Conditions for GitHub Actions jobs and steps

GitHub Actions workflows don’t have to be simple linear sequences of jobs or steps. Using conditions, you can make your workflows smarter by controlling exactly when jobs and steps should run. This article will show you how to add logic and decision-making to your workflows.

Job-level conditions

Only want to deploy when code hits the main branch? Use GitHub’s ref context:

jobs:
  deploy:
    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: echo "Deploying to production"

Smart job dependencies

Sometimes you want jobs to run even when their dependencies are skipped. Here’s how to handle a deployment that should run when tests are skipped (but not when they fail):

jobs:
  test:
    if: github.event_name != 'workflow_dispatch' # Skip tests on manual trigger
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: echo "Running tests"

  deploy:
    needs: test
    if: ${{ !failure() && !cancelled() }}
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: echo "Deploying since tests passed or were skipped"

Step-level conditions

Control step execution based on previous outputs - useful for multi-stage deployments:

steps:
  - id: check_env
    run: |
      echo "status=ready" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

  - if: ${{ steps.check_env.outputs.status == 'ready' }}
    run: echo "Environment is ready for deployment"

Key contexts for conditions

github - Access branch names, event types, commit info
needs - Check status of dependent jobs
steps - Read previous step outputs and status
env - Use environment variables
job - Get info about current job
runner - Access runner environment details

Status check functions

success() - Green light - previous steps passed
failure() - Red light - something failed upstream
cancelled() - Someone hit the cancel button
always() - Run regardless of previous status (use carefully!)

Expression syntax

Expressions use ${{ <expression> }} syntax (optional in if conditions). Chain conditions with && (AND) and || (OR):

steps:
  - if: |
      github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' &&
      github.event_name == 'push' &&
      success()
    run: echo "Running production deploy on main branch push"