Does GitHub action support nested templates? For example, here is an example of Azure Pipeline yaml where it calls another yaml file:
- job: BuildFunctions
steps:
- ${{ each func in parameters.functionApps }}:
- template: yaml/build-functionapps.yml
parameters:
Is it possible to call a yaml file from another yaml file in GitHub actions?
You can use composite run steps actions. These are actions that are solely defined in YAML (documentation).
You can now specify containers, other composite actions (up to a depth of 9) and node actions in additional to the previously available
runsteps
node actions likely refers to leaf actions, i.e. actions that don't call any other actions.
Source: https://github.com/actions/runner/issues/646#issuecomment-901336347
Workflow
[...]
jobs:
job:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- uses: ./.github/workflows/composite-action
[...]
Composite run steps action
.github/workflows/composite-action/action.yml (same repository as the workflow)
name: "My composite action"
description: "Checks out the repository and does something"
runs:
using: "composite"
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- uses: actions/setup-node@v2
with:
node-version: 12
- run: npm test
shell: bash
- run: |
echo "Executing action"
shell: bash
Old limitations:
What does composite run steps currently support?
For each run step in a composite action, we support:
- name
- id
- run
- env
- shell
- working-directory
In addition, we support mapping input and outputs throughout the action.
See docs for more info.
What does Composite Run Steps Not Support
We don't support setting conditionals, continue-on-error, timeout-minutes, "uses" [remark: i.e. using other actions], and secrets on individual steps within a composite action right now.
(Note: we do support these attributes being set in workflows for a step that uses a composite run steps action)
I think using the composite action pattern, you can achieve what you want.
You need to define the steps which you think will be reused in other places, and make it parameterized, by providing inputs. In my opinion, it's more powerful than how templates work in gitlab or in other similar platforms.
This way, you are defining a function, which can take inputs, and get stuff done for you, based on those inputs.
Also, even though the docs suggest that, you should create your leaf action as a separate public repo, and use it in your base action- it's not necessary, you can simply have a structure like below(taken the example from one of our live workflow), and use those leaf actions in your workflow-
.github
- actions
- deploy-to-k8s
- action.yaml
- publish-image
- action.yaml
- workflows
- deploy-from-pr.yaml <-- this will make use of all the actions defined
Here's how the deploy-from-pr.yaml workflow looks like-
name: deploy-from-pr
on:
pull_request:
branches:
- master
env:
REGISTRY: ghcr.io
IMAGE_NAME: ${{ github.repository }}
jobs:
deploy-from-pr:
name: Deploy from PR to Development
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- name: Set version
id: release
run: echo ::set-output name=version::$(git describe --always)
# custom action to build and push image
- name: Build & publish image
uses: ./.github/actions/publish-image # see how it's referred from same repo directly
with:
registry: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}
registry_username: ${{ github.REGISTRY_USERNAME }}
registry_password: ${{ secrets.REGISTRY_PASSWORD }}
image_name: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}
tag: ${{ steps.release.outputs.version }}
# custom action to deploy into kubernetes
- name: Deploy to kubernetes
uses: ./.github/actions/deploy-to-k8s # see how it's referred from same repo directly
with:
digitalocean_token: ${{ secrets.DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN }}
cluster_name: ${{ secrets.CLUSTER_NAME }}
overlay_path: .k8s/overlays/dev
image_name: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}
tag: ${{ steps.release.outputs.version }}
You can check the deploy-to-k8s/action.yaml, to see how it's written.
No, it is not. I asked the exact same question in the GitHub Forum:
Is it possible to create / publish Actions without Docker or JS by having the code in the Workflow Syntax / YML?
As mentioned in the document: Currently, types of actions only lists Docker container and JavaScript, so there is no such feature to achieve your requirement. Source: https://github.community/t/how-to-create-ready-to-use-action-without-docker-js/124889/2
This would have eased creating templates for users as system administrator.
