This repository contains a local GitHub Action that echoes environment variables and demonstrates how to test it using ACT.

actiontest/
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/
│       └── test.yml          # Workflow to test the action
├── myaction/                 # Your custom action
│   └── action.yml           # Action definition
└── README.md               # This file

The myaction action:

• Displays a custom message
• Lists all environment variables (sorted)
• Shows the count of environment variables
• Highlights GitHub-specific environment variables

# On macOS with Homebrew
brew install act

# Or download from GitHub releases
# https://github.com/nektos/act/releases

1. Test the default workflow:

   act

2. Test specific job:

   act -j test-action

3. Test with specific event:

   act push

4. Test with verbose output:

   act -v

5. Test with specific runner:

   act -P ubuntu-latest=catthehacker/ubuntu:act-latest

# List available workflows and jobs
act -l

# Dry run (don't actually run, just show what would run)
act -n

# Run with secrets file
act --secret-file .secrets

# Run specific workflow file
act -W .github/workflows/test.yml

Create a .secrets file in the root directory:

GITHUB_TOKEN=your_token_here
CUSTOM_SECRET=secret_value

• custom-message: Custom message to display before environment variables (optional)

• env-count: Number of environment variables found

The workflow tests the action on multiple operating systems:

• Ubuntu (Linux)
• Windows
• macOS

Each job sets up custom environment variables and then runs the action to display all environment variables.

When you run the action, you should see:

1. Your custom message
2. A sorted list of all environment variables
3. The total count of environment variables
4. GitHub-specific environment variables (if any)

If ACT fails to run:

1. Make sure Docker is running
2. Check that you have the correct permissions
3. Try running with act -v for verbose output
4. Ensure your workflow YAML is valid