Github action write to a repo in Node with #actions/core or #actions/github? - node.js

Question

Learning Github Actions I'm finally able to call an action from a secondary repo, example:
org/action-playground
.github/workflows/test.yml
name: Test Write Action
on:
push:
branches: [main]
jobs:
test_node_works:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
name: Test if Node works
strategy:
matrix:
node-version: [12.x]
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v2
with:
repository: org/write-file-action
ref: main
token: ${{ secrets.ACTION_TOKEN }} # stored in GitHub secrets created from profile settings
args: 'TESTING'
- name: action step
uses: ./ # Uses an action in the root directory
id: foo
with:
who-to-greet: 'Darth Vader'
- name: output time
run: |
echo "The details are ${{ steps.foo.outputs.repo }}"
echo "The time was ${{ steps.foo.outputs.time }}"
echo "time: ${{ steps.foo.outputs.time }}" >> ./foo.md
shell: bash
and the action is a success.
org/write-file-action
action.yml:
## https://docs.github.com/en/actions/creating-actions/metadata-syntax-for-github-actions
name: 'Write File Action'
description: 'workflow testing'
inputs:
who-to-greet: # id of input
description: 'Who to greet'
required: true
default: './'
outputs:
time: # id of output
description: 'The time we greeted you'
repo:
description: 'user and repo'
runs:
using: 'node12'
main: 'dist/index.js'
branding:
color: 'green'
icon: 'truck' ## https://docs.github.com/en/actions/creating-actions/metadata-syntax-for-github-actions#brandingicon
index.js that is built to dist/index.js
fs = require('fs')
const core = require('#actions/core')
const github = require('#actions/github')
try {
// `who-to-greet` input defined in action metadata file
const nameToGreet = core.getInput('who-to-greet')
console.log(`Hello ${nameToGreet}!`)
const time = new Date().toTimeString()
core.setOutput('time', time)
const repo = github.context.payload.repository.full_name
console.log(`full name: ${repo}!`)
core.setOutput('repo', repo)
// Get the JSON webhook payload for the event that triggered the workflow
const payload = JSON.stringify(github.context.payload, undefined, 2)
console.log(`The event payload: ${payload}`)
fs.writeFileSync('payload.json', payload) // Doesn't write to repo
} catch (error) {
core.setFailed(error.message)
}
package.json:
{
"name": "wite-file-action",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "workflow testing",
"main": "dist/index.js",
"scripts": {
"build": "ncc build ./index.js"
},
"dependencies": {
"#actions/core": "^1.4.0",
"#actions/github": "^5.0.0"
},
"devDependencies": {
"#vercel/ncc": "^0.28.6",
"prettier": "^2.3.2"
}
}
but at current workflow nothing is created in action-playground. The only way I'm able to write to the repo is from a module using the API with github-api with something like:
const GitHub = require('github-api')
const gh = new GitHub({
token: config.app.git_token,
}, githubUrl)
const repo = gh.getRepo(config.app.repoOwner, config.app.repoName)
const branch = config.app.repoBranch
const path = 'README.md'
const content = '#Foo Bar\nthis is foo bar'
const message = 'add foo bar to the readme'
const options = {}
repo.writeFile(
branch,
path,
content,
message,
options
).then((r) => {
console.log(r)
})
and passing in the repo, org or user from github.context.payload. My end goal is to eventually read to see if it exists, if so overwrite and write to README.md a badge dynamically:
`![${github.context.payload.workflow}](https://github.com/${github.context.payload.user}/${github.context.payload.repo}/actions/workflows/${github.context.payload.workflow}.yml/badge.svg?branch=main)`
Second goal from this is to create a markdown file (like foo.md or payload.json) but I cant run an echo command from the action to write to the repo, which I get is Bash and not Node.
Is there a way without using the API to write to a repo that is calling the action with Node? Is this only available with Bash when using run:
- name: output
shell: bash
run: |
echo "time: ${{ steps.foo.outputs.time }}" >> ./time.md
If so how to do it?
Research:
Passing variable argument to .ps1 script not working from Github Actions
How to pass variable between two successive GitHub Actions jobs?
GitHub Action: Pass Environment Variable to into Action using PowerShell
How to create outputs on GitHub actions from bash scripts?
Self-updating GitHub Profile README with JavaScript
Workflow syntax for GitHub Actions