CI/CD Fundamentals

Step

A step is an individual task within a workflow job, such as a shell command or reusable action. Steps share the job's workspace, but shell processes and ordinary exported variables do not automatically persist between steps.

Also known as: workflow step

Why it matters

Step boundaries influence shell state, error handling, and reuse within a job.

Practical example

Write values to GITHUB_ENV when subsequent steps need them instead of relying on a shell export.

Related terms

Sources

Definition reviewed .

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Change the runner label in your workflow and keep the rest of your GitHub Actions setup. Runner time is billed per minute.

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