Depot CI compatibility with GitHub Actions

Depot CI executes GitHub Actions YAML workflows. The following tables list GitHub Actions syntax, triggers, and configuration and whether they're supported in Depot CI.

Workflow-level configuration

Field	Purpose	Supported
`name`	Workflow display name	✅
`run-name`	Dynamic run title	✅
`on`	Workflow triggers	✅
`on.workflow_call`	Reusable workflow definition	✅
`on.workflow_call.inputs`	Reusable workflow inputs	✅
`permissions`	Token scopes	✅
`env`	Workflow environment variables	✅
`defaults`	Default settings (shell, working-directory)	✅
`concurrency`	Concurrency control	✅
`jobs`	Jobs definition	✅

Triggers (`on.*`)

Field	Event type	Supported
`on.<event_name>`	Event triggers	✅
`on.<event_name>.types`	Event trigger types	✅
`on.merge_group`	Merge queue triggers	✅
`on.push.branches`	Push branch filters	✅
`on.push.tags`	Push tag filters	✅
`on.pull_request`	Pull request triggers	✅
`on.pull_request.branches`	PR branch filters	✅
`on.pull_request_target`	Pull request triggers from the base branch context	✅
`on.pull_request_review`	Pull request review triggers	✅
`on.deployment_status`	Deployment status triggers	✅
`on.*.paths`	Path filters	✅
`on.schedule`	Cron schedule triggers	✅
`on.workflow_call.inputs.*`	Reusable workflow inputs (type, default, required)	✅
`on.workflow_call.outputs`	Reusable workflow outputs	✅
`on.workflow_call.secrets`	Reusable workflow secrets definition	✅
`on.workflow_run`	Workflow run triggers	✅
`on.workflow_dispatch`	Manual dispatch triggers	✅
`on.workflow_dispatch.inputs`	Manual dispatch inputs	✅
`on.repository_dispatch`	Custom events sent through the GitHub API	✅
`on.repository_dispatch.types`	Custom event type filters	✅

Repository dispatch events

repository_dispatch lets you trigger Depot CI workflows from outside GitHub by sending a custom event to the GitHub API — useful for kicking off a run from another system (for example, a deployment provider) without polling or running your own relay.

Subscribe to every dispatch, or filter by event type with types:

on:
  repository_dispatch:
    types: [deploy-succeeded]

GitHub only delivers repository_dispatch events against your repository's default branch, so the workflow that runs is the one on the default branch. The custom event type and any client_payload you send are available through the github.event context (github.event.action and github.event.client_payload), matching GitHub Actions.

Job-level configuration (`jobs.<job_id>.*`)

Field	Purpose	Supported	Notes
`jobs.<job_id>`	Job definition	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.name`	Job display name	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.needs`	Job dependencies / DAG	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.if`	Conditional job execution	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.runs-on`	Runner selection	❌	We respect Depot runner labels and treat non-Depot labels as `depot-ubuntu-latest`.
`jobs.<job_id>.permissions`	Job-scoped permissions	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.environment`	Deployment environments	❌
`jobs.<job_id>.concurrency`	Job-level concurrency	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.outputs`	Job outputs / cross-job data	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.env`	Job environment variables	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.defaults`	Job default settings	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.timeout-minutes`	Job timeout	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.strategy`	Matrix strategy	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.[strategy.fail]`	Matrix fail-fast	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.strategy.max-parallel`	Matrix parallel limit	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.continue-on-error`	Allow job failure	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.container`	Job container	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.services`	Service containers	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.uses`	Reusable workflow call	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.with`	Reusable workflow inputs	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.secrets`	Reusable workflow secrets	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.secrets.inherit`	Inherit all secrets	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.steps`	Step definitions	✅
`jobs.<job_id>.snapshot`	Custom images from sandbox snapshots	✅	See Build and use custom images with Depot CI

Step-level configuration

Field	Purpose	Supported
`steps[*].id`	Step identifier	✅
`steps[*].name`	Step display name	✅
`steps[*].if`	Conditional step execution	✅
`steps[*].uses`	Action reference	✅
`steps[*].run`	Shell command execution	✅
`steps[*].shell`	Shell type (bash, pwsh, python)	✅
`steps[*].with`	Action inputs	✅
`steps[*].env`	Step environment variables	✅
`steps[*].working-directory`	Step working directory	✅
`steps[*].continue-on-error`	Allow step failure	✅
`steps[*].timeout-minutes`	Step timeout	✅

Expressions

Contexts

Context	Purpose	Supported
`github`	Event payload, repo, actor	✅
`env`	Environment variables	✅
`vars`	Repository/org variables	✅
`secrets`	Secret values	✅
`needs`	Dependent job outputs	✅
`strategy`	Matrix strategy info	✅
`matrix`	Current matrix values	✅
`steps`	Prior step outputs	✅
`job`	Current job info	✅
`runner`	Runner info	✅
`inputs`	Workflow inputs	✅

Functions

Function	Purpose	Supported
`always()`	Run regardless of status	✅
`success()`	Run if no failures	✅
`failure()`	Run if any failure	✅
`cancelled()`	Run if cancelled	✅
`case()`	Conditional value select	✅
`hashFiles()`	File hashing for caching	✅
`contains()`	String/array contains	✅
`startsWith()`	String prefix check	✅
`endsWith()`	String suffix check	✅
`format()`	String formatting	✅
`join()`	Array to string	✅
`toJSON()`	Object to JSON	✅
`fromJSON()`	JSON to object	✅

Action types

Type	Description	Supported
JavaScript	Node 12/16/20/24 actions	✅
Composite	Composite actions	✅
Docker	Container actions	✅

GitHub checks

Depot CI automatically reports GitHub checks for each job in a workflow run. For more information, see GitHub checks.

Limitations

GitHub-only event triggers

The following events are GitHub-specific concepts that aren't applicable to Depot CI workflows, such as Discussions, Pages, and issue events other than comments.

Field	Event type	Supported
`on.branch_protection_rule`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.check_run`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.check_suite`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.create`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.delete`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.deployment`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.discussion`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.discussion_comment`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.fork`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.gollum`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.image_version`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.issues`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.label`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.milestone`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.page_build`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.public`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.pull_request_comment`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.pull_request_review_comment`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.registry_package`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.release`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.status`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌
`on.watch`	GitHub specific event trigger	❌

Reusable workflows from other repositories

The uses key for referencing workflows from other repositories is not supported. You can still use uses to reference actions from the GitHub Actions Marketplace (for example, uses: actions/checkout@v4).

Pull request workflows triggered from forks

GitHub allows pull_request and pull_request_target workflows to run when triggered from forked repositories. Support for this is planned.

Runner labels

Only Depot runs-on labels are supported. Nonstandard labels become depot-ubuntu-latest and expressions are preserved as-is. For Depot CI sandbox sizes and labels, see Depot CI sandboxes.

Permissions

The following permissions are supported: actions, checks, contents, id-token, metadata, pull_requests, statuses, workflows.

GitHub Packages authentication

Pushing and pulling from GitHub Packages registries using secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN doesn't work in Depot CI. GitHub's package registry servers only accept personal access tokens for authentication, not GitHub App tokens. This is a known GitHub limitation (see discussions: Read GitHub Packages permission for GitHub App and Using GitHub Packages with GitHub Apps).

For container images, you can use another registry instead, such as Depot Registry. When using depot/build-push-action, replace the GHCR login and push steps with the save input:

- uses: depot/build-push-action@v1
  with:
    context: .
    project: <your-depot-project-id>
    save: true
    save-tags: |
      latest
      ${{ github.sha }}

See the Depot Registry quickstart for pulling images and other usage.

This limitation applies to all GitHub Packages registries, not just the container registry. If you need to keep using a GitHub Packages registry, you can authenticate with a GitHub personal access token with write:packages scope, stored as a Depot CI secret.

Note that a PAT is a long-lived credential scoped to a user account, so consider the security implications of storing and rotating it.