Call composite actions with dynamic names in a workflow

[Prudvi-data]

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I have Github Workflow that run certain jobs for different repos using strategy matrix. In each matrix job I am trying to call a action from different repo that runs specific steps for the repo. However I am unable to achieve this while trying call action using ${{ matrix.repo }} expression. Is this unsupported or I am missing anything here, please suggest any good way to achieve this. Thanks

Test-Run:
    strategy:
      matrix:
        repo: ${{ REPOS_LIST }}
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container:
      image: image_name
      env:
        LANG: en_US.utf8
    steps:
      - name: Setup  config
        run:  some steps
      - name: Call action
        uses: ${{ matrix.repo }}/.github/actions/some_action/action.yml

But somehow this fails with below error

Unrecognized named-value: 'matrix'. Located at position 1 within expression: matrix.repo

[nirav-gajera]

The error message "Unrecognized named-value: 'matrix'. Located at position 1 within expression: matrix.repo" indicates that the matrix variable is not supported in the uses step. The uses step is used to run an action from another repository, and the matrix variable is only available in the jobs step.

To fix this, you can use the env step to set the repo variable to the value of the matrix.repo variable. You can then use the repo variable in the uses step.

Here is an example of how you can fix this:

Test-Run:
    strategy:
      matrix:
        repo: ${{ REPOS_LIST }}
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container:
      image: image_name
      env:
        LANG: en_US.utf8
        repo: ${{ matrix.repo }}
    steps:
      - name: Setup  config
        run:  some steps
      - name: Call action
        uses: ${{ env.repo }}/.github/actions/some_action/action.yml

[Prudvi-data]

Even using env throws the same error.

Unrecognized named-value: 'env'. Located at position 1 within expression: env.REPO

[nirav-gajera]

try this:

Test-Run:
    strategy:
      matrix:
        repo: ${{ REPOS_LIST }}
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container:
      image: image_name
      env:
        LANG: en_US.utf8
    steps:
      - name: Setup  config
        run:  some steps
      - name: Call action
        uses: ${{ matrix.repo }}/.github/actions/some_action/action.yml@main
        with:
          repo: ${{ matrix.repo }}

[Prudvi-data]

No luck, seems like this syntax is not supported to call actions.

Unrecognized named-value: 'matrix'. Located at position 1 within expression: matrix.repo

[nirav-gajera]

the last hope:

Test-Run:
    strategy:
      matrix:
        repo: ${{ REPOS_LIST }}
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container:
      image: image_name
      env:
        LANG: en_US.utf8
    steps:
      - name: Setup  config
        run:  some steps
      - name: Call action
        run: |
          echo "#!/bin/sh" >> action_script.sh
          echo "node ${{ matrix.repo }}/.github/actions/some_action/action.yml" >> action_script.sh
          echo "echo 'The repo is ${{ matrix.repo }}'" >> action_script.sh
          chmod +x action_script.sh
          cat action_script.sh
        shell: bash
      - name: Run action
        uses: actions/github-script@v3
        with:
          script: ./action_script.sh

[Prudvi-data]

github-script expects js and github api calls only. I couldn't achieve my requirement with this. I will try and look for some other alternatives

[nirav-gajera]

you can refer this: seferov/pr-lint-action#69
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/69493352/error-passing-secret-to-reusable-workflow
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/64670494/github-action-pass-environment-variable-to-into-action-using-powershell

[soumyamahunt]

uses expects the action name to be determined before running the action, so while running the action you can't specify dynamic action for uses. You have to wrap your dynamic invocation inside a composite action and invoke the composite action path from your job. That way you can adjust the content of the composite action just before the action is invoked. You can use something like this:

Test-Run:
    strategy:
      matrix:
        repo: ${{ REPOS_LIST }}
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container:
      image: image_name
      env:
        DYNAMIC_ACTION: ./.dynamic-action
        LANG: en_US.utf8
    steps:
      - name: Setup  config
        run:  some steps

      - name: prepare composite action
        uses: actions/github-script@v6
        with:
          script: |
            const path = require('path');
            const fs = require('fs/promises');
            const dyn = '${{ env.DYNAMIC_ACTION }}';
            const action = {
              runs: {
                using: 'composite',
                steps: [
                  {
                    // clean up dynamically created action
                    name: 'Cleanup',
                    uses: `actions/github-script@${{ github.action_ref }}`,
                    with: {
                      script: `await io.rmRF('${dyn}')`
                    }
                  },
                  {
                    name: `Call action for ${{ matrix.repo }}`,
                    uses: `${{ matrix.repo }}/.github/actions/some_action/action.yml`
                  }
                ]
              }
            };
            const content = JSON.stringify(action);
            core.debug(`Writing action:\n${content}\n`);
            await io.mkdirP(dyn);
            await fs.writeFile(path.join(dyn, 'action.yml'), content);

      - name: Call wrapper action
        uses: ./.dynamic-action

I am using this approach currently to test github action branch here.

[jenseng]

See also #27048

I ran into this same limitation awhile back and went with a similar approach as @soumyamahunt... I wrapped it in to a reusable action so that I could use it in various repos/scenarios. Give jenseng/dynamic-uses@v1 a spin (or feel free to borrow/fork/adapt its action.yml)

Given a step like so:

- uses: actions/setup-node@v3
  with:
    node-version: 18

If you want your uses to be dynamic you can do:

- uses: jenseng/dynamic-uses@v1
  with:
    # now you can use expressions 🥳
    uses: actions/setup-node@${{ inputs.version }}
    # the `with` needs to be converted to a valid json string
    with: '{ "node-version": 18 }'

[yan-bcw]

this looks good, however it lacks of passing secrets: inherit in the called workflow.

[Prudvi-data]

Thanks @jenseng @soumyamahunt , both approaches looks good but unfortunately I switched to use workflow instead of actions and running it through api calls. Thanks.