"GitHub Actions" action reference

The following is the action definition YAML reference for the GitHub Actions action.

Choose a YAML property in the following code to see a description if it.

Note

Most of the YAML properties that follow have corresponding UI elements in the visual editor. To look up a UI element, use Ctrl+F. The element will be listed with its associated YAML property.


# The workflow definition starts here.
# See Top-level properties for details.
        
Name: MyWorkflow
SchemaVersion: 1.0 
Actions:

# The action definition starts here.
  action-name:
    Identifier:  aws/github-actions-runner@v1
    DependsOn:
      - dependent-action-name-1
    Compute:
        - Fleet: fleet-name
    Timeout: timeout-minutes
    Environment:
      Name: environment-name
      Connections:
        - Name: account-connection-name
          Role: iam-role-name
    Inputs:
      Sources:
        - source-name-1
        - source-name-2
      Artifacts:
        - artifact-name
      Variables:
        - Name: variable-name-1
          Value: variable-value-1
        - Name: variable-name-2
          Value: variable-value-2   
    Outputs:
      Artifacts:
        - Name: output-artifact-1
          Files: 
            - github-output/artifact-1.jar
            - "github-output/build*"
        - Name: output-artifact-2
          Files:
            - github-output/artifact-2.1.jar
            - github-output/artifact-2.2.jar
      Variables:
        - variable-name-1
        - variable-name-2
      AutoDiscoverReports:
        Enabled: true | false
        ReportNamePrefix: AutoDiscovered
        IncludePaths:
          - "**/*"
        ExcludePaths:
          - node_modules/cdk/junit.xml
        SuccessCriteria:
          PassRate: percent
          LineCoverage: percent
          BranchCoverage: percent
          Vulnerabilities:
            Severity: CRITICAL|HIGH|MEDIUM|LOW|INFORMATIONAL
            Number: whole-number
      Reports:
        report-name-1:
          Format: format
          IncludePaths:
            - "*.xml"
          ExcludePaths:
            - report2.xml
            - report3.xml
          SuccessCriteria:
            PassRate: percent
            LineCoverage: percent
            BranchCoverage: percent
            Vulnerabilities:
              Severity: CRITICAL|HIGH|MEDIUM|LOW|INFORMATIONAL
              Number: whole-number
    Configuration      
      Steps:
        - github-actions-code

action-name

(Required)

Specify the name of the action. All action names must be unique. Action names are limited to alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9), hyphens (-), and underscores (_). Spaces are not allowed. You cannot use quotation marks to enable special characters and spaces in action names.

Corresponding UI: Configuration tab/action-name

Identifier

(action-name/Identifier)

Identifies the action. Do not change this property.

Use aws/github-actions-runner@v1 for GitHub Actions actions.

Corresponding UI: Workflow diagram/action-name/aws/github-actions-runner@v1 label

DependsOn

(action-name/DependsOn)

(Optional)

Specify an action or action group that must run successfully in order for this action to run.

For more information about the 'depends on' functionality, see Configuring actions to depend on other actions.

Corresponding UI: Inputs tab/Depends on - optional

Compute

(action-name/Compute)

(Optional)

The computing engine used to run your workflow actions. You can specify compute either at the workflow level or at the action level, but not both. When specified at the workflow level, the compute configuration applies to all actions defined in the workflow. At the workflow level, you can also run multiple actions on the same instance. For more information, see Sharing compute across actions.

Corresponding UI: none

Fleet

(action-name/Compute/Fleet)

(Optional)

Specify the machine or fleet that will run your workflow or workflow actions. With on-demand fleets, when an action starts, the workflow provisions the resources it needs, and the machines are destroyed when the action finishes. Examples of on-demand fleets: Linux.x86-64.Large, Linux.x86-64.XLarge. For more information about on-demand fleets, see On-demand fleet properties.

With provisioned fleets, you configure a set of dedicated machines to run your workflow actions. These machines remain idle, ready to process actions immediately. For more information about provisioned fleets, see Provisioned fleet properties.

If Fleet is omitted, the default is Linux.x86-64.Large.

Corresponding UI: Configuration tab/Compute fleet - optional

Timeout

(action-name/Timeout)

(Optional)

Specify the amount of time in minutes (YAML editor), or hours and minutes (visual editor), that the action can run before CodeCatalyst ends the action. The minimum is 5 minutes and the maximum is 8 hours. The default is 8 hours (480 minutes).

Corresponding UI: Configuration tab/Timeout - optional

Environment

(action-name/Environment)

(Optional)

Specify the CodeCatalyst environment to use with the action.

For more information about environments, see Working with environments and Creating an environment.

Corresponding UI: Configuration tab/Environment/account/role

Name

(action-name/Environment/Name)

(Optional)

Specify the name of an existing environment that you want to associate with the action.

Corresponding UI: Configuration tab/'Environment/account/role'/Environment

Connections

(action-name/Environment/Connections)

(Optional)

Specify the account connection to associate with the action.

For more information about account connections, see Managing AWS accounts. For information about how to associate an account connection with your environment, see Creating an environment.

Corresponding UI: none

Name

(action-name/Environment/Connections/Name)

(Optional)

Specify the name of the account connection.

Corresponding UI: Configuration tab/'Environment/account/role'/AWS account connection

Role

(action-name/Environment/Connections/Role)

(Optional)

Specify the name of the IAM role that this action uses in order to access and operate in AWS services such as Amazon S3 and Amazon ECR. Make sure this role is added to your account connection. To add an IAM role to an account connection, see Adding IAM roles to account connections.

Note

You can specify the name of the codecatalyst-dev-admin-spaceName role here, if you'd like. For more information about this role, see Creating the codecatalyst-dev-admin-spaceName role for your account and space. Understand that the codecatalyst-dev-admin-spaceName role has very broad permissions which may pose a security risk. We recommend that you only use this role in tutorials and scenarios where security is less of a concern.

Warning

Limit the permissions to those required by the GitHub Action action. Using a role with broader permissions might pose a security risk.

Corresponding UI: Configuration tab/'Environment/account/role'/Role

Inputs

(action-name/Inputs)

(Optional)

The Inputs section defines the data that an action needs during a workflow run.

Note

A maximum of four inputs (one source and three artifacts) are allowed per GitHub Actions action. Variables do not count towards this total.

If you need to refer to files residing in different inputs (say a source and an artifact), the source input is the primary input, and the artifact is the secondary input. References to files in secondary inputs take a special prefix to distiguish them from the primary. For details, see Example: Referencing files in multiple artifacts.

Corresponding UI: Inputs tab

Sources

(action-name/Inputs/Sources)

(Optional)

Specify the labels that represent the source repositories that will be needed by the action. Currently, the only supported label is WorkflowSource, which represents the source repository where your workflow definition file is stored.

If you omit a source, then you must specify at least one input artifact under action-name/Inputs/Artifacts.

For more information about sources, see Working with sources.

Corresponding UI: Inputs tab/Sources - optional

Artifacts - input

(action-name/Inputs/Artifacts)

(Optional)

Specify artifacts from previous actions that you want to provide as input to this action. These artifacts must already be defined as output artifacts in previous actions.

If you do not specify any input artifacts, then you must specify at least one source repository under action-name/Inputs/Sources.

For more information about artifacts, including examples, see Working with artifacts.

Note

If the Artifacts - optional drop-down list is unavailable (visual editor), or if you get errors in when you validate your YAML (YAML editor), it might be because the action only supports one input. In this case, try removing the source input.

Corresponding UI: Inputs tab/Artifacts - optional

Variables - input

(action-name/Inputs/Variables)

(Optional)

Specify a sequence of name/value pairs that define the input variables that you want to make available to the action. Variable names are limited to alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9), hyphens (-), and underscores (_). Spaces are not allowed. You cannot use quotation marks to enable special characters and spaces in variable names.

For more information about variables, including examples, see Working with variables.

Corresponding UI: Inputs tab/Variables - optional

Outputs

(action-name/Outputs)

(Optional)

Defines the data that is output by the action during a workflow run.

Corresponding UI: Outputs tab

Artifacts - output

(action-name/Outputs/Artifacts)

(Optional)

Specify the name of an artifact generated by the action. Artifact names must be unique within a workflow, and are limited to alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9) and underscores (_). Spaces, hyphens (-), and other special characters are not allowed. You cannot use quotation marks to enable spaces, hyphens, and other special characters in output artifact names.

For more information about artifacts, including examples, see Working with artifacts.

Corresponding UI: Outputs tab/Artifacts

Name

(action-name/Outputs/Artifacts/Name)

(Required if Artifacts - output is included)

For more information about artifacts, including examples, see Working with artifacts.

Corresponding UI: Outputs tab/Artifacts/Add artifact/Build artifact name

Files

(action-name/Outputs/Artifacts/Files)

(Required if Artifacts - output is included)

Specify the files that CodeCatalyst includes in the artifact that is output by the action. These files are generated by the workflow action when it runs, and are also available in your source repository. File paths can reside in a source repository or an artifact from a previous action, and are relative to the source repository or artifact root. You can use glob patterns to specify paths. Examples:

To specify a single file that is in the root of your build location or source repository location, use my-file.jar.
To specify a single file in a subdirectory, use directory/my-file.jar or directory/subdirectory/my-file.jar.
To specify all files, use "**/*". The ** glob pattern indicates to match any number of subdirectories.
To specify all files and directories in a directory named directory, use "directory/**/*". The ** glob pattern indicates to match any number of subdirectories.
To specify all files in a directory named directory, but not any of its subdirectories, use "directory/*".

Note

If your file path includes one or more asterisks (*) or other special character, enclose the path with double quotation marks (""). For more information about special characters, see Syntax guidelines and conventions.

For more information about artifacts, including examples, see Working with artifacts.

Note

You may need to add a prefix to the file path to indicate which artifact or source to find it in. For more information, see Referencing files in a source repository and Referencing files in an artifact.

Corresponding UI: Outputs tab/Artifacts/Add artifact/Files produced by build

Variables - output

(action-name/Outputs/Variables)

(Optional)

Specify the variables that you want the action to export so that they are available for use by subsequent actions.

For more information about variables, including examples, see Working with variables.

Corresponding UI: Outputs tab/Variables/Add variable

variable-name-1

(action-name/Outputs/Variables)

(Optional)

Specify the name of a variable that you want the action to export. This variable must already be defined in the Inputs or Steps section of the same action.

For more information about variables, including examples, see Working with variables.

Corresponding UI: Outputs tab/Variables/Add variable/Name

AutoDiscoverReports

(action-name/Outputs/AutoDiscoverReports)

(Optional)

Defines the configuration for the auto-discovery feature.

When you enable auto-discovery, CodeCatalyst searches all Inputs passed into the action as well as all files generated by the action itself, looking for test, code coverage, and software composition analysis (SCA) reports. For each report that is found, CodeCatalyst transforms it into a CodeCatalyst report. A CodeCatalyst report is a report that is fully integrated into the CodeCatalyst service and can be viewed and manipulated through the CodeCatalyst console.

Note

By default, the auto-discover feature inspects all files. You can limit which files are inspected using the IncludePaths or ExcludePaths properties.

Corresponding UI: none

Enabled

(action-name/Outputs/AutoDiscoverReports/Enabled)

(Optional)

Enable or disable the auto-discovery feature.

Valid values are true or false.

If Enabled is omitted, the default is true.

Corresponding UI: Outputs tab/Reports/Automatically discover reports

ReportNamePrefix

(action-name/Outputs/AutoDiscoverReports/ReportNamePrefix)

(Required if AutoDiscoverReports is included and enabled)

Specify a prefix that CodeCatalyst prepends to all the reports it finds in order to name their associated CodeCatalyst reports. For example, if you specify a prefix of AutoDiscovered, and CodeCatalyst auto-discovers two test reports, TestSuiteOne.xml and TestSuiteTwo.xml, then the associated CodeCatalyst reports will be named AutoDiscoveredTestSuiteOne and AutoDiscoveredTestSuiteTwo.

Corresponding UI: Outputs tab/Reports/Automatically discover reports/Report prefix

IncludePaths

(action-name/Outputs/AutoDiscoverReports/IncludePaths)

(action-name/Outputs/Reports/report-name-1/IncludePaths)

(Required if AutoDiscoverReports is included and enabled, or if Reports is included)

Specify the files and file paths that CodeCatalyst includes when searching for raw reports. For example, if you specify "/test/report/*", CodeCatalyst searches the entire build image used by the action looking for the /test/report/* directory. When it finds that directory, CodeCatalyst then looks for reports in that directory.

Note

If your file path includes one or more asterisks (*) or other special characters, enclose the path with double quotation marks (""). For more information about special characters, see Syntax guidelines and conventions.

If this property is omitted, the default is "**/*", meaning the search includes all files at all paths.

Note

For manually configured reports, IncludePaths must be a glob pattern that matches a single file.

Corresponding UI:

Outputs tab/Reports/Automatically discover reports/'Include/exclude paths'/Include paths
Outputs tab/Reports/Manually configure reports/report-name-1/'Include/exclude paths'/Include paths

ExcludePaths

(action-name/Outputs/AutoDiscoverReports/ExcludePaths)

(Outputs/Reports/report-name-1/ExcludePaths)

(Optional)

Specify the files and file paths that CodeCatalyst excludes when searching for raw reports. For example, if you specify "/test/my-reports/**/*", CodeCatalyst will not search for files in the /test/my-reports/ directory. To ignore all files in a directory, use the **/* glob pattern.

Note

Corresponding UI:

Outputs tab/Reports/Automatically discover reports/'Include/exclude paths'/Exclude paths
Outputs tab/Reports/Manually configure reports/report-name-1/'Include/exclude paths'/Exclude paths

SuccessCriteria

(action-name/Outputs/AutoDiscoverReports/SuccessCriteria)

(action-name/Outputs/Reports/report-name-1/SuccessCriteria)

(Optional)

Specify the success criteria for the test, code coverage, software composition analysis (SCA), and static analysis (SA) reports.

For more information, see Configuring success criteria for tests.

Corresponding UI:

Outputs tab/Reports/Automatically discover reports/Success criteria
Outputs tab/Reports/Manually configure reports/report-name-1/Success criteria

PassRate

(action-name/Outputs/AutoDiscoverReports/SuccessCriteria/PassRate)

(action-name/Outputs/Reports/report-name-1/SuccessCriteria/PassRate)

(Optional)

Specify the percentage of tests in a test report that must pass for the associated CodeCatalyst report to be marked as passed. Valid values include decimal numbers. For example: 50, 60.5. The pass rate criteria are applied only to test reports. For more information about test reports, see Test reports.

Corresponding UI:

Outputs tab/Reports/Automatically discover reports/Success criteria/Pass rate
Outputs tab/Reports/Manually configure reports/report-name-1/Success criteria/Pass rate

LineCoverage

(action-name/Outputs/AutoDiscoverReports/SuccessCriteria/LineCoverage)

(action-name/Outputs/Reports/report-name-1/SuccessCriteria/LineCoverage)

(Optional)

Specify the percentage of lines in a code coverage report that must be covered for the associated CodeCatalyst report to be marked as passed. Valid values include decimal numbers. For example: 50, 60.5. Line coverage criteria are applied only to code coverage reports. For more information about code coverage reports, see Code coverage reports.

Corresponding UI:

Outputs tab/Reports/Automatically discover reports/Success criteria/Line coverage
Outputs tab/Reports/Manually configure reports/report-name-1/Success criteria/Line coverage

BranchCoverage

(action-name/Outputs/AutoDiscoverReports/SuccessCriteria/BranchCoverage)

(action-name/Outputs/Reports/report-name-1/SuccessCriteria/BranchCoverage)

(Optional)

Specify the percentage of branches in a code coverage report that must be covered for the associated CodeCatalyst report to be marked as passed. Valid values include decimal numbers. For example: 50, 60.5. Branch coverage criteria are applied only to code coverage reports. For more information about code coverage reports, see Code coverage reports.

Corresponding UI:

Outputs tab/Reports/Automatically discover reports/Success criteria/Branch coverage
Outputs tab/Reports/Manually configure reports/report-name-1/Success criteria/Branch coverage

Vulnerabilities

(action-name/Outputs/AutoDiscoverReports/SuccessCriteria/Vulnerabilities)

(action-name/Outputs/Reports/report-name-1/SuccessCriteria/Vulnerabilities)

(Optional)

Specify the maximum number and severity of vulnerabilities permitted in the SCA report for the associated CodeCatalyst report to be marked as passed. To specify vulnerabilities, you must specify:

The minimum severity of the vulnerabilities you want to include in the count. Valid values, from most to least severe, are: CRITICAL, HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW, INFORMATIONAL.

For example, if you choose HIGH, then HIGH and CRITICAL vulnerabilities will be tallied.
The maximum number of vulnerabilities of the specified severity you want permit. Exceeding this number causes the CodeCatalyst report to be marked as failed. Valid values are whole numbers.

Vulnerabilities criteria are applied only to SCA reports. For more information about SCA reports, see Software composition analysis reports.

To specify the minimum severity, use the Severity property. To specify the maximum number of vulnerabilities, use the Number property.

For more information about SCA reports, see Test report types.

Corresponding UI:

Outputs tab/Reports/Automatically discover reports/Success criteria/Vulnerabilities
Outputs tab/Reports/Manually configure reports/report-name-1/Success criteria/Vulnerabilities

Reports

(action-name/Outputs/Reports )

(Optional)

A section that specifies the configuration for test reports.

Corresponding UI: Outputs tab/Reports

report-name-1

(action-name/Outputs/Reports/report-name-1 )

(Required if Reports is included)

The name you want to give to the CodeCatalyst report that will be generated from your raw reports.

Corresponding UI: Outputs tab/Reports/Manually configure reports/Report name

Format

(action-name/Outputs/Reports/report-name-1/Format)

(Required if Reports is included)

Specify the file format that you're using for your reports. Possible values are as follows.

For test reports:
- For Cucumber JSON, specify Cucumber (visual editor) or CUCUMBERJSON (YAML editor).
- For JUnit XML, specify JUnit (visual editor) or JUNITXML (YAML editor).
- For NUnit XML, specify NUnit (visual editor) or NUNITXML (YAML editor).
- For NUnit 3 XML, specify NUnit3 (visual editor) or NUNIT3XML (YAML editor).
- For Visual Studio TRX, specify Visual Studio TRX (visual editor) or VISUALSTUDIOTRX (YAML editor).
- For TestNG XML, specify TestNG (visual editor) or TESTNGXML (YAML editor).
For code coverage reports:
- For Clover XML, specify Clover (visual editor) or CLOVERXML (YAML editor).
- For Cobertura XML, specify Cobertura (visual editor) or COBERTURAXML (YAML editor).
- For JaCoCo XML, specify JaCoCo (visual editor) or JACOCOXML (YAML editor).
- For SimpleCov JSON generated by simplecov, not simplecov-json, specify Simplecov (visual editor) or SIMPLECOV (YAML editor).
For software composition analysis (SCA) reports:
- For SARIF, specify SARIF (visual editor) or SARIFSCA (YAML editor).

Corresponding UI: Outputs tab/Reports/Manually configure reports/Add report/report-name-1/Report type and Report format

Configuration

(action-name/Configuration)

(Required) A section where you can define the configuration properties of the action.

Corresponding UI: Configuration tab

Steps

(action-name/Configuration/Steps)

(Required)

Specify your GitHub Action code as it appears on the action's details page in GitHub Marketplace. Add the code following these guidelines:

Paste the code from the GitHub Action’s steps: section into the Steps: section of the CodeCatalyst workflow. The code starts with a dash (-) and looks similar to the following.

GitHub code to paste:
```
- name: Lint Code Base
  uses: github/super-linter@v4
  env:
    VALIDATE_ALL_CODEBASE: false
    DEFAULT_BRANCH: master
    GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
```
Review the code you just pasted and modify it as necessary so that it conforms to CodeCatalyst standards. For example, with the preceding code block, you might remove the code in red italics, and add the code in bold.

CodeCatalyst workflow yaml:
```
Steps:      
   - name: Lint Code Base
     uses: github/super-linter@v4
     env:
       VALIDATE_ALL_CODEBASE: false
       DEFAULT_BRANCH: mastermain
       GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
```
For additional code that’s included with the GitHub Action but does not exist inside the steps: section, add it to the CodeCatalyst workflow using CodeCatalyst-equivalent code. You can review the Workflow definition reference to gain insight into how you might port your GitHub code to CodeCatalyst. Detailed migration steps are outside the scope of this guide.

Here is an example of how to specify file paths in a GitHub Actions action:


Steps:
  - name: Lint Code Base
    uses: github/super-linter@v4
    ...
  - run: cd /sources/WorkflowSource/MyFolder/  && cat file.txt
  - run: cd /artifacts/MyGitHubAction/MyArtifact/MyFolder/  && cat file2.txt

For more information about specifying file paths, see Referencing files in a source repository and Referencing files in an artifact.

Corresponding UI: Configuration tab/GitHub Actions YAML

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