GitHub Action for committing changes to a repository
Actions- Force behavior updated:
force: true
now usesgit push --force
(breaking change) - New parameter:
force_with_lease
for safer force pushing with--force-with-lease
- Amend improvements: Can now combine
amend: true
withcommit_message
to change commit messages - Release process: Fully automated releases - zero manual work required!
A powerful GitHub Action for automatically committing and pushing changes back to your repository. Perfect for automation workflows and integrates seamlessly with devops-infra/action-pull-request.
- Docker Hub: devopsinfra/action-commit-push:latest
- GitHub Packages: ghcr.io/devops-infra/action-commit-push:latest
- 📝 Custom commit messages: Add custom prefixes and messages to commits
- 🌿 Branch management: Create new branches automatically with optional timestamps
- ⏰ Timestamp support: Add timestamps to branch names for cron-based updates
- 🔄 Integration-ready: Works seamlessly with other DevOps workflows
- 💪 Force push options: Support for
--force
and--force-with-lease
when needed - 🔀 Pull request integration: Perfect companion for automated PR workflows
- name: Run the Action
uses: devops-infra/action-commit-push@master
with:
github_token: "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}"
add_timestamp: true
commit_prefix: "[AUTO]"
commit_message: "Automatic commit"
force: false
force_with_lease: false
target_branch: update/version
Input Variable | Required | Default | Description |
---|---|---|---|
github_token | Yes | "" |
Personal Access Token for GitHub for pushing the code. |
add_timestamp | No | false |
Whether to add the timestamp to a new branch name. Uses format %Y-%m-%dT%H-%M-%SZ . |
amend | No | false |
Whether to make an amendment to the previous commit (--amend ). Can be combined with commit_message to change the commit message. |
commit_prefix | No | "" |
Prefix added to commit message. Combines with commit_message . |
commit_message | No | "" |
Commit message to set. Combines with commit_prefix . Can be used with amend to change the commit message. |
force | No | false |
Whether to use force push (--force ). Use only when you need to overwrite remote changes. Potentially dangerous. |
force_with_lease | No | false |
Whether to use force push with lease (--force-with-lease ). Safer than force as it checks for remote changes. Set fetch-depth: 0 for actions/checkout . |
no_edit | No | false |
Whether to not edit commit message when using amend (--no-edit ). |
organization_domain | No | github.com |
GitHub Enterprise domain name. |
target_branch | No | current branch | Name of a new branch to push the code into. Creates branch if not existing. |
Output | Description |
---|---|
files_changed | List of changed files, as returned by git diff --staged --name-status . |
branch_name | Name of the branch code was pushed into. |
Commit and push changes to the currently checked out branch.
name: Push changes
on:
push
jobs:
change-and-push:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: Checkout repository
uses: actions/checkout@v5
- name: Change something
run: |
find . -type f -name "*.md" -print0 | xargs -0 sed -i "s/foo/bar/g"
- name: Commit and push changes
uses: devops-infra/[email protected]
with:
github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
commit_message: "Replace foo with bar"
Commit and push changes to a new branch and create a pull request using devops-infra/action-pull-request.
name: Push changes and create PR
on:
push
jobs:
change-and-push:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: Checkout repository
uses: actions/checkout@v5
- name: Change something
run: |
find . -type f -name "*.md" -print0 | xargs -0 sed -i "s/foo/bar/g"
- name: Commit and push changes
uses: devops-infra/[email protected]
with:
github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
commit_prefix: "[AUTO-COMMIT] "
commit_message: "Replace foo with bar"
- name: Create pull request
uses: devops-infra/[email protected]
with:
github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
body: "**Automated pull request**<br><br>Replaced foo with bar"
title: ${{ github.event.commits[0].message }}
When you need to amend the previous commit and force push (useful for fixing commit messages or adding forgotten changes).
name: Amend and force push
on:
workflow_dispatch:
inputs:
new_commit_message:
description: 'New commit message'
required: true
default: 'Updated commit message'
jobs:
amend-commit:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: Checkout repository with full history
uses: actions/checkout@v5
with:
fetch-depth: 0 # Required for force_with_lease
- name: Make some changes
run: |
echo "Additional content" >> README.md
- name: Amend and force push with lease
uses: devops-infra/[email protected]
with:
github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
commit_message: ${{ github.event.inputs.new_commit_message }}
amend: true
force_with_lease: true # Safer force push option
When using amend: true
, you have several options for handling the commit message:
-
Change the commit message: Set
commit_message
to provide a new message- uses: devops-infra/action-commit-push@master with: github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }} commit_message: "Fixed typo in documentation" amend: true force_with_lease: true
-
Keep existing message: Set
no_edit: true
to keep the original commit message- uses: devops-infra/action-commit-push@master with: github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }} amend: true no_edit: true force_with_lease: true
-
Default behavior: If neither is set, uses "Files changed:" with file list (when files are modified)
💡 Note: Amending works even without file changes - useful for just changing commit messages!
This action supports three tag levels for flexible versioning:
-
vX
: Always points to the latest patch of a major version (e.g.,v1
→v1.2.3
).
Benefit: Get all latest fixes for a major version automatically. -
vX.Y
: Always points to the latest patch of a minor version (e.g.,v1.2
→v1.2.3
).
Benefit: Stay on a minor version, always up-to-date with bugfixes. -
vX.Y.Z
: Fixed to a specific release (e.g.,v1.2.3
).
Benefit: Full reproducibility—never changes.
Use the tag depth that matches your stability needs.
This action provides two force push options for different scenarios:
- Uses
git push --force-with-lease
- Safer option that checks if someone else has pushed changes to the remote branch
- Prevents accidentally overwriting other people's work
- Required: Set
fetch-depth: 0
in youractions/checkout
step - Use case: Amending commits, rebasing, or other history modifications
- Uses
git push --force
- Potentially dangerous as it will overwrite remote changes unconditionally
- No safety checks - will overwrite any remote changes
- Use case: Only when you're absolutely certain you want to overwrite remote changes
force_with_lease
takes precedence if both are set to true
.
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request. Refer to the CONTRIBUTING for guidelines.
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
- devops-infra/action-pull-request - Create pull requests automatically
If you have any questions or need help, please:
- 📝 Create an issue
- 🌟 Star this repository if you find it useful!
GitHub Action for committing changes to a repository is not certified by GitHub. It is provided by a third-party and is governed by separate terms of service, privacy policy, and support documentation.