Github Actions Manual Triggers With Workflow Dispatch

When a workflow is configured to run on the workflow_dispatch event, you can run the workflow using the Actions tab on GitHub, GitHub CLI, or the REST API. To run a workflow manually, the workflow must be configured to run on the workflow_dispatch event. To trigger the workflow_dispatch event, your workflow must be in the default branch. For more information about configuring the workflow_dispatch event, see Events that trigger workflows. Write access to the repository is required to perform these steps. On GitHub, navigate to the main page of the repository.

Sometimes there are scenarios where you might need to manually trigger a GitHub Actions workflow. This guide explores how to set up and use manual triggers for GitHub Actions, which can be particularly useful for deployments, manual tests, or any process where you want more control over when a... Manual triggers in GitHub Actions allow workflows to be started manually from the GitHub UI or through an API call. This feature is useful to supplement automated triggers, such as when you need to control when specific actions are taken, like deploying to a production environment after a manual review. The primary way to manually trigger a GitHub Action is through the workflow_dispatch event. This event allows you to provide inputs when triggering a workflow, giving you flexibility in how the workflow should behave for that particular run.

To enable manual triggers, you need to modify your workflow file (usually found in .github/workflows) to include the workflow_dispatch trigger: Adding the workflow_dispatch field, along with the inputs logLevel and environment will allow you to manually specify these inputs when triggering the workflow manually. In this case when you trigger the workflow in the UI, it will prompt you to specify values for these two inputs. Run Actions manually from GitHub's UI, you can even pass parameters! There’s a plethora of triggers you can use to run a GitHub Action. You can run it on a schedule, on a push or a pull request, or even on a release.

Today the spotlight is on workflow_dispatch, a trigger that allows you to manually trigger a GitHub Action, without having to push or create a pull request. Bonus: you can also pass custom parameters! To use workflow_dispatch, you need to add it to the on section of your workflow file: That’s it! Now you can manually trigger your GitHub Action by going to the Actions tab of your repository and clicking on the “Run workflow” button: You can now create workflows that are manually triggered with the new workflow_dispatch event.

You will then see a ‘Run workflow’ button on the Actions tab, enabling you to easily trigger a run. You can choose which branch the workflow is run on. In addition, you can optionally specify inputs, which GitHub will present as form elements in the UI. Workflow dispatch inputs are specified with the same format as action inputs. The triggered workflow receives the inputs in the github.event context. If you have any questions or thoughts about these changes, we recommend asking in our GitHub Community Forum’s Actions Board!

In a world obsessed with full automation, sometimes you just need a big red button. That's exactly what the github actions workflow_dispatch event gives you—a way to manually kick off a workflow whenever you decide. It's the perfect tool for those critical tasks that need a human go-ahead, like deploying a last-minute hotfix or running a tricky data migration. Look, aiming for a fully automated CI/CD pipeline is a great goal, but some jobs just don't fit that model. You wouldn't want to run a resource-hogging security scan or backfill a massive dataset on every single commit, right? That would be a huge waste of time and money.

This is where manual triggers shine. They add a crucial layer of control, turning your rigid, automated system into a flexible toolkit you can use on demand. It's a sign of a mature, well-thought-out delivery process. The real value of workflow_dispatch pops up in those high-stakes situations where timing and precision are everything. It’s about giving your team the confidence to run operations that might otherwise feel a bit risky. I’ve seen it save the day in a bunch of scenarios:

GitHub Actions has revolutionized the way developers automate workflows. While the platform is powerful on its own, the ability to use parameters and manual triggers can take your automation game to the next level. In this blog, we’ll explore how to create workflows with parameters and manually trigger them for greater control and flexibility. Introduction to GitHub Actions GitHub Actions is a CI/CD platform integrated directly into GitHub, allowing you to automate tasks like testing, building, and deploying code. It uses workflows defined in YAML files to automate these tasks based on triggers such as push events, pull requests, or scheduled times. Parameters in GitHub Actions provide a way to make your workflows more dynamic and flexible.

They allow you to pass in different values for various parts of the workflow, such as environment variables, paths, or commands. Example of a Simple Workflow with Parameters: In this example, the workflow_dispatch trigger allows the workflow to be manually triggered from the GitHub Actions UI. The environment input parameter can be used to specify where the code should be deployed (e.g., production, staging). Manually triggering GitHub Actions workflows can be very useful at times, in addition to GitHub Actions ability to be triggered on certain events, such as a push to a repository or the creation of... In this article, we’ll look at configuring manual triggers on GitHub Actions workflows and some of the configuration options available.

A manual trigger in GitHub Actions allows you to manually trigger a workflow instead of relying on automatic triggers. Manual triggers can be useful in a variety of scenarios, such as when you want to test a specific feature or deploy your code to a specific environment. Configuring a manual trigger in GitHub Actions can be done by adding a workflow_dispatch event to the YAML configuration. This event allows you to trigger the workflow manually using the GitHub Actions web interface or the GitHub API. The following is an example of how to configure a manual trigger in a GitHub Actions workflow: In this example, the YAML defines a workflow named “Manual Trigger Workflow” that has a manual trigger by using the workflow_dispatch event.

The build job in the workflow checks out the code and builds the project. Communities for your favorite technologies. Explore all Collectives Stack Overflow for Teams is now called Stack Internal. Bring the best of human thought and AI automation together at your work. Bring the best of human thought and AI automation together at your work.

Learn more Find centralized, trusted content and collaborate around the technologies you use most. Bring the best of human thought and AI automation together at your work. We wanted to give some thoughts on how we can improve the control over our GitHub Actions workflows, especially for those pieces of tasks that require manual intervention. Instead of using automated triggers, we can use a manual trigger called workflow_dispatch, really useful when we need workflows to run at specific times. That said, this event, on the other hand, is designed to kick a workflow off manually from GitHub's UI or even via API.

Rather, it is better suited for performing activities such as deploying to production, where the right moment of execution needs to be decided by a human. We only need to add a simple configuration in our workflow file under the .github/workflows directory. One great feature of workflow_dispatch is that we can define inputs. It means we can pass parameters to the workflow when it's triggered, hence much flexible. You can trigger the workflow either from the GitHub UI. Here's a quick look at how to trigger via UI:

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