2

I am trying to programatically run a github workflow using the workflow_dispatch event.

There are two workflows on the master branch. Release Matrix and Release Single.

The single workflow looks like this and it working fine.

release-single.yaml

name: Release Single

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      type:
        description: 'Type'
        required: true
      version:
        description: 'Version'
        required: true
      label:
        description: 'Label'
        required: false
      tag:
        description: 'Tag'
        required: true

jobs:
  [...]

it shows up in the UI and can be triggered by hand:

enter image description here

The matrix workflow has a step that creates the workflow_dispatch event (I've tried different solutions, both following):

release-matrix.yaml

  - uses: actions/github-script@v4
    with:
      github-token: ${{ github.token }}
      debug: true
      script: |
        const workflow = await github.actions.createWorkflowDispatch({
            owner: "owner_name",
            repo: "repo_name",
            workflow_id: "release-single.yaml",
            ref: "${{ github.ref }}",
            inputs: {
              type: "${{ matrix.type }}",
              version: "${{ matrix.version }}",
              label: "${{ matrix.label }}",
              tag: "${{ matrix.tag }}"
            }
        });
        console.log(workflow);

  - uses: benc-uk/workflow-dispatch@v1.1.0
    with:
      workflow: Release Single
      repo: ${{ github.repository }}
      token: ${{ github.token }}
      inputs: '{ "type": "${{ matrix.type }}", "version": "${{ matrix.version }}", "label": "${{ matrix.label }}", "tag": "${{ matrix.tag }}" }'

when the matrix workflow runs it actually executes the steps successfully (both solutions respond with a 204 created just as the documentation states), but no workflow runs show up in the github UI.

Result using actions/github-script and octokit enter image description here

Result using benc-uk/workflow-dispatch enter image description here

To finally come to my Question: Am I missing something or doing it wrong? May it be a bug?

Andreas Linden
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3 Answers3

1

You have to use a personal access token by an actual github user. though using the ${{ github.token }} gives a 204 Created response, in fact it is not running the workflow. When passing a personal access token instead, it gives exactly the same 204 response and the workflows runs as expected.

Thanks for Benjamin for the deeplink: https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/events-that-trigger-workflows#triggering-new-workflows-using-a-personal-access-token

The downside of using a personal access token is, that the workflows are always triggered by an actual user.

enter image description here

Alternatively it is possible to create a github app and with that generate an access token. It will then look like this:

enter image description here

Andreas Linden
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    It's not undocumented, it's [here](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/events-that-trigger-workflows#triggering-new-workflows-using-a-personal-access-token). – Benjamin W. Sep 16 '21 at 07:49
1

Just to follow up on the answer above (which still is true), the documentation that was originally linked to has moved. The documentation around this can now be found here.

Desrosj
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1

As of September 8, 2022, the GITHUB_TOKEN can now be used for the workflow_dispatch and repository_dispatch events.

Desrosj
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