Error running reusable workflows - Github actions - azure

Question

I want to use reusable workflows and invoke two other actions, below is the snippet of both caller and called workflows:
az-dev-img-ops-reusable.yml (called workflow1)
on:
workflow_call:
inputs:
cloudProvider:
required: true
type: string
imgAction:
required: true
type: string
envName:
required: true
type: string
productImage:
required: true
type: string
jobs:
image-actions:
runs-on: self-hosted
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v2
- uses: ./.github/workflows/manage_images
with:
imgAction: ${{ inputs.imgAction }}
cloudProvider: ${{ inputs.cloudProvider }}
envName: ${{ inputs.envName }}
productImage: ${{ inputs.productImage }}
az-dev-tenant-ops-reusable.yml (called workflow2)
on:
workflow_call:
inputs:
cloudProvider:
required: true
type: string
envName:
required: true
type: string
action:
required: true
type: string
jobs:
tenant-actions:
runs-on: self-hosted
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v2
- uses: ./.github/workflows/refresh_tenant
with:
cloudProvider: azure
envName: az-dev
action: pod_refresh
az-dev-cicd.yml (caller workflow)
on:
workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
init:
runs-on: self-hosted
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v2
image-operations:
uses: ./.github/workflows/az-dev-img-ops-reusable.yml
with:
imgAction: check
cloudProvider: azure
envName: az-dev
productImage: my-server
tenant-operations:
needs: image-operations
uses: ./.github/workflows/az-dev-tenant-ops-reusable.yml
with:
cloudProvider: azure
envName: az-dev
action: pod_refresh
But while running, it throws error as below:
Can't find 'action.yml', 'action.yaml' or 'Dockerfile' under '/opt/my-runner/_work/my-images/my-images/.github/workflows/manage_images'. Did you forget to run actions/checkout before running your local action?
Checked over the web for solutions and tried all i.e.
Have a actions/checkout.
Make sure the caller function makes use of "uses" and not steps.
Tried both absolute path of repo/yaml and relative path.
But haven't been able to resolve it. Any hints/help would be highly appreciated.

Answer 1

Your issue is that you used the following syntax:
uses: ./.github/workflows/manage_images
... that refers to a directory.
When used that way, the Github Action interpreter expect a local action (using an action in the same repo).
However, to use local actions, you need to create a action.yaml file in a directory, but in your case, the image you shared in the comment shows that you actually have a manage_images.yaml file, that refers to a workflow, not a manage_images folder with an action.yml file in it.
To resolve your issue, if this manage_images.yaml is a reusable workflow (reusing the same workflow in different workflows), you need to add .yaml at the end of uses step, like this:
uses: ./.github/workflows/manage_images.yaml
Or, if you actually want to use a local action, convert this manage_images.yaml workflow to an action.yaml file, and put it inside a .github/workflows/manage_images directory.
Note that this answer could also give you more context about local actions and reusable workflows.