Reusable workflows vs. composite actions

[gusshawstewart]

Reusable workflows vs. composite actions

blog for reusable actions

When GitHub launched reusable workflows, one of the first questions was around how they’re different from composite actions.

For the uninitiated, composite actions enable you to combine multiple actions into a single action that you can then insert into any workflow. This means you can refactor long YAML workflow files into much smaller files—and you can also save yourself a fair amount of copying and pasting. Plus, if something like your credentials change, you won’t have to update an entire YAML file.

In practice, there are kinds of problems you can solve with either reusable workflows or a composite workflow. Both approaches have individual strengths and weaknesses. 80% of the time you can probably use either one. But 20% of the time, you’ll need to use one or the other.

For example, if your job needs to run on a specific runner or machine, you need to use reusable workflows. Composite actions don’t specify this type of thing. Composite actions are intended to be more isolated and generic.

Key differences between reusable workflows and composite actions

Reusable workflows	Composite actions
Cannot call another reusable workflow	Can be nested to have up to 10 composite actions in one workflow
Can use secrets	Cannot use secrets
Can use if: conditionals	Cannot use if: conditionals
Can be stored as normal YAML files in your project	Requires individual folders for each composite action
Can use multiple jobs	Cannot use multiple jobs
Each step is logged in real-time	Logged as one step even if it contains multiple steps

With reusable workflows, you can have multiple jobs and that gives you a lot of more granular control—and power. They allow you to specify any number of things and customize them more to your liking.

Reusable workflows also don’t require individual folders for each workflow like composite actions do. This can make using reusable workflows simpler since you can avoid nesting a bunch of different folders like you’d need to do with composite actions.