Javascript actions without checking in node_modules

[thomaseizinger]

From the example actions like labeler, I get the impression that the idea is to check node_modules into VCS so that the runner can resolve the dependencies of the action at runtime.

Instead of doing that, I'd much rather use a tool like webpack to bundle everything up that is necessary and only check in the generated file.
However, it seems that "@actions/github" is not compatible with that approach. My action fails at runtime because it cannot import the event.json file: https://github.com/thomaseizinger/actions-playground/runs/207679280

For now, I resorted to not use the "@actions/" dependencies and code the requests myself since they are fairly trivial.

IMO, it would be good to have examples that use webpack and a zero-dependency JavaScript file for actions.
The project I am currently working on is here: https://github.com/thomaseizinger/assign-pr-creator-action

[damccorm]

Yeah, our recommendation here is still a little bit in flux (see actions/typescript-action#4) - when that's settled we'll probably have some better examples. The reason this failed for you is because we have a dynamic require, I added #101 to get rid of that. Once that's gone, the basic config should work.

[thomaseizinger]

Ah yeah, thanks!
I figured it would be the dynamic require :)

Thanks for sending a PR that quickly!
Since the issue you linked is already tracking this, I'll close this one!

[yoavain]

You can use my action here as reference:
Setup-CSC project
You can see changes from version 4 to version 5 there.

In my opinion best practice is:

• not to check-in node_modules at all
• use webpack to create a single file bundle under lib
• remove the git-diff from the action (that makes sure lib files are committed)
• instead, use husky, pre-commit hook to compile, webpack, test & git add bundle files from lib

[thomaseizinger]

instead, use husky, pre-commit hook to compile, webpack, test & git add bundle files from lib

That is certainly better than checking in node_modules!
Ideally, I would want to release a to GPR/npm on tagged commits and have other people use this package. That would be the cleanest approach IMO.

[yoavain]

One more advantage of using webpack is the size of the code base, which improves performance for anyone using your action. When I replaced node_modules with webpack, source code zip size reduced from ~900K to ~150K