files option does not respect working-directory setting

[jerryc05]

files option does not seem to respect jobs.<job_name>.defaults.run.working-directory from github. I have to prepend working directory path to every file under files for gh actions to find the correct file.

[softprops]

Can you share a link to your workflow? There's nothing in particular we do to manage your working directories. I believe the configuration option you mentioned simply switches the working directory before running the action rather than providing the job steps' working-directory input

[jerryc05]

here is an excerpt, hope this helps:

jobs:
  build_and_deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    defaults:
      run:
        working-directory: ./frontend

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
        with:
          version: latest
          run_install: false

      - shell: bash
        run: |
          echo "STORE_PATH=$(pnpm store path --silent)" >> $GITHUB_ENV

      - uses: actions/cache@v4
        with:
          path: ${{ env.STORE_PATH }}
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-pnpm-store-${{ hashFiles('**/pnpm-lock.yaml') }}
          restore-keys: |
            ${{ runner.os }}-pnpm-store-

      - run: pnpm i

      - name: Build
        run: pnpm run dist

      - name: Deploy to GitHub release
        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
        with:
          files: frontend/dist/*.zip
          tag_name: zipped_dist

where pnpm run dist command packages everything into a zip file.

If this workflow looks good to you, I can try to provide a minimal reproducible repo.

[softprops]

I think I see the issue

the following settings the working directory for each step. think of it like the PWD path when executing a step

    defaults:
      run:
        working-directory: ./frontend

In your files declaration you provide the patternfrontend/dist/*.zip which will be resolved while you are in the frontend directory which would assume a path more like frontend/frontend/dist/*.zip because its relative to the working-directory for the step.

      - name: Deploy to GitHub release
        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
        with:
          files: frontend/dist/*.zip

Could you try and remove the frontend prefix from that step? Since the working-directory is frontend that would then resolve to something like frontend/dist/*.zip

      - name: Deploy to GitHub release
        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
        with:
          files: dist/*.zip

[jerryc05]

afaik,

        with:
          files: frontend/dist/*.zip

is working (current working version of my workflow), but

        with:
          files: dist/*.zip

does not work (cannot find anything matching *.zip) (my initial not-working version)

[softprops]

What happens when you remove the frontend part of the path after setting the working directory to frontend?

[jerryc05]

[gust-p]

I am having the very same issue. In my case is pretty much the same but is a rust application.

[urbanswelt]

I ran some pwd commands just to see where the files were lying around, maybe this is a idea ?
My example .....

name: Asset Upload

on:
    release:
      types:
        - published

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Build
        run: echo ${{ github.sha }} > Release.txt
      - name: Zip Folder
        run: |
          cd ../ # I added this
          rm -rf FS25_SiloKing.zip
          zip -r FS25_SiloKing.zip FS25_SiloKing -x ".git/*" ".github/*"
          echo "#### Zip Done ####"
          pwd
          ls -l
      - name: Test
        run: cat Release.txt
      - name: Release
        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
        if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
        with:
          files: ../FS25_SiloKing.zip

#### Zip Done ####
/home/runner/work/FS25_SiloKing
total 8836
drwxr-xr-x 7 runner docker    4096 Jan 18 15:40 FS25_SiloKing
-rw-r--r-- 1 runner docker 904[232](https://github.com/urbanswelt/FS25_SiloKing/actions/runs/12845323723/job/35819263268#step:4:233)3 Jan 18 15:40 FS25_SiloKing.zip

Run softprops/action-gh-release@v2
Found release 2.0.0 🌈 (with id=19[5](https://github.com/urbanswelt/FS25_SiloKing/actions/runs/12845323723/job/35819263268#step:6:6)467473)
⬆️ Uploading FS25_SiloKing.zip...
✅ Uploaded FS25_SiloKing.zip
🎉 Release ready at https://github.com/urbanswelt/FS25_SiloKing/releases/tag/2.0.0