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Store information in variables | Variables | {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} sets default variables for each {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %} workflow run. You can also set custom variables for use in a single workflow or multiple workflows. |
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{% data reusables.actions.enterprise-github-hosted-runners %}
Variables provide a way to store and reuse non-sensitive configuration information. You can store any configuration data such as compiler flags, usernames, or server names as variables. Variables are interpolated on the runner machine that runs your workflow. Commands that run in actions or workflow steps can create, read, and modify variables.
You can set your own custom variables or use the default environment variables that {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} sets automatically. For more information, see Default environment variables.
You can set a custom variable in two ways.
- To define an environment variable for use in a single workflow, you can use the
envkey in the workflow file. For more information, see Defining environment variables for a single workflow. - To define a configuration variable across multiple workflows, you can define it at the organization, repository, or environment level. For more information, see Defining configuration variables for multiple workflows.
Warning
By default, variables render unmasked in your build outputs. If you need greater security for sensitive information, such as passwords, use secrets instead. For more information, see AUTOTITLE.
To set a custom environment variable for a single workflow, you can define it using the env key in the workflow file. The scope of a custom variable set by this method is limited to the element in which it is defined. You can define variables that are scoped for:
- The entire workflow, by using
envat the top level of the workflow file. - The contents of a job within a workflow, by using
jobs.<job_id>.env. - A specific step within a job, by using
jobs.<job_id>.steps[*].env.
{% raw %}
name: Greeting on variable dayon: workflow_dispatchenv: DAY_OF_WEEK: Mondayjobs: greeting_job: runs-on: ubuntu-latestenv: Greeting: Hellosteps: - name: "Say Hello Mona it's Monday"run: echo "$Greeting $First_Name. Today is $DAY_OF_WEEK!"env: First_Name: Mona{% endraw %}
You can access env variable values using runner environment variables or using contexts. The example above shows three custom variables being used as runner environment variables in an echo command: $DAY_OF_WEEK, $Greeting, and $First_Name. The values for these variables are set, and scoped, at the workflow, job, and step level respectively. The interpolation of these variables happens on the runner.
The commands in the run steps of a workflow, or a referenced action, are processed by the shell you are using on the runner. The instructions in the other parts of a workflow are processed by {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %} and are not sent to the runner. You can use either runner environment variables or contexts in run steps, but in the parts of a workflow that are not sent to the runner you must use contexts to access variable values. For more information, see Using contexts to access variable values.
Because runner environment variable interpolation is done after a workflow job is sent to a runner machine, you must use the appropriate syntax for the shell that's used on the runner. In this example, the workflow specifies ubuntu-latest. By default, Linux runners use the bash shell, so you must use the syntax $NAME. By default, Windows runners use PowerShell, so you would use the syntax $env:NAME. For more information about shells, see AUTOTITLE.
When you set an environment variable, you cannot use any of the default environment variable names. For a complete list of default environment variables, see Default environment variables below. If you attempt to override the value of one of these default variables, the assignment is ignored.
Note
You can list the entire set of environment variables that are available to a workflow step by using run: env in a step and then examining the output for the step.
You can create configuration variables for use across multiple workflows, and can define them at either the organization, repository, or environment level.
For example, you can use configuration variables to set default values for parameters passed to build tools at an organization level, but then allow repository owners to override these parameters on a case-by-case basis.
When you define configuration variables, they are automatically available in the vars context. For more information, see Using the vars context to access configuration variable values.
If a variable with the same name exists at multiple levels, the variable at the lowest level takes precedence. For example, if an organization-level variable has the same name as a repository-level variable, then the repository-level variable takes precedence. Similarly, if an organization, repository, and environment all have a variable with the same name, the environment-level variable takes precedence.
For reusable workflows, the variables from the caller workflow's repository are used. Variables from the repository that contains the called workflow are not made available to the caller workflow.
The following rules apply to configuration variable names:
{% data reusables.actions.actions-secrets-and-variables-naming %}
{% data reusables.actions.permissions-statement-secrets-variables-repository %}
{% data reusables.repositories.navigate-to-repo %} {% data reusables.repositories.sidebar-settings %} {% data reusables.actions.sidebar-secrets-and-variables %} {% data reusables.actions.actions-variables-tab %} 
- Click New repository variable. {% data reusables.actions.variable-fields %}
- Click Add variable.
{% data reusables.actions.permissions-statement-secrets-environment %}
{% data reusables.repositories.navigate-to-repo %} {% data reusables.repositories.sidebar-settings %} {% data reusables.actions.sidebar-environment %}
- Click on the environment that you want to add a variable to.
- Under Environment variables, click Add variable. {% data reusables.actions.variable-fields %}
- Click Add variable.
{% data reusables.actions.actions-secrets-variables-repository-access %}
{% data reusables.actions.permissions-statement-secrets-and-variables-organization %}
{% data reusables.organizations.navigate-to-org %} {% data reusables.organizations.org_settings %} {% data reusables.actions.sidebar-secrets-and-variables %} {% data reusables.actions.actions-variables-tab %}
{% data reusables.actions.secrets-and-variables-org-permissions %}
- Click New organization variable. {% data reusables.actions.variable-fields %}
- From the Repository access dropdown list, choose an access policy.
- Click Add variable.
{% ifversion ghes %}
Individual variables are limited to 48 KB in size.
You can store up to 1,000 organization variables, 500 variables per repository, and 100 variables per environment. The total combined size limit for organization and repository variables is 10 MB per workflow run.
A workflow created in a repository can access the following number of variables:
- Up to 500 repository variables, if the total size of repository variables is less than 10 MB. If the total size of repository variables exceeds 10 MB, only the repository variables that fall below the limit will be available (as sorted alphabetically by variable name).
- Up to 1,000 organization variables, if the total combined size of repository and organization variables is less than 10 MB. If the total combined size of organization and repository variables exceeds 10 MB, only the organization variables that fall below that limit will be available (after accounting for repository variables and as sorted alphabetically by variable name).
- Up to 100 environment-level variables.
Note
Environment-level variables do not count toward the 10 MB total size limit. If you exceed the combined size limit for repository and organization variables and still need additional variables, you can use an environment and define additional variables in the environment.
{% else %}
Individual variables are limited to 48 KB in size.
You can store up to 1,000 organization variables, 500 variables per repository, and 100 variables per environment. The total combined size limit for organization and repository variables is 256 KB per workflow run.
A workflow created in a repository can access the following number of variables:
- Up to 500 repository variables, if the total size of repository variables is less than 256 KB. If the total size of repository variables exceeds 256 KB, only the repository variables that fall below the limit will be available (as sorted alphabetically by variable name).
- Up to 1,000 organization variables, if the total combined size of repository and organization variables is less than 256 KB. If the total combined size of organization and repository variables exceeds 256 KB, only the organization variables that fall below that limit will be available (after accounting for repository variables and as sorted alphabetically by variable name).
- Up to 100 environment-level variables.
Note
Environment-level variables do not count toward the 256 KB total size limit. If you exceed the combined size limit for repository and organization variables and still need additional variables, you can use an environment and define additional variables in the environment.
{% endif %}
{% data reusables.actions.actions-contexts-about-description %} For more information, see AUTOTITLE. There are many other contexts that you can use for a variety of purposes in your workflows. For details of where you can use specific contexts within a workflow, see AUTOTITLE.
You can access environment variable values using the env context and configuration variable values using the vars context.
In addition to runner environment variables, {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %} allows you to set and read env key values using contexts. Environment variables and contexts are intended for use at different points in the workflow.
The run steps in a workflow, or in a referenced action, are processed by a runner. As a result, you can use runner environment variables here, using the appropriate syntax for the shell you are using on the runner - for example, $NAME for the bash shell on a Linux runner, or $env:NAME for PowerShell on a Windows runner. In most cases you can also use contexts, with the syntax {% raw %}${{ CONTEXT.PROPERTY }}{% endraw %}, to access the same value. The difference is that the context will be interpolated and replaced by a string before the job is sent to a runner.
However, you cannot use runner environment variables in parts of a workflow that are processed by {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %} and are not sent to the runner. Instead, you must use contexts. For example, an if conditional, which determines whether a job or step is sent to the runner, is always processed by {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %}. You must therefore use a context in an if conditional statement to access the value of an variable.
{% raw %}
name: Conditional env variableon: workflow_dispatchenv: DAY_OF_WEEK: Mondayjobs: greeting_job: runs-on: ubuntu-latestenv: Greeting: Hellosteps: - name: "Say Hello Mona it's Monday"if: ${{ env.DAY_OF_WEEK == 'Monday' }}run: echo "$Greeting $First_Name. Today is $DAY_OF_WEEK!"env: First_Name: Mona{% endraw %}
In this modification of the earlier example, we've introduced an if conditional. The workflow step is now only run if DAY_OF_WEEK is set to "Monday". We access this value from the if conditional statement by using the env context. The env context is not required for the variables referenced within the run command. They are referenced as runner environment variables and are interpolated after the job is received by the runner. We could, however, have chosen to interpolate those variables before sending the job to the runner, by using contexts. The resulting output would be the same.
{% raw %}
run: echo "${{ env.Greeting }} ${{ env.First_Name }}. Today is ${{ env.DAY_OF_WEEK }}!"{% endraw %}
Note
Contexts are usually denoted using the dollar sign and curly braces, as {% raw %}${{ context.property }}{% endraw %}. In an if conditional, the {% raw %}${{ and }}{% endraw %} are optional, but if you use them they must enclose the entire comparison statement, as shown above.
You will commonly use either the env or github context to access variable values in parts of the workflow that are processed before jobs are sent to runners.
| Context | Use case | Example |
|---|---|---|
env | Reference custom variables defined in the workflow. | {% raw %}${{ env.MY_VARIABLE }}{% endraw %} |
github | Reference information about the workflow run and the event that triggered the run. | {% raw %}${{ github.repository }}{% endraw %} |
{% data reusables.actions.context-injection-warning %}
Configuration variables can be accessed across the workflow using vars context. For more information, see AUTOTITLE.
{% data reusables.actions.actions-vars-context-example-usage %}
The default environment variables that {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} sets are available to every step in a workflow.
Because default environment variables are set by {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} and not defined in a workflow, they are not accessible through the env context. However, most of the default variables have a corresponding, and similarly named, context property. For example, the value of the GITHUB_REF variable can be read during workflow processing using the {% raw %}${{ github.ref }}{% endraw %} context property.
{% data reusables.actions.environment-variables-are-fixed %} For more information about setting environment variables, see Defining environment variables for a single workflow and AUTOTITLE.
We strongly recommend that actions use variables to access the filesystem rather than using hardcoded file paths. {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} sets variables for actions to use in all runner environments.
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
CI | Always set to true. |
GITHUB_ACTION | The name of the action currently running, or the id of a step. For example, for an action, __repo-owner_name-of-action-repo.{% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} removes special characters, and uses the name __run when the current step runs a script without an id. If you use the same script or action more than once in the same job, the name will include a suffix that consists of the sequence number preceded by an underscore. For example, the first script you run will have the name __run, and the second script will be named __run_2. Similarly, the second invocation of actions/checkout will be actionscheckout2. |
GITHUB_ACTION_PATH | The path where an action is located. This property is only supported in composite actions. You can use this path to change directories to where the action is located and access other files in that same repository. For example, /home/runner/work/_actions/repo-owner/name-of-action-repo/v1. |
GITHUB_ACTION_REPOSITORY | For a step executing an action, this is the owner and repository name of the action. For example, actions/checkout. |
GITHUB_ACTIONS | Always set to true when {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %} is running the workflow. You can use this variable to differentiate when tests are being run locally or by {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %}. |
GITHUB_ACTOR | The name of the person or app that initiated the workflow. For example, octocat. |
GITHUB_ACTOR_ID | {% data reusables.actions.actor_id-description %} |
GITHUB_API_URL | Returns the API URL. For example: {% data variables.product.rest_url %}. |
GITHUB_BASE_REF | The name of the base ref or target branch of the pull request in a workflow run. This is only set when the event that triggers a workflow run is either pull_request or pull_request_target. For example, main. |
GITHUB_ENV | The path on the runner to the file that sets variables from workflow commands. The path to this file is unique to the current step and changes for each step in a job. For example, /home/runner/work/_temp/_runner_file_commands/set_env_87406d6e-4979-4d42-98e1-3dab1f48b13a. For more information, see AUTOTITLE. |
GITHUB_EVENT_NAME | The name of the event that triggered the workflow. For example, workflow_dispatch. |
GITHUB_EVENT_PATH | The path to the file on the runner that contains the full event webhook payload. For example, /github/workflow/event.json. |
GITHUB_GRAPHQL_URL | Returns the GraphQL API URL. For example: {% data variables.product.graphql_url %}. |
GITHUB_HEAD_REF | The head ref or source branch of the pull request in a workflow run. This property is only set when the event that triggers a workflow run is either pull_request or pull_request_target. For example, feature-branch-1. |
GITHUB_JOB | The job_id of the current job. For example, greeting_job. |
GITHUB_OUTPUT | The path on the runner to the file that sets the current step's outputs from workflow commands. The path to this file is unique to the current step and changes for each step in a job. For example, /home/runner/work/_temp/_runner_file_commands/set_output_a50ef383-b063-46d9-9157-57953fc9f3f0. For more information, see AUTOTITLE. |
GITHUB_PATH | The path on the runner to the file that sets system PATH variables from workflow commands. The path to this file is unique to the current step and changes for each step in a job. For example, /home/runner/work/_temp/_runner_file_commands/add_path_899b9445-ad4a-400c-aa89-249f18632cf5. For more information, see AUTOTITLE. |
GITHUB_REF | {% data reusables.actions.ref-description %} |
GITHUB_REF_NAME | {% data reusables.actions.ref_name-description %} |
GITHUB_REF_PROTECTED | {% data reusables.actions.ref_protected-description %} |
GITHUB_REF_TYPE | {% data reusables.actions.ref_type-description %} |
GITHUB_REPOSITORY | The owner and repository name. For example, octocat/Hello-World. |
GITHUB_REPOSITORY_ID | {% data reusables.actions.repository_id-description %} |
GITHUB_REPOSITORY_OWNER | The repository owner's name. For example, octocat. |
GITHUB_REPOSITORY_OWNER_ID | {% data reusables.actions.repository_owner_id-description %} |
GITHUB_RETENTION_DAYS | The number of days that workflow run logs and artifacts are kept. For example, 90. |
GITHUB_RUN_ATTEMPT | A unique number for each attempt of a particular workflow run in a repository. This number begins at 1 for the workflow run's first attempt, and increments with each re-run. For example, 3. |
GITHUB_RUN_ID | {% data reusables.actions.run_id_description %} For example, 1658821493. |
GITHUB_RUN_NUMBER | {% data reusables.actions.run_number_description %} For example, 3. |
GITHUB_SERVER_URL | The URL of the {% data variables.product.github %} server. For example: https://{% data variables.product.product_url %}. |
GITHUB_SHA | {% data reusables.actions.github_sha_description %} |
GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY | The path on the runner to the file that contains job summaries from workflow commands. The path to this file is unique to the current step and changes for each step in a job. For example, /home/runner/_layout/_work/_temp/_runner_file_commands/step_summary_1cb22d7f-5663-41a8-9ffc-13472605c76c. For more information, see AUTOTITLE. |
GITHUB_TRIGGERING_ACTOR | {% data reusables.actions.github-triggering-actor-description %} |
GITHUB_WORKFLOW | The name of the workflow. For example, My test workflow. If the workflow file doesn't specify a name, the value of this variable is the full path of the workflow file in the repository. |
GITHUB_WORKFLOW_REF | {% data reusables.actions.workflow-ref-description %} |
GITHUB_WORKFLOW_SHA | {% data reusables.actions.workflow-sha-description %} |
GITHUB_WORKSPACE | The default working directory on the runner for steps, and the default location of your repository when using the checkout action. For example, /home/runner/work/my-repo-name/my-repo-name. |
RUNNER_ARCH | {% data reusables.actions.runner-arch-description %} |
RUNNER_DEBUG | {% data reusables.actions.runner-debug-description %} |
RUNNER_ENVIRONMENT | {% data reusables.actions.runner-environment-description %} |
RUNNER_NAME | {% data reusables.actions.runner-name-description %} For example, Hosted Agent |
RUNNER_OS | {% data reusables.actions.runner-os-description %} For example, Windows |
RUNNER_TEMP | {% data reusables.actions.runner-temp-directory-description %} For example, D:\a\_temp |
RUNNER_TOOL_CACHE | {% data reusables.actions.runner-tool-cache-description %} For example, C:\hostedtoolcache\windows |
Note
If you need to use a workflow run's URL from within a job, you can combine these variables: $GITHUB_SERVER_URL/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY/actions/runs/$GITHUB_RUN_ID
You can write a single workflow file that can be used for different operating systems by using the RUNNER_OS default environment variable and the corresponding context property {% raw %}${{ runner.os }}{% endraw %}. For example, the following workflow could be run successfully if you changed the operating system from macos-latest to windows-latest without having to alter the syntax of the environment variables, which differs depending on the shell being used by the runner.
{% raw %}
on: workflow_dispatchjobs: if-Windows-else: runs-on: macos-lateststeps: - name: condition 1if: runner.os == 'Windows'run: echo "The operating system on the runner is $env:RUNNER_OS." - name: condition 2if: runner.os != 'Windows'run: echo "The operating system on the runner is not Windows, it's $RUNNER_OS."{% endraw %}
In this example, the two if statements check the os property of the runner context to determine the operating system of the runner. if conditionals are processed by {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %}, and only steps where the check resolves as true are sent to the runner. Here one of the checks will always be true and the other false, so only one of these steps is sent to the runner. Once the job is sent to the runner, the step is executed and the environment variable in the echo command is interpolated using the appropriate syntax ($env:NAME for PowerShell on Windows, and $NAME for bash and sh on Linux and macOS). In this example, the statement runs-on: macos-latest means that the second step will be run.
If you generate a value in one step of a job, you can use the value in subsequent steps of the same job by assigning the value to an existing or new environment variable and then writing this to the GITHUB_ENV environment file. The environment file can be used directly by an action, or from a shell command in the workflow file by using the run keyword. For more information, see AUTOTITLE.
If you want to pass a value from a step in one job in a workflow to a step in another job in the workflow, you can define the value as a job output. You can then reference this job output from a step in another job. For more information, see AUTOTITLE.
