Is it possible to access step outputs from another Github actions job? - github-actions

Question

Given the following sample workflow
name: My workflow
on:
push:
branches:
- 'main'
jobs:
job_1:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: Checkout repository
uses: actions/checkout#v3
with:
fetch-depth: 0
- name: Get next version
id: get_next_version
uses: thenativeweb/get-next-version#2.5.0
- name: Echo for new version
if: ${{ steps.get_next_version.outputs.hasNextVersion == 'true' }}
run: echo there is a new version
- name: Echo for no new version
if: ${{ steps.get_next_version.outputs.hasNextVersion != 'true' }}
run: echo there is no new version
job_2:
needs: job_1
if: needs.job_1.steps.get_next_version.outputs.hasNextVersion == 'true'
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: First step
run: echo job_2 is running
The action get-next-version analyzes my commit and calculates a new version. As you can see in job_1 I can access the calculated result.
job_2 depends on job_1 and should only run if there would be a new version. I tried to access the result in the if statement of job_2 but it seems that didn't work, I might be using the wrong syntax.
I get the echo
there is a new version
but job_2 was skipped. Is there a way to get access to the data of get_next_version.outputs ( I want the fields hasNextVersion and version )?

Answer 1

Yes - it's possible.
Each job can define its output as an output of one of its steps.
The related documentation can be found here
name: My workflow
on:
push:
branches:
- 'main'
jobs:
job_1:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
# define output for first job forwarding output of hasNextVersionOutput job
outputs:
hasNextVersion: ${{ steps.hasNextVersionOutput.outputs.hasNextVersion }}
steps:
- name: Checkout repository
uses: actions/checkout#v3
with:
fetch-depth: 0
- name: Get next version
id: get_next_version
uses: thenativeweb/get-next-version#2.5.0
# add a step to generate the output that will be read by the job
- name: Generate output
run: echo "hasNextVersion=${{
steps.get_next_version.outputs.hasNextVersion }}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
- name: Echo for new version
if: ${{ steps.get_next_version.outputs.hasNextVersion == 'true' }}
run: echo there is a new version
- name: Echo for no new version
if: ${{ steps.get_next_version.outputs.hasNextVersion != 'true' }}
run: echo there is no new version
job_2:
needs: job_1
# read output directly from job (you cannot access its steps
if: needs.job_1.outputs.hasNextVersion == 'true'
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: First step
run: echo job_2 is running