Ability to change a run name dynamically (after the run starts)

[alainrodz]

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There is the "run-name" which allows an input/constant, but once the workflow jobs starts, you cannot change the workflow name, If the name gets resolved as part of a job action, you are out of luck. There is no api endpoint to rename a workflow run name either. This is very useful. Say you are using GitVersion to resolve the build semantic version, imagine you wanted rename the build to this semantic version. Thanks!

[deadlydog]

You can use the run-name element to dynamically set the workflow run name. It is very limited though as it is only able to access the github and inputs contexts.

I came here to make a similar request as this, to be able to rename the workflow run from a job step. My use case is we want to include the version number (which is determined dynamically during the build workflow run) in our build and deployment workflow run names. Having to click into every workflow run to find out which version it is for (assuming you output it in one of your workflow steps) is a real pain.

+1 to be able to include arbitrary information in the workflow run name from a job step.

[vinmassaro]

Also looking for this feature to add version number to the run name, or other metadata to a run.

[salvianreynaldi]

It'd be fantastic if we can use values from reusable workflow's job outputs in the run-name

[tuyen-vuduc]

It's a +1 from me too. We can change the build number in Azure DevOps. I hope we can do it the same for run-name in GitHub Actions.

[grant-allan-ctct]

I am really hoping for this too.

For my case, I would be able to dynamically change the run-name (so that my runs show up more meaningfully in the Actions tab) if I could

1. while defining run-name, perform string-splitting operations on the input arguments used to trigger the run, or
2. have the ability to tweak the run-name later on while the workflow in progress (and relying on something within the workflow to do the string splitting instead)

But we have neither ability 😞 .

One thing that does save me a little bit of digging as far into the results, based on this technique, was this:

• get my existing job (which is a reusable / "called" workflow) to output the information that I wanted to make more visible
• in my "caller" workflow, create an additional job, and make it dependent on my existing job using the needs keyword
• set the name property of the new job, using the new outputs from my existing job

This makes the useful information visible in the call graph, because the new job is showing the useful information in its name.

[Pablo-Grisafi-Despegar]

If the run name is immutable for some reason, having some way to add info to the Actions screen (lets say a 3rd line, after the run name and the automatic details 'Some workflow #62: Commit [02db591 pushed by someone' ) would be great

[michihuber]

Yes please, want to see the release version that is determined as part of the run in the run list

[GMZwinge]

A multi-line or wrap-around run-name could be useful too when more than one truncated line of information on the run needs to be displayed.

[man0s]

+1 on this one..

[Phisicalist]

+1 on this one. Really looking for this since it is possible in Azure DevOps

[Pawel-608]

+1

[christophwille]

+1 in our project we have a convoluted way of determining the version that is then surfaced as a step output variable, and we'd like to surface that version number in the workflow runs overview.

[kieranedwards]

+1, would love to not need to dig into the different runs to work out which run's for which build. Thanks!

[Larswa]

Yes please! Missing this from the good ole' Azure Devops days 😂
And I know we could probably fiddle with github api calls or something, but this should really be a built in feature, right?

[fred-gagnon]

Incredible how many people are requesting this feature across different posts and nowhere there's an answer as to if/when this feature will be available.

[grant-allan-ctct]

Maybe we are not in the right place? 🤔

Or maybe the right people are not in the same place as us? 😎

[garbelini]

Probably the same reason nothing else is done or is even in the roadmap:

Only work done is enterprise and runner options.

https://github.com/orgs/github/projects/4247/views/11?filterQuery=label:actions+-label:%22github+enterprise%22+-label:runners&sortedBy%5Bdirection%5D=asc&sortedBy%5BcolumnId%5D=Labels

[Larswa]

I think there may be some API work in getting this done. I tried ... with a little help from copilot to do this, just to see what would happen.

- name: Change Run Name
        run: |
          NEW_RUN_NAME="CI Pipeline - Version: ${{ steps.gitversion.outputs.fullSemVer }}"
          echo "Setting run name to: $NEW_RUN_NAME"
          echo "github.repository: ${{ github.repository }} "
          echo "github.run_id: ${{ github.run_id }} "
          echo "url: https://api.github.com/repos/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }}"
          curl -X PATCH \
            -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
            -H "Authorization: token ${{ secrets.PAT }}" \
            -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \
            https://api.github.com/repos/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }} \
            -d "{\"name\":\"${NEW_RUN_NAME}\"}"

It netted me with a 404

url was logged as ... org and repo name obfuscated oc
https://api.github.com/repos/myorg/myrepo/actions/runs/10646508435

{
  "message": "Not Found",
  "documentation_url": "https://docs.github.com/rest",
  "status": "404"
}

When I look at the documentation, there are no examples of updating an existing run, so maybe that where the work needs to start?
https://docs.github.com/en/rest/actions/workflow-runs?apiVersion=2022-11-28

[fred-gagnon]

If this call exists, it is currently undocumented. Moreover, I’m not sure what the result of this call from the currently executing workflow would be since the workflow would not be completed yet.

[Larswa]

No I mean ... this was just copilot and chatgpt having some creative fun inventing stuff that doesnt exist (as usual). However it lead me to the githup api documentation page that shows what you currently CAN do with a workflowrun, and my only point here was that there is propably something that needs to happen on the API side.

[grant-allan-ctct]

It's interesting (to me, at least) that this question on stackoverflow (which feel pretty closely related to this current discussion) has been viewed 25k times (and counting)... https://stackoverflow.com/questions/71155641/github-actions-how-to-view-inputs-for-workflow-dispatch

[mnadher]

+1

[denisStuzo]

[h3ct0rjs]

Any update on this topic... I have multiple use cases 😢

[tweed-devops]

Any feedback from the Github team? :/