"Unrecognized named-value: 'env'. Located at position 1 within expression" when used in reusable workflow jobs

[nive-copia]

Describe the bug
Usage of env in workflow that uses reusable workflow generates "Unrecognized named-value: 'env'. Located at position 1 within expression"

To Reproduce
Use the following yml:

name: Test Workflow

on:
  push:

env:
  SOMETHING: 1000

  test:
    name: call workflow
    uses: ./.github/workflows/callee.yml
    secrets: inherit
    with:
      run_url: "{run_url}"
      message: ${{ env.SOMETHING }}

Expected behavior
env.SOMETHING is usable and can be passed into reusable workflow

Actual behavior

The workflow is not valid. .github/workflows/create-branch.yml (Line: #, Col: ##): Unrecognized named-value: 'env'. Located at position 1 within expression: env.SOMETHING

Runner Version and Platform

Version of your runner?

OS of the machine running the runner?
ubuntu-latest

What's not working?

[GrayJack]

I'm having the same issue

[nicole0707]

I have the same issue, there is workaround to use $GITHUB_OUTPUT instead.

[RajrupDasid]

Having the same issue . When it's going to fix?
any work around of it?

[nive-copia]

Hi GHA folks: Any update on providing this capability? Some of us are using workarounds, including the one suggested by @nicole0707. But, having this feature will make the intent very clear and clean.

[ghost]

hello! if i can help u. or something need to do.say step b step

[lucasmellos]

workaround is to use as a secret in the main workflows and then you'll be able to parse it to env in the reusable workflow like

env:
   SECRET: ${{secrets.MY_SECRET}}

[hoancs]

I'm having the same issue. Have we got any update?

[srinadhbh]

workaround is to use as a secret in the main workflows and then you'll be able to parse it to env in the reusable workflow like

env:
   SECRET: ${{secrets.MY_SECRET}}

In my case, git is considering subscription id as a secret. I am trying to print NSG/ASG id and git is omitting the output.

[hurricup]

Trying to use this approach to workaround #520 and bummer...

[hurricup]

It is also unavailable in called workflow. I tried to move check into there and got:

b5676355294c9b6943a4a68c5 (Line: 14, Col: 9): Unrecognized named-value: 'env'. Located at position 1 within expression: env.COVERALLS_REPO_TOKEN Camelcade/Perl5-IDEA/.github/workflows/_coverage.yml@d08cee137234bd0b5676355294c9b6943a4a68c5 (Line: 14, Col: 9): Unexpected symbol: '${{'. Located at position 1 within expression: ${{ env.COVERALLS_REPO_TOKEN }}
    secrets: inherit

Called workflow is:

# re-usable workflow to merge and process coverage
name: Coverage

on:
  workflow_call:

env:
  COVERALLS_REPO_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.COVERALLS_REPO_TOKEN }}

jobs:
  analyze:
    name: Analysis
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    if: ${{ env.COVERALLS_REPO_TOKEN }}
....

[carrill1]

I'm having the same issue 😐

[iBasit]

+1

[alexl-shopware]

+1. Get this fixed github, cmon.

[whsalazar]

The env context is not available from jobs.<job_id>.with.<with_id>. See https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-cloud@latest/actions/learn-github-actions/contexts#context-availability

[hurricup]

@whsalazar the question is what the reason behind this? And if there is no real reason, would be nice to have it.

[harrisrobin]

I guess I wasted 30 mins of my life and ended up here like the rest of us

[whsalazar]

You can't use the env context outside steps, as described in the docs:

You can use the env context in the value of any key in a step except for the id and uses keys. Feel free to submit feedback and feature request at https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/categories/actions?discussions_q=is%3Aopen+env+jobs+category%3AActions

[guanyingjie]

I have the same issue, hope github action can pass the env variable in the furture

[rijnhard]

Nasty workaround: https://stackoverflow.com/a/74217028/834280

[kschaer]

Same problem here. I have several reusable workflows that should receive the same with inputs - it's a shame I cannot simply set up the environment variables in the parent (caller) workflow and pass to the reusable (child) workflows.

[miguelangelgil]

The solution is to pass the environment variables as the output of a job:

name: Test Workflow

on:
  push:

env:
  SOMETHING: 1000

jobs:
 get-env-vars:
    name: Get Environment vars
    runs-on: some-runner
    outputs:
      SOMETHING: ${{ env.SOMETHING }}
    steps:
      - run: echo "null"

  test:
    name: call workflow
    needs: [get-env-vars]
    if: ${{ always() }}
    uses: ./.github/workflows/callee.yml
    secrets: inherit
    with:
      run_url: "{run_url}"
      message: ${{  needs.get-env.outputs.SOMETHING }}

[ffineis]

Hey this got me really close - at least now i can reference names of env vars I need in with, but this approach won't work if the original env variable is a secret since GH doesn't export outputs that are secrets.

Warning: Skip output 'MY_SECRET' since it may contain secret.

[miguelangelgil]

@ffineis To pass secrets use secrets instead with. In the above case i use secrets: inherit that take the secrets that you define in yours reusable workflow if they are accessible from the current workflow.

[ffineis]

@miguelangelgil yes thanks secrets: inherit was the trick to expose secrets in the reusable workflow - thx! Wish I had seen this after 3 hours of smashing head in.

[joshjohanning]

You can use ${{ vars.MY_VAR }} stored in the repository instead of env when referencing in reusable workflows. Not perfect, but it works

[sajati]

2023 and still have the same issue

[Ni55aN]

+1

[FredericVaugeoisFlo]

+1

[dleitter]

+1

[felipefrocha]

+1

[ansctrianta]

+1

[JackOdell]

+1

[h-rasi]

Why this issue is closed?!!! We are still seeing the error on our shared workflows that the env is unrecognised.

[ansctrianta]

Why this issue is closed?!!! We are still seeing the error on our shared workflows that the env is unrecognised.

+1

[lpsm-nuageit]

+1

[Yingsheng-eroad]

+1

[kosswald]

+1

[vsamofal]

+1

[VLuizNoggo]

+1

[gregoryca]

+1

[sagi-sensorz]

just use vars instead of env

This is only relevant for repository level variables.
If we use mono repo with multiple workflows and want to define a reusable variable to pass to multiple reusable workflows (e.g. working_directory) within the workflow, there is no solution 🤦‍♂️ .
@whsalazar

[AdamJudge]

+1
Extremely frustrating implementing new ideas benefiting DRY methods of coding. Our workflows have up to 16 jobs, and we only want certain ones to run on certain branches.

We moved from GitLab years ago, and are still missing what we thought would be key/obvious features

[lure8225]

+1
we intend to have a env variable set in the beginning by evluating some expression and then use this to conditionally trigger jobs. With this problem this will not work and the documentation clearly states that all contexts should be available.

[lure8225]

Just checked the code for the runner and current impression is that this can not be fixed on runner side as the conditions which jobs get executed is taken server side. A runner simply executes all Jobs it gets, I could not find any conditions checking (found them for steps where this is working fine)

Sadly server part is not open source so hard to support with fixing this

[shgnplaatjies]

I bumped into this; and resolved it by using
${{ needs.your-job-name.outputs.YOUR_NON_SENSITIVE_VAR }}

It's not a long-term solution since it leads to a deprecation warning, nor is it appropriate for sensitive variables:

"
The set-output command is deprecated and will be disabled soon. Please upgrade to using Environment Files. For more information see: https://github.blog/changelog/2022-10-11-github-actions-deprecating-save-state-and-set-output-commands/
"

[tompreston]

We were trying to use a repeated container image name. For anyone still searching, this part of the docs (from this comment) explained it for us. The env context is not available in the jobs.<job_id>.container workflow key.

It looks like YAML anchors are not supported and there might be a route forwards with repository variables in the vars context, but unfortunately it doesn't follow the same branch protection rules. For example requiring a review to merge to master.