GitHub Action
SCP Command to Transfer Files
GitHub Action for copying files and artifacts via SSH.
Important: Only supports Linux docker containers.
Copy files and artifacts via SSH:
name: scp files
on: [push]
jobs:
build:
name: Build
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: copy file via ssh password
uses: appleboy/scp-action@v0.1.7
with:
host: ${{ secrets.HOST }}
username: ${{ secrets.USERNAME }}
password: ${{ secrets.PASSWORD }}
port: ${{ secrets.PORT }}
source: "tests/a.txt,tests/b.txt"
target: your_server_target_folder_path
See the action.yml file for more detail information.
Variable | Description | Default Value |
---|---|---|
host | SCP remote host | - |
port | SCP remote port | 22 |
username | SCP username | - |
password | SCP password | - |
passphrase | The passphrase is usually used to encrypt the private key | - |
protocol | The IP protocol to use. Valid values are tcp , tcp4 , or tcp6 . |
tcp |
fingerprint | Fingerprint SHA256 of the host public key. Default is to skip verification | - |
timeout | Timeout for SSH to remote host | 30s |
command_timeout | Timeout for SCP command | 10m |
key | Content of SSH private key. e.g., raw content of ~/.ssh/id_rsa | - |
key_path | Path of SSH private key | - |
target | Target path on the server, must be a directory (required) | - |
source | SCP file list (required) | - |
rm | Remove target folder before uploading data | false |
strip_components | Remove the specified number of leading path elements | - |
overwrite | Use --overwrite flag with tar, overwrite existing files when extracting |
- |
tar_tmp_path | Temporary path for tar file on the destination host | - |
tar_exec | Path to tar executable on the destination host | tar |
tar_dereference | Use --dereference flag with tar, follow symlinks; archive and dump the files they point to |
- |
use_insecure_cipher | Include more ciphers with use_insecure_cipher (see #15) | - |
SSH Proxy Setting:
Variable | Description | Default Value |
---|---|---|
proxy_host | Proxy host | - |
proxy_port | Proxy port | 22 |
proxy_username | Proxy username | - |
proxy_password | Proxy password | - |
proxy_protocol | The IP protocol to use. Valid values are tcp , tcp4 , or tcp6 . |
tcp |
proxy_passphrase | The passphrase is usually used to encrypt the private key | - |
proxy_timeout | Timeout for SSH to proxy host | 30s |
proxy_key | Content of SSH proxy private key | - |
proxy_key_path | Path of SSH proxy private key | - |
proxy_fingerprint | Fingerprint SHA256 of the host public key. Default is to skip verification | - |
proxy_use_insecure_cipher | Include more ciphers with use_insecure_cipher (see #15) | - |
Make sure to follow the steps below when creating and using SSH keys. The best practice is to create the SSH keys on the local machine, not the remote machine. Log in with the username specified in GitHub Secrets and generate an RSA key pair:
# rsa
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"
# ed25519
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -a 200 -C "your_email@example.com"
Add newly generated key into Authorized keys. Read more about authorized keys here.
# rsa
cat .ssh/id_rsa.pub | ssh b@B 'cat >> .ssh/authorized_keys'
# d25519
cat .ssh/id_ed25519.pub | ssh b@B 'cat >> .ssh/authorized_keys'
Copy Private Key content and paste in Github Secrets.
# rsa
clip < ~/.ssh/id_rsa
# ed25519
clip < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
See the detail information about SSH login without password.
A note from one of our readers: Depending on your version of SSH you might also have to do the following changes:
- Put the public key in
.ssh/authorized_keys2
- Change the permissions of
.ssh
to 700 - Change the permissions of
.ssh/authorized_keys2
to 640
If you are currently using OpenSSH and are getting the following error:
ssh: handshake failed: ssh: unable to authenticate, attempted methods [none publickey]
Make sure that your key algorithm of choice is supported.
On Ubuntu 20.04 or later you must explicitly allow the use of the ssh-rsa algorithm. Add the following line to your OpenSSH daemon file (which is either /etc/ssh/sshd_config
or a drop-in file under /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/
):
CASignatureAlgorithms +ssh-rsa
Alternatively, ed25519
keys are accepted by default in OpenSSH. You could use this instead of rsa if needed:
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -a 200 -C "your_email@example.com"
Copy file via a SSH password:
- name: copy file via ssh password
uses: appleboy/scp-action@v0.1.7
with:
host: example.com
username: foo
password: bar
port: 22
source: "tests/a.txt,tests/b.txt"
target: your_server_target_folder_path
Using the environment variables
- name: copy file via ssh password
uses: appleboy/scp-action@v0.1.7
with:
host: ${{ env.HOST }}
username: ${{ env.USERNAME }}
password: ${{ secrets.PASSWORD }}
port: ${{ env.PORT }}
source: "tests/a.txt,tests/b.txt"
target: ${{ env.TARGET_PATH }}
Copy file via a SSH key:
- name: copy file via ssh key
uses: appleboy/scp-action@v0.1.7
with:
host: ${{ secrets.HOST }}
username: ${{ secrets.USERNAME }}
port: ${{ secrets.PORT }}
key: ${{ secrets.KEY }}
source: "tests/a.txt,tests/b.txt"
target: your_server_target_folder_path
Example configuration for ignore list:
- name: copy file via ssh key
uses: appleboy/scp-action@v0.1.7
with:
host: ${{ secrets.HOST }}
username: ${{ secrets.USERNAME }}
port: ${{ secrets.PORT }}
key: ${{ secrets.KEY }}
source: "tests/*.txt,!tests/a.txt"
target: your_server_target_folder_path
Example configuration for multiple servers:
uses: appleboy/scp-action@v0.1.7
with:
- host: "example.com"
+ host: "foo.com,bar.com"
username: foo
password: bar
port: 22
source: "tests/a.txt,tests/b.txt"
target: your_server_target_folder_path
Example configuration for exclude custom files:
uses: appleboy/scp-action@v0.1.7
with:
host: "example.com"
username: foo
password: bar
port: 22
- source: "tests/*.txt"
+ source: "tests/*.txt,!tests/a.txt,!tests/b.txt"
target: your_server_target_folder_path
Upload artifact files to remote server:
deploy:
name: deploy artifact
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: checkout
uses: actions/checkout@v4
- run: echo hello > world.txt
- uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
with:
name: my-artifact
path: world.txt
- uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
with:
name: my-artifact
path: distfiles
- name: copy file to server
uses: appleboy/scp-action@v0.1.7
with:
host: ${{ secrets.HOST }}
username: ${{ secrets.USERNAME }}
key: ${{ secrets.KEY }}
port: ${{ secrets.PORT }}
source: distfiles/*
target: your_server_target_folder_path
Remove the specified number of leading path elements:
- name: remove the specified number of leading path elements
uses: appleboy/scp-action@v0.1.7
with:
host: ${{ secrets.HOST }}
username: ${{ secrets.USERNAME }}
key: ${{ secrets.KEY }}
port: ${{ secrets.PORT }}
source: "tests/a.txt,tests/b.txt"
target: your_server_target_folder_path
strip_components: 1
Old target structure:
foobar
└── tests
├── a.txt
└── b.txt
New target structure:
foobar
├── a.txt
└── b.txt
Only copy files that are newer than the corresponding destination files:
changes:
name: test changed-files
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: checkout
uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Get changed files
id: changed-files
uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v35
with:
since_last_remote_commit: true
separator: ","
- name: copy file to server
uses: appleboy/scp-action@v0.1.7
with:
host: ${{ secrets.HOST }}
username: ${{ secrets.USERNAME }}
key: ${{ secrets.KEY }}
port: ${{ secrets.PORT }}
source: ${{ steps.changed-files.outputs.all_changed_files }}
target: your_server_target_folder_path
Protecting a Private Key. The purpose of the passphrase is usually to encrypt the private key. This makes the key file by itself useless to an attacker. It is not uncommon for files to leak from backups or decommissioned hardware, and hackers commonly exfiltrate files from compromised systems.
- name: ssh key with passphrase
uses: appleboy/scp-action@v0.1.7
with:
host: ${{ secrets.HOST }}
username: ${{ secrets.USERNAME }}
key: ${{ secrets.SSH2 }}
+ passphrase: ${{ secrets.PASSPHRASE }}
port: ${{ secrets.PORT }}
source: "tests/a.txt,tests/b.txt"
target: your_server_target_folder_path
When copying files from a Linux runner to a Windows server, you should:
- Download git for Windows
- Change the default OpenSSH shell to git bach with the following powershell command.
- Set
tar_dereference
andrm
variable totrue
in the YAML file - Avoid putting the
port
value through a variable - Convert the target path to a Unix path:
/c/path/to/target/
Change the default OpenSSH shell to git bach with the following powershell command.
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH" -Name DefaultShell -Value "$env:Programfiles\Git\bin\bash.exe" -PropertyType String -Force
Convert the target path to a Unix path: /c/path/to/target/
- name: Copy to Windows
uses: appleboy/scp-action@v0.1.7
with:
host: ${{ secrets.HOST }}
username: ${{ secrets.USERNAME }}
key: ${{ secrets.SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}
port: 22
source: 'your_source_path'
- target: 'C:\path\to\target'
+ target: '/c/path/to/target/'
+ tar_dereference: true
+ rm: true