How to add files to existing GitHub release inside workflow

GitHub is a popular platform for developers to collaborate on projects and manage their code repositories. One important feature of GitHub is the ability to create releases, which allow you to package and distribute your code to others. In this article, we will learn how to add files to an existing GitHub release using GitHub Actions workflow.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following:

• A GitHub account
• A repository with an existing release
• Basic knowledge of GitHub Actions

Step 1: Set up a Workflow

The first step is to set up a GitHub Actions workflow for your repository. Workflows are defined in YAML files and can be used to automate various tasks. To create a new workflow, navigate to the .github/workflows directory in your repository and create a new file, for example, add_files.yml.

Inside the workflow file, you need to define the trigger event and the steps to be executed. For this example, we will trigger the workflow whenever a new release is created. Add the following code to your workflow file:

name: Add Files to Release

on:
  release:
    types:
      - created

jobs:
  add_files:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout Repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - name: Add Files
        run: |
          # Add your commands to add files to the release

Save the workflow file and commit it to your repository. The workflow is now set up to run whenever a new release is created.

Step 2: Add Files to the Release

Now that the workflow is set up, we can add the necessary commands to add files to the release. Inside the run section of the workflow step, you can use any command-line tools or scripts to add files to the release.

For example, let's say you have a file named example.txt that you want to add to the release. You can use the curl command to upload the file to the release assets. Modify the workflow step as follows:

steps:
  - name: Checkout Repository
    uses: actions/checkout@v2

  - name: Add Files
    run: |
      curl -XPOST -H "Authorization: token ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" \
        -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
        --data-binary @example.txt \
        "https://uploads.github.com/repos/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY/releases/$GITHUB_REF/assets?name=example.txt"

In the above example, we use the curl command to make a POST request to the GitHub API to upload the file. We pass the necessary headers, including the Authorization header with the value of the GITHUB_TOKEN secret, which is automatically provided by GitHub Actions.

Make sure to replace example.txt with the actual path to your file. You can also change the name of the file in the URL query parameter if needed.

Save the workflow file and commit it to your repository. The workflow will now run whenever a new release is created and add the specified file to the release.

In this article, we learned how to add files to an existing GitHub release using GitHub Actions workflow. By automating this process, you can easily distribute your code and assets to others. Remember to customize the workflow and commands based on your specific requirements.

References