retry

Retries an Action step on failure or timeout. This is currently intended to replace the run step for moody commands.

NOTE: Ownership of this project was transferred to my personal account nick-fields from my work account nick-invision. Details here

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Inputs

timeout_minutes

Required Minutes to wait before attempt times out. Must only specify either minutes or seconds

timeout_seconds

Required Seconds to wait before attempt times out. Must only specify either minutes or seconds

max_attempts

Required Number of attempts to make before failing the step

command

Required The command to run

retry_wait_seconds

Optional Number of seconds to wait before attempting the next retry. Defaults to 10

shell

Optional Shell to use to execute command. Defaults to powershell on Windows, bash otherwise. Supports bash, python, pwsh, sh, cmd, and powershell per docs

polling_interval_seconds

Optional Number of seconds to wait while polling for command result. Defaults to 1

retry_on

Optional Event to retry on. Currently supports [any (default), timeout, error].

warning_on_retry

Optional Whether to output a warning on retry, or just output to info. Defaults to true.

on_retry_command

Optional Command to run before a retry (such as a cleanup script). Any error thrown from retry command is caught and surfaced as a warning.

new_command_on_retry

Optional Command to run if the first attempt fails. This command will be called on all subsequent attempts.

continue_on_error

Optional Exit successfully even if an error occurs. Same as native continue-on-error behavior, but for use in composite actions. Defaults to false

retry_on_exit_code

Optional Specific exit code to retry on. This will only retry for the given error code and fail immediately other error codes.

Outputs

total_attempts

The final number of attempts made

exit_code

The final exit code returned by the command

exit_error

The final error returned by the command

Examples

Shell

uses: nick-fields/retry@v3
with:
  timeout_minutes: 10
  max_attempts: 3
  shell: pwsh
  command: dir

Timeout in minutes

uses: nick-fields/retry@v3
with:
  timeout_minutes: 10
  max_attempts: 3
  command: npm run some-typically-slow-script

Timeout in seconds

uses: nick-fields/retry@v3
with:
  timeout_seconds: 15
  max_attempts: 3
  command: npm run some-typically-fast-script

Only retry after timeout

uses: nick-fields/retry@v3
with:
  timeout_seconds: 15
  max_attempts: 3
  retry_on: timeout
  command: npm run some-typically-fast-script

Only retry after error

uses: nick-fields/retry@v3
with:
  timeout_seconds: 15
  max_attempts: 3
  retry_on: error
  command: npm run some-typically-fast-script

Retry using continue_on_error input (in composite action) but allow failure and do something with output

- uses: nick-fields/retry@v3
  id: retry
  with:
    timeout_seconds: 15
    max_attempts: 3
    continue_on_error: true
    command: node -e 'process.exit(99);'
- name: Assert that step succeeded (despite failing command)
  uses: nick-fields/assert-action@v1
  with:
    expected: success
    actual: ${{ steps.retry.outcome }}
- name: Assert that action exited with expected exit code
  uses: nick-fields/assert-action@v1
  with:
    expected: 99
    actual: ${{ steps.retry.outputs.exit_code }}

Retry using continue-on-error built-in command (in workflow action) but allow failure and do something with output

- uses: nick-fields/retry@v3
  id: retry
  # see https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#jobsjob_idcontinue-on-error
  continue-on-error: true
  with:
    timeout_seconds: 15
    max_attempts: 3
    retry_on: error
    command: node -e 'process.exit(99);'
- name: Assert that action failed
  uses: nick-fields/assert-action@v1
  with:
    expected: failure
    actual: ${{ steps.retry.outcome }}
- name: Assert that action exited with expected exit code
  uses: nick-fields/assert-action@v1
  with:
    expected: 99
    actual: ${{ steps.retry.outputs.exit_code }}
- name: Assert that action made expected number of attempts
  uses: nick-fields/assert-action@v1
  with:
    expected: 3
    actual: ${{ steps.retry.outputs.total_attempts }}

Run script after failure but before retry

uses: nick-fields/retry@v3
with:
  timeout_seconds: 15
  max_attempts: 3
  command: npm run some-flaky-script-that-outputs-something
  on_retry_command: npm run cleanup-flaky-script-output

Run different command after first failure

uses: nick-fields/retry@v3
with:
  timeout_seconds: 15
  max_attempts: 3
  command: npx jest
  new_command_on_retry: npx jest --onlyFailures

Run multi-line, multi-command script

name: Multi-line multi-command Test
uses: nick-fields/retry@v3
with:
  timeout_minutes: 1
  max_attempts: 2
  command: |
    Get-ComputerInfo
    Get-Date

Run multi-line, single-command script

name: Multi-line single-command Test
uses: nick-fields/retry@v3
with:
  timeout_minutes: 1
  max_attempts: 2
  shell: cmd
  command: >-
    echo "this is
 a test"

Requirements

NodeJS is required for this action to run. This runs without issue on all GitHub hosted runners but if you are running into issues with this on self hosted runners ensure NodeJS is installed.

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Ownership

As of 2022/02/15 ownership of this project has been transferred to my personal account nick-fields from my work account nick-invision due to me leaving InVision. I am the author and have been the primary maintainer since day one and will continue to maintain this as needed.

Existing workflow references to nick-invision/retry@<whatever> no longer work and must be updated to nick-fields/retry@<whatever>.