Path to action in the same repository as workflow

[raquelhortab]

I’d like to explain something I went through as I think the documentation could maybe specify this case a bit more or it could even be a bug (not sure though).

I have a repository with a rails app. The repository has its own action to run tests in a docker container. The workflow’s path would be /.github/workflows/main.yml while the action’s path would be /.github/actions/automatic-tests/action.yml. 

The thing is, I tried following the documentation, where it says:

So, in the workflow’s main.yml I set:

uses: ./.github/actions/automatic-tests@master

However, when the action was triggered, I got the following error:

Can't find 'action.yml' or 'Dockerfile' under
'/home/runner/work/hello_world_github_actions/hello_world_github_actions/.github/actions/automatic-tests@master'.
Did you forget to run actions/checkout before running your local action?

I fond it weird that the repository name got duplicated in the path (…/hello_world_github_actions/hello_world_github_actions/…). I also tried setting it to ./…/.github to workaround this second hello_world_github_actions directory but it still failed, I believe it was because there is no reference to raquelhortab, which is my github account name.

I got it to work by setting the whole repository reference, as I would do if I wanted to use an action in another repository (with a previous checkout as well):

uses: raquelhortab/hello_world_github_actions/.github/actions/automatic-tests@master

However, I’d like to know if this is the expected behaviour or whether I did something wrong.

[yanjingzhu]

Hi raquelhortab,

When use action in the same repository as workflow, we need to add actions/checkout before running your local action. And you don’t need to add @master behind your action path.

Please see my example:

name: use my action
on: push

jobs:
  my_first_job:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps: 
     - uses: actions/checkout@v1
     - name: My first step
       uses: ./.github/actions/my-action

>> I fond it weird that the repository name got duplicated in the path (…/hello_world_github_actions/hello_world_github_actions/…).

For this question, the path is as expected. It is the default directory path .

Please refer to this document: https://help.github.com/en/actions/automating-your-workflow-with-github-actions/using-environment-variables

[gblikas]

This issue seems to be related and was something I ran into. Is there any chance get the a real feature? 

[raquelhortab]

The thing is I did add actions/checkout, and it didn’t work. I tried it again today and it doesn’t work if I use a relative path (./.github/…), only when using the whole path (raquelhortab/hello_world_github_actions/.github/…).

Here’s the code for .github/workflows/main.yml that I can’t get to work with your solution (I know that adding @master it’s not necessary but this is not the problem):

name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

jobs:
  build:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@master
      name: Checkout
    - uses: ./.github/actions/automatic-tests@master
      name: Test

Meanwhile, this is working perfectly:

name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

jobs:
  build:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@master
      name: Checkout
    - uses: raquelhortab/hello_world_github_actions/.github/actions/automatic-tests@master
      name: Test

[yanjingzhu]

When you use relative path,  there is no need to specific branch. It will find the path in the Github workspace.  Just use next code snippet: 

- uses: ./.github/actions/automatic-tests

When adding @master , it will look for a folder named automatic-tests@master.

[raquelhortab]

Thanks for replying, but what should I use instead of @master? If I don’t add any tag it complains.

With the following code:

name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

jobs:
  build:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout
      name: Checkout
    - uses: ./.github/actions/automatic-tests@master
      name: Test

I get:

Your workflow file was invalid: The pipeline is not valid. .github/workflows/main.yml (Line: 14, Col: 13): Expected format {org}/{repo}[/path]@ref. Actual 'actions/checkout',Input string was not in a correct format.

In your first answer you used @v1. I created a release named v3 and used its tag (actions/checkout@v3) and it doesn’t work either. 

Failed to download action 'https://api.github.com/repos/actions/checkout/tarball/v3'

It seemed like the tag was referent to the actions repo not to my repo so I tried your exact example (actions/checkout@v1) and got the original error as well…

The code:

name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

jobs:
  build:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v1
      name: Checkout
    - uses: ./.github/actions/automatic-tests@master
      name: Test

The errror:

##[error]Can't find 'action.yml' or 'Dockerfile' under '/home/runner/work/hello_world_github_actions/hello_world_github_actions/.github/actions/automatic-tests@master'. Did you forget to run actions/checkout before running your local action?

Using your @v1 option but with the full path it works again.

[airtower-luna]

I think what @yanjingzhu meant was not to use a tag in your action path, like so:

steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v1
      name: Checkout
    - uses: ./.github/actions/automatic-tests
      name: Test

[raquelhortab]

**bleep**, you meant the tag in the tests step… I had really not seen it, thought you were talking about the one in actions/checkout@v1. It works now, thanks! However, what about if I wanted to use another branch different from master? where would I specify it? is that the “@v1” in actions/checkout@v1 ?

[yanjingzhu]

If you want to checkout other branches, you could specify ref of checkout action:

- uses: actions/checkout@v1
  with:
    ref: my-branch

For more checkout scenarios , please refer to https://github.com/actions/checkout#scenarios