fruit::strawberry"

Adding a system path

::add-path::{path}

Prepends a directory to the system PATH variable for all subsequent actions in the current job. The currently running action cannot access the new path variable.

Example

echo "::add-path::/path/to/dir"

Setting a debug message

::debug::{message}

Prints a debug message to the log. You must create a secret named ACTIONS_STEP_DEBUG with the value true to see the debug messages set by this command in the log. For more information, see "Managing a workflow run."

Example

echo "::debug::Set the Octocat variable"

Setting a warning message

::warning file={name},line={line},col={col}::{message}

Creates a warning message and prints the message to the log. You can optionally provide a filename (file), line number (line), and column (col) number where the warning occurred.

Example

echo "::warning file=app.js,line=1,col=5::Missing semicolon"

Setting an error message

::error file={name},line={line},col={col}::{message}

Creates an error message and prints the message to the log. You can optionally provide a filename (file), line number (line), and column (col) number where the warning occurred.

Example

echo "::error file=app.js,line=10,col=15::Something went wrong"

Masking a value in log

::add-mask::{value}

Masking a value prevents a string or variable from being printed in the log. Each masked word separated by whitespace is replaced with the * character. You can use an environment variable or string for the mask's value.

Example masking a string

When you print "Mona The Octocat" in the log, you'll see "***".

echo "::add-mask::Mona The Octocat"

Example masking an environment variable

When you print the variable MY_NAME or the value "Mona The Octocat" in the log, you'll see "***" instead of "Mona The Octocat".

MY_NAME="Mona The Octocat"
echo "::add-mask::$MY_NAME"

Stopping and starting workflow commands

::stop-commands::{endtoken}

Stops processing any workflow commands. This special command allows you to log anything without accidentally running a workflow command. For example, you could stop logging to output an entire script that has comments.

Example stopping workflow commands

echo "::stop-commands::pause-logging"

To start workflow commands, pass the token that you used to stop workflow commands.

::{endtoken}::

Example starting workflow commands

echo "::pause-logging::"

Sending values to the pre and post actions

You can use the save-state command to create environment variables for sharing with your workflow's pre: or post: actions. For example, you can create a file with the pre: action, pass the file location to the main: action, and then use the post: action to delete the file. Alternatively, you could create a file with the main: action, pass the file location to the post: action, and also use the post: action to delete the file.

If you have multiple pre: or post: actions, you can only access the saved value in the action where save-state was used. For more information on the post: action, see "Metadata syntax for GitHub Actions."

The save-state command can only be run within an action, and is not available to YAML files. The saved value is stored as an environment value with the STATE_ prefix.

This example uses JavaScript to run the save-state command. The resulting environment variable is named STATE_processID with the value of 12345:

console.log('::save-state name=processID::12345')

The STATE_processID variable is then exclusively available to the cleanup script running under the main action. This example runs in main and uses JavaScript to display the value assigned to the STATE_processID environment variable:

console.log("The running PID from the main action is: " +  process.env.STATE_processID);