GitHub Action for copying files and artifacts via SSH.
Important: Only support Linux docker container.
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/[email protected]
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.
- host - scp remote host
- port - scp remote port, default is
22
- username - scp username
- password - scp password
- passphrase - the passphrase is usually to encrypt the private key
- fingerprint - fingerprint SHA256 of the host public key, default is to skip verification
- timeout - timeout for ssh to remote host, default is
30s
- command_timeout - timeout for scp command, default is
10m
- key - content of ssh private key. ex 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 upload data, default is
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 dest host
- tar_exec - path to tar executable on the dest host. default is
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:
- proxy_host - proxy host
- proxy_port - proxy port, default is
22
- proxy_username - proxy username
- proxy_password - proxy password
- proxy_passphrase - the passphrase is usually to encrypt the private key
- proxy_timeout - timeout for ssh to proxy host, default is
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 below steps while creating SSH Keys and using them. The best practice is create the SSH Keys on local machine not remote machine. Login with username specified in Github Secrets. Generate a RSA Key-Pair:
# rsa
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[email protected]"
# ed25519
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -a 200 -C "[email protected]"
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 "[email protected]"
Copy file via a SSH password:
- name: copy file via ssh password
uses: appleboy/[email protected]
with:
host: example.com
username: foo
password: bar
port: 22
source: "tests/a.txt,tests/b.txt"
target: your_server_target_folder_path
Copy file via a SSH key:
- name: copy file via ssh key
uses: appleboy/[email protected]
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/[email protected]
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/[email protected]
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/[email protected]
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/[email protected]
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/[email protected]
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
โโโ tests
โโโ a.txt
โโโ b.txt
New target structure:
foobar
โโโ a.txt
โโโ 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/[email protected]
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/[email protected]
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/[email protected]
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