What's supported#

GitCafe reads workflow files with GitHub's own workflow parser and expression engine, so GitHub's workflow syntax reference applies. Jobs run on GitHub's official runner, which evaluates steps itself. This page lists where GitCafe differs: what is not yet supported, and what never will be because it belongs to github.com. Anything not listed works as on GitHub. To get started, see run your GitHub Actions workflows.

Workflow files#

• Workflows are .yml or .yaml files directly in .github/workflows/. Subdirectories, symlinks and submodules there are skipped.
• GitCafe reads the files at the exact commit being tested, sorted by path, at most 32 of them, each at most 64 KiB.
• When a workflow is invalid, you get a failed run listing up to 20 problems, each with its location, as GitHub reports them.

At a glance#

Triggers#

• push runs for branches only, never for tags or deletions. branches, branches-ignore, paths and paths-ignore work as on GitHub, including ! negations. When GitCafe can't tell which files a push changed, paths filters let the workflow run.
• pull_request runs when a pull request is opened, reopened or its head branch moves. branches and branches-ignore match the base branch; path filters match the pull request's changes. Every event is the synchronize activity type, so a types list must include synchronize (the default does).
• workflow_dispatch runs with cafe ci dispatch; the web UI has no Run workflow button yet. inputs are declared as on GitHub and take their default values; you can't type values yet.

Actions#

uses: owner/repo@ref (and owner/repo/path@ref) downloads the action from public github.com, as GitHub does: pin a tag, a branch or a full commit SHA. JavaScript actions run on the runner's Node, composite actions run their steps, Docker actions build or pull their image on the runner.

• actions/checkout clones from GitCafe with the job's GITHUB_TOKEN.
• actions/setup-node, setup-python and other setup-* actions work; on GitCafe-hosted runners, Node and Python are preinstalled and others are downloaded.
• Private actions on github.com can't be used: GitCafe downloads anonymously.
• An action whose owner/repo is also the name of a GitCafe repository is refused for now.
• Actions that call the GitHub API reach GitCafe's (${{ github.api_url }}), which implements few endpoints; see what works differently.

The GITHUB_TOKEN#

Each job gets a GITHUB_TOKEN (${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}, ${{ github.token }}) valid while the job runs. Whatever permissions say, it can only read the job's own repository: clone it, fetch it, and read the repository through GitHub's REST API as actions/checkout does. It can't push, comment or create releases.

Variables and contexts#

The runner sets the usual GITHUB_* and RUNNER_* variables. On GitCafe:

secrets and vars hold the repository's and organization's secrets and variables.

Limits#