Question

You are packaging a reusable set of shell steps as a composite action inside a repository at the path .github/actions/deploy-helper/. A teammate consuming the action with uses: ./.github/actions/deploy-helper reports the error 'Can't find 'action.yml', 'action.yaml' or 'Dockerfile' under ...deploy-helper'. You confirm the folder contains a file named composite-action.yml with valid metadata and runs.using set to 'composite'. What is the correct fix?

Accepted Answer

Rename the metadata file to action.yml (or action.yaml) at the root of the deploy-helper directory.

Answer

Add a Dockerfile alongside composite-action.yml so the runner can locate the action manifest.

Answer

Change runs.using from 'composite' to 'node20' since composite actions must be referenced by a Node entrypoint.

Answer

Move composite-action.yml into a subfolder named metadata/ so GitHub can discover it automatically.