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Clarify 'description' key is optional for composite actions #43910
Description
Code of Conduct
- I have read and agree to the GitHub Docs project's Code of Conduct
What article on docs.github.com is affected?
https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/workflows-and-actions/metadata-syntax
What part(s) of the article would you like to see updated?
For composite actions, the description key is not strictly required in the action.yml for the composite action to function correctly (see Additional Information for proof).
Instead of Required this should either have an addendum like in the pull request (that is, that description is not required for composite actions, or change Required to optional. In either case, it is probably worth it to state that a description key is highly recommended.
Additional information
I just ran a workflow run that calls a composite action whose action.yml file did not include a description key at the time this workflow ran. The workflow ran as expected (all the composite action does is produce an output that gets passed to the calling workflow).
See https://github.com/mcummings128/gh-actions-outputs-experiments-1/actions/runs/24743176941 for details.
This commit SHA shows the description key was removed from the composite action during the time the workflow ran.
mcummings128/gh-actions-outputs-experiments-1@6037d82
Lastly, please see the pull request this is linked to: #43911
Activity
ozie777 commentedon Apr 22, 2026
astagaastaga439-create commentedon Apr 22, 2026
Sharra-writes commentedon Apr 23, 2026
@mcummings128 I'm checking in about this to verify, and I'll let you know what I'm told.
github-actions commentedon May 25, 2026
A stale label has been added to this issue, because it has been open for 30 days with no activity. If you think this issue should remain open, please add a new comment.
github-actions commentedon Aug 17, 2026
A stale label has been added to this issue, because it has been open for 30 days with no activity. If you think this issue should remain open, please add a new comment.
github-actions commentedon Sep 21, 2026
A stale label has been added to this issue, because it has been open for 30 days with no activity. If you think this issue should remain open, please add a new comment.