A GitHub CLI extension is any GitHub repository named gh-*
that publishes a Release with precompiled binaries. This GitHub Action can be used in your extension repository to automate the creation and publishing of those binaries.
Note
With the use of actions/setup-go@v5
for Go extensions, cache is enabled by default as part of the action's v4
release. The action won’t throw an error if the cache can’t be restored or saved. The action will throw a warning message but it won’t stop a build process.
Create a workflow file at .github/workflows/release.yml
:
name: release
on:
push:
tags:
- "v*"
permissions:
contents: write
jobs:
release:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: cli/gh-extension-precompile@v2
with:
go_version_file: go.mod
Then, either push a new git tag like v1.0.0
to your repository, or create a new Release and have it initialize the associated git tag.
When the release
workflow finishes running, compiled binaries will be uploaded as assets to the v1.0.0
Release and your extension will be installable by users of gh extension install
on supported platforms.
You can safely test out release automation by creating tags that have a -
in them; for example: v2.0.0-rc.1
. Such Releases will be published as prereleases and will not count as a stable release of your extension.
To maximize portability of built products, this action builds Go binaries with cgo disabled with the exception of Android build targets. To override cgo for all build targets, set the CGO_ENABLED
environment variable:
- uses: cli/gh-extension-precompile@v2
env:
CGO_ENABLED: 1
gh-extension-precompile@v2
introduces a breaking change by disabling android-arm64
and android-amd64
build targets by default due to Go external linking requirements.
To enable Android build targets:
-
release_android
must be set totrue
-
android_sdk_version
must be set to a targeted Android API level -
android_ndk_home
must be set to the path to Android NDK installed on Actions runnercli/gh-extension-precompile
will use pre-installed Android tools on GitHub-managed runners by default; self-hosted runners will need to install and configure this input.For more information on Android NDK installed on GitHub-managed runners, see
actions/runner-images
If you need to customize the build process for your Go extension, you can provide a custom build script. See Extensions written in other compiled languages below for instructions.
If you aren't using Go for your compiled extension, or your Go extension requires customizations to the build script, you'll need to provide your own script for compiling your extension:
- uses: cli/gh-extension-precompile@v2
with:
build_script_override: "script/build.sh"
The build script will receive the release tag name as the first argument.
This script must produce executables in a dist
directory with file names ending with: {os}-{arch}{ext}
, where the extension is .exe
on Windows and blank on other platforms. For example:
dist/gh-my-ext_v1.0.0_darwin-amd64
dist/gh-my-ext_v1.0.0_windows-386.exe
For valid {os}-{arch}
combinations, see the output of go tool dist list
with the Go version you intend to use for compiling.
Potentially useful environment variables available in your build script:
GITHUB_REPOSITORY
: name of your extension repository inowner/repo
formatGITHUB_TOKEN
: auth token with access to GITHUB_REPOSITORY
This action can optionally produce a checksum file for all published executables and sign it with GPG.
To enable this, make sure your repository has the secrets GPG_SECRET_KEY
and GPG_PASSPHRASE
set. (Tip: you can use gh secret set
for this; follow the instructions here to obtain the correct secret values.) Then, configure this action like so:
name: release
on:
push:
tags:
- "v*"
permissions:
contents: write
jobs:
release:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- id: import_gpg
uses: crazy-max/ghaction-import-gpg@v5
with:
gpg_private_key: ${{ secrets.GPG_PRIVATE_KEY }}
passphrase: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSPHRASE }}
- uses: cli/gh-extension-precompile@v2
with:
gpg_fingerprint: ${{ steps.import_gpg.outputs.fingerprint }}
This action can optionally generate signed build provenance attestations for all published executables within ${{ github.workspace }}/dist/*
.
For more information, see "Using artifact attestations to establish provenance for builds".
name: release
on:
push:
tags:
- "v*"
permissions:
contents: write
id-token: write
attestations: write
jobs:
release:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: cli/gh-extension-precompile@v2
with:
generate_attestations: true
- nate smith https://github.com/vilmibm
- the GitHub CLI team https://github.com/cli