Running actions in another directory - github

Question

I've just started exploring Github actions however I've found myself placing a command in multiple places.
I have a PHP project where the composer.json is not in the root, my structure looks like:
my-project:
readme.md
app:
composer.json
Obviously there is more to it and there is a reason why, but my composer.json sits in a subdirectory called 'app'. As a result in my workflow, I have to cd into that folder every time to run a command:
name: CI
on: [push]
jobs:
phpunit:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v1
- name: Setup Symfony
run: |
cd app
cp .env.dev .env
- name: Install Composer Dependencies
run: |
cd app
composer install --prefer-dist
- name: Run Tests
run: |
cd app
php bin/phpunit
How can I remove the cd app in every stage?

Answer 1

Update: It's now possible to set a working-directory default for a job. See this answer.
There is an option to set a working-directory on a step, but not for multiple steps or a whole job. I'm fairly sure this option only works for script steps, not action steps with uses.
https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#jobsjob_idstepsrun
Using working-directory, your workflow would look like this. It's still quite verbose but maybe a bit cleaner.
name: CI
on: [push]
jobs:
phpunit:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v1
- name: Setup Symfony
working-directory: ./app
run: cp .env.dev .env
- name: Install Composer Dependencies
working-directory: ./app
run: composer install --prefer-dist
- name: Run Tests
working-directory: ./app
run: php bin/phpunit
Alternatively, you can run it all in one step so that you only need to specify working-directory once.
name: CI
on: [push]
jobs:
phpunit:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v1
- name: Setup and run tests
working-directory: ./app
run: |
cp .env.dev .env
composer install --prefer-dist
php bin/phpunit

Answer 2

You can now add a default working directory for all steps in a job: docs
For the example here, this would be:
name: CI
on: [push]
jobs:
phpunit:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
defaults:
run:
working-directory: ./app
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v1
- name: Setup Symfony
run: .env.dev .env
- name: Install Composer Dependencies
run: composer install --prefer-dist
- name: Run Tests
run: php bin/phpunit
Caveat: this only applies to run steps; eg you'll still need to add the subdirectory to with parameters of uses steps, if required.

Answer 3

Hope this will help somebody
name: CI
on:
...
defaults:
run:
working-directory: ./app
jobs:
...