Reusable workflow call not working when a push is made to main but works on workflow_dispatch

[bLACKZU]

Why are you starting this discussion?

Question

What GitHub Actions topic or product is this about?

Misc

Discussion Details

name: Continuous Deployment Workflow

This workflow is triggered whenever commits are pushed to the main branch

on:
workflow_dispatch:
push:
branches: ['main']

permissions:
contents: read

jobs:

deploy_fixed_staging:
name: Deploy to fixed Staging
environment: staging
uses: bLACKZU/npm-ci-cd-actions/.github/workflows/called-deploy.yaml@main
with:
PR_number: main
src_path: ./web
remote_path: /var/app
remote_host: ${{ vars.STAGING_HOST }}
remote_user: ubuntu
secrets:
SSH_PRIVATE_KEY: ${{ secrets.SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}

Whenever there is a push to main I get error -
Invalid workflow file: .github/workflows/deploy.yaml#L1
(Line: 17, Col: 5): Unexpected value 'uses', (Line: 18, Col: 5): Unexpected value 'with', (Line: 24, Col: 5): Unexpected value 'secrets', (Line: 15, Col: 5): Required property is missing: runs-on

But this works when workflow_dispatch is used. I know this format isnt correct but am not getting whats wrong here. I need serious help in this. There is no flaw in the reusable workflow since I am using it in another workflow as well but thats through workflow_dispatch. Please help me!

[ElPoraz]

Your error happens because you’re mixing a normal job and a reusable workflow job.

If you use uses: to call another workflow, the called workflow must have:

on:
  workflow_call:

…and the caller job must not have runs-on, only with: and secrets:.

---

Example caller workflow (.github/workflows/deploy.yaml):

on:
  push:
    branches: ['main']

jobs:
  deploy_fixed_staging:
    uses: bLACKZU/npm-ci-cd-actions/.github/workflows/called-deploy.yaml@main
    with:
      PR_number: main
      src_path: ./web
      remote_path: /var/app
      remote_host: ${{ vars.STAGING_HOST }}
      remote_user: ubuntu
    secrets:
      SSH_PRIVATE_KEY: ${{ secrets.SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}

Example called workflow (.github/workflows/called-deploy.yaml):

on:
  workflow_call:
    inputs:
      PR_number:
        required: true
        type: string
      src_path:
        required: true
        type: string
      remote_path:
        required: true
        type: string
      remote_host:
        required: true
        type: string
      remote_user:
        required: true
        type: string
    secrets:
      SSH_PRIVATE_KEY:
        required: true

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Example step
        run: echo "Deploying..."

Once you add on: workflow_call in the called workflow and adjust the caller syntax as shown, it will also work when triggered by push.

[bLACKZU]

My called workflow already has it .

name: Reusable NPM Deployment Workflow

on:
workflow_call:
inputs:
PR_number:
description: 'Pull request number'
required: true
type: string
src_path:
description: 'Source path to deploy'
required: true
type: string
remote_path:
description: 'Remote path on the server'
required: true
type: string
remote_host:
description: 'Remote host address'
required: true
type: string
remote_user:
description: 'Remote user for SSH'
required: true
type: string
secrets:
SSH_PRIVATE_KEY:
description: 'SSH private key for remote server'
required: true

[bLACKZU]

[ElPoraz]

Your called-deploy.yaml is already correct — it has on: workflow_call with all the expected inputs and secrets.

The error you’re seeing is most likely coming from the caller workflow syntax.

When calling a reusable workflow with uses:, the job must follow this structure:

jobs:
  deploy_fixed_staging:
    uses: bLACKZU/npm-ci-cd-actions/.github/workflows/called-deploy.yaml@main
    with:
      PR_number: main
      src_path: ./web
      remote_path: /var/app
      remote_host: ${{ vars.STAGING_HOST }}
      remote_user: ubuntu
    secrets:
      SSH_PRIVATE_KEY: ${{ secrets.SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}

Important rules for caller workflows:

• No runs-on in a job that uses uses:.
• No name: or environment: at the same level as uses: — those can only be inside the called workflow.
• Only with: and secrets: are allowed after uses:.

If your caller workflow currently has:

jobs:
  deploy_fixed_staging:
    name: Deploy to fixed Staging
    environment: staging
    uses: ...

GitHub will throw the “Unexpected value” error, because name: and environment: are not valid in a uses: job.

Fix: Move name and environment inside the reusable workflow (called-deploy.yaml) instead of the caller workflow.

[bLACKZU]

welll name: is acceptable. I tried removing environment and it worked. Thank you for this @ElPoraz . But its very bad from Github that I cant use env when calling reusable workflow. What If I want to use the same workflow in two different environments ? Github should really add this feature instead of claiming it invalid.

[yashasam]

Based on the discussion details provided, the GitHub Actions topic or product is Continuous Deployment (CD).

Here's why:

The workflow's name, "Continuous Deployment Workflow," explicitly states the purpose.

The trigger, "whenever commits are pushed to the main branch," is a classic and fundamental event for continuous deployment. A continuous deployment pipeline automatically deploys code to a production environment every time a new change is merged into the main branch, often after a series of automated tests.

Continuous Deployment with GitHub Actions

This video is a tutorial that explains continuous deployment and how to implement it using GitHub Actions, which is directly relevant to the topic.

CI/CD Tutorial using GitHub Actions - Automa