Using GitHub Actions to create a .env file in the workflow

Question

I recently created this post trying to figure out how to reference GitHub Secrets in a GitHub action. I believe I got that solved & figured out and I'm onto a different issue.

Below is a sample of the workflow code as of right now, the issue I need help with is the Create and populate .Renviron file part.

on: [push, pull_request]
name: CI-CD
jobs:
  CI-CD:
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.config.os }}

    name: ${{ matrix.config.os }} (${{ matrix.config.r }})

    strategy:
      # we keep a matrix for convenience, but we would typically just run on one
      # single OS and R version, aligned with the target deployment environment
      matrix:
        config:
          - {os: ubuntu-20.04, r: 'release', rspm: "https://packagemanager.rstudio.com/cran/__linux__/focal/latest"}

    env:
      # Enable RStudio Package Manager to speed up package installation
      RSPM: ${{ matrix.config.rspm }}
      # Access token for GitHub
      GITHUB_PAT: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

    steps:

      - name: Checkout repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - name: Setup R
        uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@v1
        with:
          r-version: ${{ matrix.config.r }}

      - name: Install system dependencies
        run: |
          while read -r cmd
          do
            eval sudo $cmd
          done < <(Rscript -e 'writeLines(remotes::system_requirements("ubuntu", "20.04"))')
      - name: Install R dependencies
        run: |
          remotes::install_deps(dependencies = TRUE)
          remotes::install_cran("rcmdcheck")
        shell: Rscript {0}

      - name: Create and populate .Renviron file
        env:
          AWS_HOST: ${{ secrets.AWS_HOST }}
          AWS_PORT: ${{ secrets.AWS_PORT }}
          AWS_PW: ${{ secrets.AWS_PW }}
          AWS_USER: ${{ secrets.AWS_USER }}
          DBNAME: ${{ secrets.DBNAME }}
        run: |
          touch .Renviron
          echo aws_host="$AWS_HOST" >> .Renviron
          echo aws_port="$AWS_PORT" >> .Renviron
          echo aws_pw="$AWS_PW" >> .Renviron
          echo aws_user="$AWS_USER" >> .Renviron
          echo dbname="$DBNAME" >> .Renviron
          ls ${{ github.workspace }}
        shell: bash

      - name: Deploy to shinyapps.io
        # continuous deployment only for pushes to the main / master branch
        if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' || github.ref == 'refs/heads/master'
        env:
          SHINYAPPS_ACCOUNT: ${{ secrets.SHINYAPPS_ACCOUNT }}
          SHINYAPPS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SHINYAPPS_TOKEN }}
          SHINYAPPS_SECRET: ${{ secrets.SHINYAPPS_SECRET }}
        run: Rscript deploy/deploy-shinyapps.R

I believe this .Renviron file is getting created, but I don't know where, and it certainly doesn't look like it's where the rest of the files are. I've tried a number of file path destinations, .Renviron, ~/.Renviron, $github.workspace/.Renviron, /home/runner/work/NBA-Dashboard/NBA-Dashboard/.Renviron, none of them work. After I create the file I list all of the contents of the workspace directory (which is where I want the file to be) and it's never listed there.

I need that .Renvrion file to be created & listed in that specific directory along with all of these other files so when I continue to the next step and use the rsconnect package to build & deploy my Shiny app it's able to include that file to retrieve environment variables correctly when someone uses the app.

I thought maybe there was some issue with .gitignore so I deleted .Renviron off of that ? But it didn't fix the issue. But ya if anyone has any ideas I'd appreciate it!

user_2347999 · Answer

The file is there where you expect to be

      - name: Create and populate .Renviron file
        env:
          AWS_HOST: ${{ secrets.AWS_HOST }}
          AWS_PORT: ${{ secrets.AWS_PORT }}
          AWS_PW: ${{ secrets.AWS_PW }}
          AWS_USER: ${{ secrets.AWS_USER }}
          DBNAME: ${{ secrets.DBNAME }}
        run: |
          touch .Renviron
          echo aws_host="$AWS_HOST" >> .Renviron
          echo aws_port="$AWS_PORT" >> .Renviron
          echo aws_pw="$AWS_PW" >> .Renviron
          echo aws_user="$AWS_USER" >> .Renviron
          echo dbname="$DBNAME" >> .Renviron

          echo "cat .Renviron"
          cat .Renviron

          echo "ls -a ."
          ls -a .

          echo "ls -a ${{ github.workspace }}"
          ls -a ${{ github.workspace }}
        shell: bash

you need to run ls -a to show hidden files.

Run touch .Renviron
  touch .Renviron
  echo aws_host="$AWS_HOST" >> .Renviron
  echo aws_port="$AWS_PORT" >> .Renviron
  echo aws_pw="$AWS_PW" >> .Renviron
  echo aws_user="$AWS_USER" >> .Renviron
  echo dbname="$DBNAME" >> .Renviron
  
  echo "cat .Renviron"
  cat .Renviron
  
  echo "ls -a ."
  ls -a .
  
  echo "ls -a /home/runner/work/github-actions-manual/github-actions-manual"
  ls -a /home/runner/work/github-actions-manual/github-actions-manual
  shell: /usr/bin/bash --noprofile --norc -e -o pipefail {0}
  env:
    AWS_HOST: 
    AWS_PORT: 
    AWS_PW: 
    AWS_USER: 
    DBNAME: 
cat .Renviron
aws_host=
aws_port=
aws_pw=
aws_user=
dbname=
ls -a .
.
..
.Renviron
.git
.github
.gitignore
LICENSE
README.md
change-workflow.ps1
commit-new-workflow.ps1
dist
public
test.ps1
test2.ps1
ls -a /home/runner/work/github-actions-manual/github-actions-manual
.
..
.Renviron
.git
.github
.gitignore
LICENSE
README.md
change-workflow.ps1
commit-new-workflow.ps1
dist
public
test.ps1
test2.ps1

user_2784039 · Answer

This one also does the job and will allow to easily manage larger files inside Github Action:

      - name: Create and populate .Renviron file
        env:
          AWS_HOST: ${{ secrets.AWS_HOST }}
          AWS_PORT: ${{ secrets.AWS_PORT }}
          AWS_PW: ${{ secrets.AWS_PW }}
          AWS_USER: ${{ secrets.AWS_USER }}
          DBNAME: ${{ secrets.DBNAME }}
        run: |
          cat < .Renviron
          aws_host="$AWS_HOST"
          aws_port="$AWS_PORT"
          aws_pw="$AWS_PW"
          aws_user="$AWS_USER"
          dbname="$DBNAME"
          EOF

          echo "cat .Renviron"
          cat .Renviron

user_12868761 · Answer

there is a better way : Create .Env File Github Action from GitHub actions marketplace

example:

name: run-test-on-push
on:
 push:
   branches:
     - develop
jobs:
   test-app:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - name: Make envfile
         uses: SpicyPizza/create-envfile@v1.3
         with:
           envkey_DEBUG: false
           envkey_PORT: 3000
           envkey_DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.DATABASE_URL }}
           envkey_NODE_ENV: development
           envkey_JWT_SECRET: ${{ secrets.JWT_SECRET }}
           envkey_JWT_EXPIRES_IN: '12h'
           envkey_SMTP_HOST: ${{ secrets.SMTP_HOST }}
           envkey_SMTP_PORT: ${{ secrets.SMTP_PORT }}
           envkey_SMTP_USER: ${{ secrets.SMTP_USER }}
           envkey_SMTP_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.SMTP_PASSWORD }}
           envkey_SMTP_FROM: ${{ secrets.SMTP_FROM }}
           envkey_SMTP_TLS: ${{ secrets.SMTP_TLS}}
           envkey_SMTP_SECURE: ${{ secrets.SMTP_SECURE }}
           #directory:  # optional
           file_name: .env.test # optional (default: .env)
           fail_on_empty: false # optional (default: false)
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
       - run : npm install && npm run test:ci

Using GitHub Actions to create a .env file in the workflow

3 Answers