[WIP] Fix console output to prevent formatting errors in GitHub Actions

[Copilot]

Coding agent has begun work on fix: separate consol... and will update this pull request as work progresses.

Original prompt

fix: separate console output from GitHub Actions outputs to prevent formatting errors

Problem

The scripts/generate-outputs.sh script is currently writing formatted console messages (with emojis and labels) directly to $GITHUB_OUTPUT, causing GitHub Actions workflows to fail with:

##[error]Unable to process file command 'output' successfully.
##[error]Invalid format '🔍   Formatted tags: wgtechlabs/unthread-webhook-server:dev-a7ba114,...'

Root Cause

The script echoes user-friendly debug messages (e.g., "🔍 Formatted tags:", "ℹ️ Processing image tags...") to $GITHUB_OUTPUT when it should only write raw key-value pairs without any formatting.

Solution Required

In scripts/generate-outputs.sh and any other scripts writing to $GITHUB_OUTPUT:

1. Separate console output from GitHub Actions outputs:

   • Console output (user messages): Use echo "message" (goes to stdout/logs only)
   • GitHub Actions outputs: Use echo "key=value" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT (machine-readable only, no formatting)

2. Remove all formatting from $GITHUB_OUTPUT writes:

   • ❌ Bad: echo "🔍 Formatted tags: $tags" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
   • ✅ Good (console): echo "🔍 Formatted tags: $tags"
   • ✅ Good (output): echo "image-tags=$tags" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

3. Ensure all outputs are clean:

   • image-tags should only contain comma-separated tags
   • build-digest should only contain the SHA256 hash
   • registry-urls should only contain clean URLs
   • No emojis, labels, or formatting in any $GITHUB_OUTPUT writes

Expected Behavior After Fix

• Users see nicely formatted messages with emojis in workflow logs (stdout)
• GitHub Actions receives clean key=value pairs in $GITHUB_OUTPUT
• All workflows using this action complete successfully
• PR comments and other features work as intended

Files to Fix

• scripts/generate-outputs.sh - Primary file with the issue
• Any other script that writes to $GITHUB_OUTPUT or $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY

Testing

Please verify:

• Workflow runs complete without "Invalid format" errors
• GitHub Actions outputs contain only clean values (no emojis/labels)
• Console logs still show user-friendly formatted messages
• All action features (PR comments, outputs, etc.) work correctly

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Reproduction Repository: https://github.com/wgtechlabs/unthread-webhook-server
Failed Workflow Run: https://github.com/wgtechlabs/unthread-webhook-server/actions/runs/19667665204/job/56328480450

This fix will enable the action to work properly in all consuming repositories.

Created from VS Code via the GitHub Pull Request extension.

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[warengonzaga]

Closing this PR as it was created in the wrong repository. The fix needs to be applied to wgtechlabs/container-build-flow-action instead.