This GitHub Action installs the gh-aw CLI extension for a specific version using release tags.

• ✅ Version validation: Ensures the specified version exists as a release
• ✅ Checksum verification: Validates SHA256 checksums for downloaded binaries
• ✅ Automatic fallback: Tries gh extension install first, falls back to direct download if needed
• ✅ Cross-platform: Works on Linux, macOS, Windows, and FreeBSD
• ✅ Multi-architecture: Supports amd64, arm64, 386, and arm architectures

- name: Install gh-aw
  uses: github/gh-aw/actions/setup-cli@main
  with:
    version: v0.37.18

name: Test gh-aw

on: [push]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v6
      
      - name: Install gh-aw
        uses: github/gh-aw/actions/setup-cli@main
        with:
          version: v0.37.18
      
      - name: Verify installation
        run: |
          gh aw version
          gh aw --help

The version of gh-aw to install. Must be a release tag.

• Release tag: e.g., v0.37.18, v0.37.0

GitHub token for authentication. Used for both gh CLI operations and GitHub API calls.

• Default: ${{ github.token }} (automatically provided by GitHub Actions)
• Required: No (uses the default GITHUB_TOKEN automatically)
• When to override: Only needed in special cases like using a PAT with additional permissions

The version tag that was actually installed.

1. Version validation: Validates the input is a valid release tag
2. Release verification: Validates that the release exists on GitHub
3. Primary installation method: Attempts to install using gh extension install github/gh-aw
4. Fallback method: If primary method fails, downloads the binary directly from GitHub releases
5. Checksum verification: Downloads and verifies SHA256 checksums for the binary
6. Binary verification: Ensures the installed binary works correctly

• GitHub CLI (gh) must be available (pre-installed on GitHub Actions runners)
• curl must be available (pre-installed on GitHub Actions runners)

The action will fail if:

• No version is provided
• The specified release tag doesn't exist
• The binary download fails
• The downloaded binary is not executable or doesn't work

- uses: github/gh-aw/actions/setup-cli@main
  with:
    version: v0.37.18

- name: Install gh-aw
  id: install
  uses: github/gh-aw/actions/setup-cli@main
  with:
    version: v0.37.18

- name: Show installed version
  run: |
    echo "Installed version: ${{ steps.install.outputs.installed-version }}"

jobs:
  test:
    strategy:
      matrix:
        version: [v0.37.18, v0.37.17, v0.37.16]
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: github/gh-aw/actions/setup-cli@main
        with:
          version: ${{ matrix.version }}
      
      - name: Test workflow compilation
        run: gh aw compile workflow.md

- uses: github/gh-aw/actions/setup-cli@main
  with:
    version: v0.37.18
    github-token: ${{ secrets.MY_CUSTOM_TOKEN }}

Note: In most cases, you don't need to specify the github-token input. The action automatically uses ${{ github.token }} which is provided by GitHub Actions.

Verify the release exists at: https://github.com/github/gh-aw/releases

Verify the release exists at: https://github.com/github/gh-aw/releases

The action automatically falls back to direct download when gh extension install fails. Check the action logs for details.

This action is part of the gh-aw repository. The install.sh script is generated during the build process by copying from the root install-gh-aw.sh file.

The installation script is copied during the build process:

make build  # Copies install-gh-aw.sh to actions/setup-cli/install.sh

The generated install.sh file is marked as linguist-generated=true in .gitattributes.

This action is part of the gh-aw project and follows the same license terms.