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GitHub Actions Validator

Validate GitHub Actions workflow YAML files — check triggers, jobs, steps, and required action syntax.

GitHub Actions Workflow YAML

Validation Results

What Is a GitHub Actions Validator?

A GitHub Actions validator checks your workflow YAML files for correct structure, valid trigger events, proper job configuration, and action reference syntax. GitHub Actions workflows are YAML files stored in .github/workflows/ that define CI/CD pipelines. Missing required fields, invalid triggers, or incorrect action references can cause workflow failures. Our GitHub Actions linter catches these issues before you push to your repository.

Key GitHub Actions Concepts

Workflows

YAML files that define automated processes. Each workflow has a name, on trigger, and jobs.

Jobs

A set of steps that run on the same runner. Jobs can run in parallel or sequentially using needs.

Steps

Individual tasks within a job. Steps use uses (for actions) or run (for shell commands).

How to Use This Workflow Validator

Paste your GitHub Actions workflow YAML into the textarea and click Validate. The tool checks for the name field, verifies that on triggers are valid events, confirms jobs are defined with runs-on, and ensures each step has uses or run. Action references are checked for the @version format. Use Load Example for a sample CI workflow.

Tips for Valid GitHub Actions Workflows

Always pin action versions — Use @v4 or @sha instead of @main to avoid unexpected breaking changes.
Use specific trigger events — Filter pushes and pull requests with branches: to avoid running CI on every branch.
Set a runner explicitly — Each job needs runs-on. Common choices are ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, or macos-latest.
Use matrix strategies — Test across multiple OS or language versions with strategy.matrix to avoid duplicating jobs.
Cache dependencies — Use actions/cache@v4 to speed up workflows by caching node_modules, ~/.m2, or other dependency directories.

How to Do This in Code

gh workflow view
yq eval .github/workflows/ci.yml

const yaml = require('js-yaml');
const fs = require('fs');
const wf = yaml.load(fs.readFileSync('.github/workflows/ci.yml', 'utf8'));
console.log('Jobs:', Object.keys(wf.jobs || {}));

import yaml
with open('.github/workflows/ci.yml') as f:
    wf = yaml.safe_load(f)
print('Name:', wf.get('name'))
print('Jobs:', list(wf.get('jobs', {}).keys()))

import ("os"; "gopkg.in/yaml.v3")

data, _ := os.ReadFile('.github/workflows/ci.yml')
var wf map[string]any
yaml.Unmarshal(data, &wf)

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GitHub Actions Validator FAQ

What does this GitHub Actions workflow validator check?

It validates YAML syntax and checks for required workflow fields (name, on triggers, jobs), valid trigger events (push, pull_request, schedule, workflow_dispatch), runs-on configuration, step structure with uses or run commands, and valid action reference syntax.

Can I use this for GitLab CI or CircleCI?

This validator is specifically for GitHub Actions workflow syntax. GitLab CI and CircleCI use different YAML structures with different required fields.

Does this validate action versions?

This checks that action references use the @version syntax (e.g., actions/checkout@v4) but does not validate whether the version actually exists on the marketplace.