# GitHub Actions

The Runner for GitHub Actions :rocket:

Repository: https://github.com/actions/runner
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/github-actions
Homepage: https://github.com/features/actions
Language: C#
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-08-26T14:33:28+00:00
Link (homepage): https://github.com/features/actions

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 95/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 87, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2682, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 7, "gap_med": 35.5, "n_releases_24m": 21}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 6215, forks 1412 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:40.105174+00:00)

## What it is
GitHub Actions is a CI/CD and workflow automation platform that runs build, test, and deployment pipelines directly from GitHub repositories, using hosted or self-hosted runners. The associated repositories provide the VM runner images, the runner agent, and official actions like checkout, caching, artifact upload, and language setup.

## Use cases
- run ci tests on every pull request
- build and deploy my app automatically from github
- set up node or python in a workflow
- cache dependencies between workflow runs
- upload build artifacts from a pipeline
- automate issue labeling and stale issue management
- run matrix builds across multiple os versions
- self-host a github actions runner

## When to choose
- your code already lives on GitHub and you want integrated CI/CD
- you need event-driven workflow automation beyond builds (labels, releases, triage)
- you want prebuilt runner images with common toolchains installed
- you prefer YAML workflows defined in-repo with no external CI service

## When to avoid
- you need CI outside GitHub, e.g. for GitLab or Bitbucket repos
- you require very long-running or highly customized build environments beyond runner limits
- you need fully air-gapped pipelines without any GitHub connectivity

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: active
- function: ci-cd, deployment, developer-tools, workflow-automation
- domain: developer-tools, cloud-computing
- platform: windows, cloud
- tags: github-actions, ci-cd, hosted-runners, workflow-automation, runner-images, github, devops, automation, linux, macos, docker, arm

## Member repositories
- actions/runner (main) score 95
- actions/runner-images (infra) score 95
- actions/checkout (plugin) score 96
- actions/toolkit (sdk) score 75
- actions/cache (plugin) score 93
- actions/github-script (plugin) score 73
- actions/setup-node (plugin) score 93
- actions/upload-artifact (plugin) score 82
- actions/labeler (plugin) score 93
- actions/typescript-action (examples) score 74
- actions/setup-python (plugin) score 93
- actions/setup-java (plugin) score 99
- actions/download-artifact (plugin) score 79
- actions/setup-go (plugin) score 97
- actions/stale (plugin) score 92
- actions/setup-dotnet (plugin) score 97
- actions/javascript-action (examples) score 65
- actions/attest-build-provenance (plugin) score 87

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:40.105174+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:13:33.634944+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/actions/runner (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:40.105174+00:00, sha b24282c9b146)
  - homepage: https://github.com/features/actions (fetched 2026-08-29T08:14:51.609319+00:00, sha 97092a806fe3)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/javascript-action (fetched 2026-08-29T08:14:51.618581+00:00, sha 64cb2808c39a)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.