GitHub Actions: share common actions between jobs - github

Question

Switching from Travis CI to GitHub Actions, I was wondering if there is a way to share common steps between jobs. For a project, I need each job to start with 3 actions: check out repository code, install Node.js v12, restore node_modules from the cache (if available). Actually I have added these 3 actions for each job, which works but is a bit verbose. Is there a way to say: "Each job must run these actions first" or something like that?
name: ci
on: [push, workflow_dispatch]
jobs:
setup:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: Check out repository code
uses: actions/checkout#v2
- name: Setup node
uses: actions/setup-node#v2
with:
node-version: '12'
- name: Cache node_modules
id: cache-node-modules
uses: actions/cache#v2
with:
path: node_modules
key: node-modules-${{ hashFiles('package-lock.json') }}
- name: Install dependencies
run: npm install
test_mysql:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
needs: setup
steps:
- name: Check out repository code
uses: actions/checkout#v2
- name: Setup node
uses: actions/setup-node#v2
with:
node-version: '12'
- name: Restore node_modules
id: cache-node-modules
uses: actions/cache#v2
with:
path: node_modules
key: node-modules-${{ hashFiles('package-lock.json') }}
- name: Test MySQL 5
run: npm run test-mysql
env:
DOCKER_MYSQL_TAG: 5
- name: Test MySQL 8
run: npm run test-mysql
env:
DOCKER_MYSQL_TAG: 8
test_postgres:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
needs: setup
steps:
- name: Check out repository code
uses: actions/checkout#v2
- name: Setup node
uses: actions/setup-node#v2
with:
node-version: '12'
- name: Restore node_modules
id: cache-node-modules
uses: actions/cache#v2
with:
path: node_modules
key: node-modules-${{ hashFiles('package-lock.json') }}
- name: Test Postgres 10
run: npm run test-postgres
env:
DOCKER_POSTGRES_TAG: 10
- name: Test Postgres 11
run: npm run test-postgres
env:
DOCKER_POSTGRES_TAG: 11
- name: Test Postgres 12
run: npm run test-postgres
env:
DOCKER_POSTGRES_TAG: 12
test_mariadb:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
needs: setup
steps:
- name: Check out repository code
uses: actions/checkout#v2
- name: Setup node
uses: actions/setup-node#v2
with:
node-version: '12'
- name: Restore node_modules
id: cache-node-modules
uses: actions/cache#v2
with:
path: node_modules
key: node-modules-${{ hashFiles('package-lock.json') }}
- name: Test MariaDB 10.4
run: npm run test-mariadb
env:
DOCKER_MARIADB_TAG: 10.4.12
test_mssql:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
needs: setup
steps:
- name: Check out repository code
uses: actions/checkout#v2
- name: Setup node
uses: actions/setup-node#v2
with:
node-version: '12'
- name: Restore node_modules
id: cache-node-modules
uses: actions/cache#v2
with:
path: node_modules
key: node-modules-${{ hashFiles('package-lock.json') }}
- name: Test MSSQL 2017
run: npm run test-mssql
env:
DOCKER_MSSQL_TAG: 2017-CU17-ubuntu
- name: Test MSSQL 2019
run: npm run test-mssql
env:
DOCKER_MSSQL_TAG: 2019-latest
test_sqlite:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
needs: setup
steps:
- name: Check out repository code
uses: actions/checkout#v2
- name: Setup node
uses: actions/setup-node#v2
with:
node-version: '12'
- name: Restore node_modules
id: cache-node-modules
uses: actions/cache#v2
with:
path: node_modules
key: node-modules-${{ hashFiles('package-lock.json') }}
- name: Test SQLite
run: npm run test-sqlite
publish:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
needs: [test_mysql, test_postgres, test_mariadb, test_mssql, test_sqlite]
steps:
- name: Check out repository code
uses: actions/checkout#v2
- name: Setup node
uses: actions/setup-node#v2
with:
node-version: '12'
- name: Restore node_modules
id: cache-node-modules
uses: actions/cache#v2
with:
path: node_modules
key: node-modules-${{ hashFiles('package-lock.json') }}
- name: Build
run: npm run build
- name: Check version changes
uses: EndBug/version-check#v1
id: check
- name: Publish
if: steps.check.outputs.changed == 'true' && github.ref == 'refs/heads/master'
run: |
npm set registry "https://registry.npmjs.org"
npm set //registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken ${{ secrets.NPM_PUBLISH_TOKEN }}
npm publish

Answer 1

Now is possible to use uses in composite actions - please check this link
Composite action:
name: "Publish to Docker"
description: "Pushes built artifacts to Docker"
inputs:
registry_username:
description: “Username for image registry”
required: true
registry_password:
description: “Password for image registry”
required: true
runs:
using: "composite"
steps:
- uses: docker/setup-buildx-action#v1
- uses: docker/login-action#v1
with:
username: ${{inputs.registry_username}}
password: ${{inputs.registry_password}}
- uses: docker/build-push-action#v2
with:
context: .
push: true
tags: user/app:latest
And then:
on: [push]
jobs:
publish:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v2
- uses: my-org/publish-docker#v1
with:
registry_username: ${{secrets.REGISTRY_USERNAME}}
registry_password: ${{secrets.REGISTRY_PASSWORD}}
Original reply:
It looks that at the moment is not possible if among steps you want to share are uses.
It should be handled by composite actions but
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", and secrets on individual steps within a composite action right now.