Use the GitHub Actions Drone plugin

GitHub Actions are a GitHub feature that enable you to automate various event-driven activities in GitHub, such as cloning a repository, generating Docker images, and testing scripts.

There are two ways you can run GitHub Actions in Harness CI pipelines:

• If you are using Harness Cloud build infrastructure, use the built-in GitHub Action step.
• For all other build infrastructures, use the GitHub Actions Drone plugin in a Plugin step. When your pipeline runs, the GitHub Actions Drone Plugin runs the GitHub Action in the background using nektos/act.

This topic explains how to use the GitHub Actions Drone plugin in a Plugin step.

Add the Plugin step

You need a CI pipeline with a Build stage.

1. In your pipeline's Build stage, and a Plugin step.

2. Enter a Name and optional Description.

3. For Container Registry, select a container registry connector that has Docker Hub access.

4. In Image, enter the name of the GitHub Actions Drone Plugin image: plugins/github-actions.

5. Under Optional Configuration, enable Privileged.

   Privileged is required because the GitHub Actions Drone Plugin uses nektos/act to run GitHub Actions in Harness CI, which requires DinD (Docker-in-Docker) to run images.

Define Action variables and attributes

Use Settings to specify the GitHub Action you want to use and to pass variables and attributes required by the Action and the Drone Plugin. You must specify uses and with. You can use env to specify environment variables, such as GitHub tokens to access private Action repos.

Key	Description	Value format	Value example
uses	Required. Specify the Action's repo, along with a branch or tag.	[repo]@[tag]	actions/setup-go@v3
with	Required. Provide a map of key-value pairs representing settings required by the GitHub Action itself.	key: value	go-version: '>=1.17.0' or {path: pom.xml, destination: cie-demo-pipeline/github-action, credentials: <+stage.variables.GCP_SECRET_KEY_BASE64>}
env	Conditionally required. Specify a map of environment variables to pass to the Action. Required for Private Action repos, Duplicate Actions, Actions requiring a defined working directory, or if otherwise noted in the Action's usage specifications.	key: value	GITHUB_TOKEN: <+secrets.getValue("github_pat")>

tip

You can use variable expressions for these values. For example, credentials: <+stage.variables.[TOKEN_SECRET]> uses a stage variable.

Visual editor example

YAML example

              - step:
                 identifier: gcsuploader
                 name: gcsuploader
                 type: Plugin
                 spec:
                   connectorRef: YOUR_DOCKER_CONNECTOR_ID
                   image: plugins/github-actions
                   privileged: true
                   settings:
                     uses: google-github-actions/upload-cloud-storage@main # Specify the GitHub Action you want to use.
                     with: # Specify Action settings
                       path: pom.xml
                       destination: cie-demo-pipeline/github-action
                       credentials: <+stage.variables.GCP_SECRET_KEY_BASE64> ## This example uses a stage variable to store a secret.

Private Action repos

If you want to use an Action that is in a private repository, you must add a GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable to the Plugin step's settings.env. You need a GitHub personal access token that has pull permissions to the target repository. Additional permissions may be necessary depending on the Action's purpose. Store the token as a Harness secret and use a variable expression, such as <+secrets.getValue("YOUR_TOKEN_SECRET")>, to call it.

• Key: GItHUB_TOKEN
• Value: <+secrets.getValue("YOUR_TOKEN_SECRET")>

Here's an example of the YAML for a Plugin step using an Action in a private repo:

              - step:
                 type: Plugin
                 name: private action
                 identifier: private_action
                 spec:
                   connectorRef: dockerhub
                   image: plugins/github-actions
                   privileged: true
                   settings:
                     uses: myorg/private-action-step@v1
                     with:
                       path: pom.xml
                     env:
                       GITHUB_TOKEN: <+secrets.getValue("github_pat")>

Duplicate Actions

If you run multiple instances of the same GitHub Action, either in parallel or with a looping strategy, you must set the XDG_CACHE_HOME environment variable.

The default value of this variable is /home/ubuntu/.cache; however, the XDG_CACHE_HOME variable must have a different value for each instance of the Action. If you have separate steps running in parallel, you can assign distinct values to each step, such as XDG_CACHE_HOME: /home/ubuntu/.cache1. If you apply a looping strategy to repeat one step multiple times, you can use an expression to generate distinct values, such as XDG_CACHE_HOME: /home/ubuntu/.cache<+step.identifier>.

In this example, two parallel Plugin steps run the same GitHub Action. Each step has a unique value for XDG_CACHE_HOME.

              - parallel
                  - step:
                     identifier: gcsuploader
                     name: gcsuploader
                     type: Plugin
                     spec:
                       connectorRef: account.harnessImage
                       image: plugins/github-actions
                       privileged: true
                       settings:
                         uses: google-github-actions/upload-cloud-storage@main
                         with:
                           path: pom.xml
                           destination: cie-demo-pipeline/github-action
                           credentials: <+stage.variables.GCP_SECRET_KEY_BASE64>
                         env:
                           XDG_CACHE_HOME: /home/ubuntu/.cache1
                  - step:
                     identifier: gcsuploader
                     name: gcsuploader
                     type: Plugin
                     spec:
                       connectorRef: account.harnessImage
                       image: plugins/github-actions
                       privileged: true
                       settings:
                         uses: google-github-actions/upload-cloud-storage@main
                         with:
                           path: pom.xml
                           destination: cie-demo-pipeline/github-action
                           credentials: <+stage.variables.GCP_SECRET_KEY_BASE64>
                         env:
                           XDG_CACHE_HOME: /home/ubuntu/.cache2

Actions requiring a defined working directory

Some GitHub Actions need to run on the cloned codebase. The GitHub Action plugin doesn't automatically set a working directory.

If this is required by the Action you want to run, and the Action offers a working directory parameter, then you need to specify the working directory as /harness. For example:

              - step:
                  type: Plugin
                  name: Action docker publish image
                  identifier: Action_docker_publish_image
                  spec:
                    connectorRef: account.harnessImage
                    image: plugins/github-actions
                    privileged: true
                    settings:
                      uses: elgohr/Publish-Docker-Github-Action@v4
                      with:
                        name: dockerhub/publish-docker-image
                        username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }}
                        password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_PASSWORD }}
                        workdir: /harness

If the Action ingests the working directory as an environment variable, place it under env.

If the Action doesn't offer a way to set a working directory, it most likely won't run in Harness.

Pipeline YAML example

This YAML example uses a Plugin step to run the Google upload-cloud-storage GitHub Action. It uses a stage variable to store a token secret required by the Action. If you copy this example, you need to modify the placeholder values, image, and other settings according to your needs. You'll also need to create your own secret and stage variable.

pipeline:
  name: default
  identifier: default
  projectIdentifier: default
  orgIdentifier: default
  tags: {}
  stages:
    - stage:
        name: build
        identifier: build
        type: CI
        spec:
          cloneCodebase: true
          execution:
            steps:
              - step:
                  type: Plugin
                  name: Plugin_1
                  identifier: Plugin_1
                  spec:
                    connectorRef: YOUR_DOCKER_CONNECTOR_ID
                    image: plugins/github-actions
                    privileged: true
                    settings:
                      uses: google-github-actions/upload-cloud-storage@main ## Specify the Action to use.
                      with: ## Specify Action settings
                        path: pom.xml
                        destination: cie-demo-pipeline/github-action
                        credentials: <+stage.variables.GCP_SECRET_KEY_BASE64>
          infrastructure: ## Specify your build infrastructure
            type: KubernetesDirect
            spec:
              connectorRef: YOUR_KUBERNETES_CLUSTER_CONNECTOR_ID
              namespace: YOUR_NAMESPACE
              automountServiceAccountToken: true
              nodeSelector: {}
              os: Linux
        variables: ## This stage variable references a Harness secret.
          - name: GCP_SECRET_KEY_BASE64
            type: Secret
            description: ""
            required: false
            value: YOUR_SECRET
  properties:
    ci:
      codebase:
        connectorRef: YOUR_CODEBASE_CONNECTOR_ID
        repoName: YOUR_CODE_REPO
        build: <+input>

tip

For more examples of GitHub Actions in Plugin steps, go to the GitHub Actions Support in Harness CI blog post.

Action logs

When you run the pipeline, you can observe the GitHub Action plugin logs in the build's logs.

Troubleshooting GitHub Actions in Harness CI

Go to the CI Knowledge Base for questions and issue related to plugins and integrations, including GitHub Actions. For example:

• Can't connect to Docker daemon
• Not a git repository (or any of the parent directories)
• PATH variable overwritten in parallel GitHub Action steps