docs/content/actions/using-github-hosted-runners/using-github-hosted-runners/about-github-hosted-runners.md

title, shortTitle, intro, redirect_from, versions

title	shortTitle	intro	redirect_from	versions
About GitHub-hosted runners	About GitHub-hosted runners	{% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} offers hosted virtual machines to run workflows. The virtual machine contains an environment of tools, packages, and settings available for {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %} to use.	/articles/virtual-environments-for-github-actions /github/automating-your-workflow-with-github-actions/virtual-environments-for-github-actions /github/automating-your-workflow-with-github-actions/virtual-environments-for-github-hosted-runners /actions/automating-your-workflow-with-github-actions/virtual-environments-for-github-hosted-runners /actions/reference/virtual-environments-for-github-hosted-runners /actions/reference/software-installed-on-github-hosted-runners /actions/reference/specifications-for-github-hosted-runners /actions/using-github-hosted-runners/about-github-hosted-runners/about-github-hosted-runners	fpt ghes ghec * * *

{% data reusables.actions.enterprise-github-hosted-runners %}

Overview of {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted runners

Runners are the machines that execute jobs in a {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %} workflow. For example, a runner can clone your repository locally, install testing software, and then run commands that evaluate your code.

{% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} provides runners that you can use to run your jobs, or you can host your own runners. Each {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted runner is a new virtual machine (VM) hosted by {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} with the runner application and other tools preinstalled, and is available with Ubuntu Linux, Windows, or macOS operating systems. When you use a {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted runner, machine maintenance and upgrades are taken care of for you.

{% ifversion not ghes %}

You can choose one of the standard {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted runner options or, if you are on the {% data variables.product.prodname_team %} or {% data variables.product.prodname_ghe_cloud %} plan, you can provision a runner with more cores, or a runner that's powered by a GPU processor. These machines are referred to as "{% data variables.actions.hosted_runner %}." For more information, see AUTOTITLE.

Using {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted runners requires network access with at least 70 kilobits per second upload and download speeds.

{% endif %}

{% ifversion github-hosted-runners-emus-entitlements %}

Note

{% data reusables.actions.entitlement-minutes-emus %} For more information, see AUTOTITLE.

{% endif %}

{% ifversion not ghes %}

Using a {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted runner

To use a {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted runner, create a job and use runs-on to specify the type of runner that will process the job, such as ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, or macos-latest. For the full list of runner types, see AUTOTITLE.{% ifversion repository-actions-runners %} If you have repo: write access to a repository, you can view a list of the runners available to use in workflows in the repository. For more information, see Viewing available runners for a repository.{% endif %}

When the job begins, {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} automatically provisions a new VM for that job. All steps in the job execute on the VM, allowing the steps in that job to share information using the runner's filesystem. You can run workflows directly on the VM or in a Docker container. When the job has finished, the VM is automatically decommissioned.

The following diagram demonstrates how two jobs in a workflow are executed on two different {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted runners.

The following example workflow has two jobs, named Run-npm-on-Ubuntu and Run-PSScriptAnalyzer-on-Windows. When this workflow is triggered, {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} provisions a new virtual machine for each job.

• The job named Run-npm-on-Ubuntu is executed on a Linux VM, because the job's runs-on: specifies ubuntu-latest.
• The job named Run-PSScriptAnalyzer-on-Windows is executed on a Windows VM, because the job's runs-on: specifies windows-latest.

name: Run commands on different operating systems
on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  Run-npm-on-Ubuntu:
    name: Run npm on Ubuntu
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: {% data reusables.actions.action-checkout %}
      - uses: {% data reusables.actions.action-setup-node %}
        with:
          node-version: '14'
      - run: npm help

  Run-PSScriptAnalyzer-on-Windows:
    name: Run PSScriptAnalyzer on Windows
    runs-on: windows-latest
    steps:
      - uses: {% data reusables.actions.action-checkout %}
      - name: Install PSScriptAnalyzer module
        shell: pwsh
        run: |
          Set-PSRepository PSGallery -InstallationPolicy Trusted
          Install-Module PSScriptAnalyzer -ErrorAction Stop
      - name: Get list of rules
        shell: pwsh
        run: |
          Get-ScriptAnalyzerRule

While the job runs, the logs and output can be viewed in the {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} UI:

{% data reusables.actions.runner-app-open-source %}

{% ifversion repository-actions-runners %}

Viewing available runners for a repository

{% data reusables.actions.about-viewing-runner-list %}

{% data reusables.repositories.navigate-to-repo %} {% data reusables.repositories.actions-tab %} {% data reusables.repositories.repository-runners %}

1. Review the list of available GitHub-hosted runners for the repository. {% data reusables.actions.copy-runner-label %}

{% data reusables.actions.actions-tab-new-runners-note %}

{% endif %}

Supported runners and hardware resources

{% ifversion actions-hosted-runners %}

Ranges of {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted runners are available for use in public and private repositories.

For lists of available runners, see:

• Standard runners for public repositories
• {% ifversion ghec %}Standard runners for private and internal repositories{% else %}Standard runners for private repositories{% endif %}

{% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted Linux runners support hardware acceleration for Android SDK tools, which makes running Android tests much faster and consumes fewer minutes. For more information on Android hardware acceleration, see Configure hardware acceleration for the Android Emulator in the Android Developers documentation.

Note

The -latest runner images are the latest stable images that {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} provides, and might not be the most recent version of the operating system available from the operating system vendor.

Warning

Beta and Deprecated Images are provided "as-is", "with all faults" and "as available" and are excluded from the service level agreement and warranty. Beta Images may not be covered by customer support.

{% endif %}

{% data reusables.actions.supported-github-runners %}

Workflow logs list the runner used to run a job. For more information, see AUTOTITLE.

Limitations for arm64 macOS runners

{% data reusables.actions.macos-runner-limitations %}

{% data variables.actions.hosted_runner_caps %}s

{% data reusables.actions.about-larger-runners %}

For more information, see AUTOTITLE.

Runner Images

{% data variables.product.github %} maintains our own set of VM images for our standard hosted runners. This includes the images for macOS, x64 linux and Windows images. The list of images and their included tools are managed in the actions/runner-images repository. Our arm64 images are partner images, and those are managed in the actions/partner-runner-images repository.

Preinstalled software for GitHub-owned images

The software tools included in our GitHub-owned images are updated weekly. The update process takes several days, and the list of preinstalled software on the main branch is updated after the whole deployment ends.

Workflow logs include a link to the preinstalled tools on the exact runner. To find this information in the workflow log, expand the Set up job section. Under that section, expand the Runner Image section. The link following Included Software will describe the preinstalled tools on the runner that ran the workflow.

For more information, see AUTOTITLE.

{% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted runners include the operating system's default built-in tools, in addition to the packages listed in the above references. For example, Ubuntu and macOS runners include grep, find, and which, among other default tools.

{% ifversion actions-sbom %}

You can also view a software bill of materials (SBOM) for each build of the Windows and Ubuntu runner images. For more information, see AUTOTITLE.

{% endif %}

Using preinstalled software

We recommend using actions to interact with the software installed on runners. This approach has several benefits:

• Usually, actions provide more flexible functionality like version selection, ability to pass arguments, and parameters
• It ensures the tool versions used in your workflow will remain the same regardless of software updates

If there is a tool that you'd like to request, please open an issue at actions/runner-images. This repository also contains announcements about all major software updates on runners.

Installing additional software

You can install additional software on {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted runners. For more information, see AUTOTITLE.

Cloud hosts used by {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted runners

{% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} hosts Linux and Windows runners on virtual machines in Microsoft Azure with the {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %} runner application installed. The {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted runner application is a fork of the Azure Pipelines Agent. Inbound ICMP packets are blocked for all Azure virtual machines, so ping or traceroute commands might not work. {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} hosts macOS runners in Azure data centers.

Workflow continuity

{% data reusables.actions.runner-workflow-continuity %}

In addition, if the workflow run has been successfully queued, but has not been processed by a {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted runner within 45 minutes, then the queued workflow run is discarded.

Administrative privileges

The Linux and macOS virtual machines both run using passwordless sudo. When you need to execute commands or install tools that require more privileges than the current user, you can use sudo without needing to provide a password. For more information, see the Sudo Manual.

Windows virtual machines are configured to run as administrators with User Account Control (UAC) disabled. For more information, see How User Account Control works in the Windows documentation.

IP addresses

To get a list of IP address ranges that {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %} uses for {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted runners, you can use the {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} REST API. For more information, see the actions key in the response of the GET /meta endpoint. For more information, see AUTOTITLE.

Windows and Ubuntu runners are hosted in Azure and subsequently have the same IP address ranges as the Azure datacenters. macOS runners are hosted in {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}'s own macOS cloud.

Since there are so many IP address ranges for {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted runners, we do not recommend that you use these as allowlists for your internal resources. Instead, we recommend you use {% data variables.actions.hosted_runner %}s with a static IP address range, or self-hosted runners. For more information, see AUTOTITLE or AUTOTITLE.

The list of {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %} IP addresses returned by the API is updated once a week.

Communication requirements for {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}-hosted runners

A {% data variables.product.github %}-hosted runner must establish connections to {% data variables.product.github %}-owned endpoints to perform essential communication operations. In addition, your runner may require access to additional networks that you specify or utilize within an action.

To ensure proper communications for {% data variables.product.github %}-hosted runners between networks within your configuration, ensure that the following communications are allowed.

{% data reusables.actions.domain-name-cname-recursive-firewall-rules %}

{% data reusables.actions.runner-essential-communications %}

The etc/hosts file

{% data reusables.actions.runners-etc-hosts-file %}

File systems

{% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} executes actions and shell commands in specific directories on the virtual machine. The file paths on virtual machines are not static. Use the environment variables {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} provides to construct file paths for the home, workspace, and workflow directories.

Directory	Environment variable	Description
home	HOME	Contains user-related data. For example, this directory could contain credentials from a login attempt.
workspace	GITHUB_WORKSPACE	Actions and shell commands execute in this directory. An action can modify the contents of this directory, which subsequent actions can access.
workflow/event.json	GITHUB_EVENT_PATH	The POST payload of the webhook event that triggered the workflow. {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} rewrites this each time an action executes to isolate file content between actions.

For a list of the environment variables {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} creates for each workflow, see AUTOTITLE.

Docker container filesystem

Actions that run in Docker containers have static directories under the /github path. However, we strongly recommend using the default environment variables to construct file paths in Docker containers.

{% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %} reserves the /github path prefix and creates three directories for actions.

• /github/home
• /github/workspace - {% data reusables.repositories.action-root-user-required %}
• /github/workflow

Further reading

• AUTOTITLE
• You can use a matrix strategy to run your jobs on multiple images. For more information, see AUTOTITLE.

{% endif %}