actions/runner nodejs plan and next steps

[benwells]

👋 Hey all!

Sorry we've been quiet on this. I want to provide you with as much clarity as we have right now on the next steps for node.

Node 12

We've been on the path to deprecate this for a while, we started back in October with a deprecation message. We are super relieved 😅 that we will be removing Node12 from the Actions runner on the 14th of August 2023. This has taken a while because a bunch of folks were still actively using node12 and we wanted to give them heads up and migrate as many of them as we could, in advance.

Node 16 and 20

From here, we plan to skip over node 18 and hop on the node 20 LTS release. We are currently working on a date to rollout node 20 and have work in-flight to accomplish this. We will update this discussion in the coming weeks with our plans once we finalize them.

This does mean that we will carry node 16 past it's out-of-support date, but will start the deprecation process of node 16 later this year, similar to how we deprecated node 12 over a period of time.

Thank you all for your engagement and feedback on this matter! Please keep raising issues in our repo when you have concerns or feedback. We really appreciate the engagement and support ❤️ .

[wdzeng]

Happy to hear that GitHub finally had response on this.

[AWare]

it's really disappointing that this is has only been communicated this recently, and that most issues relating to this have been closed for months.

#2255
actions/github-script#310

It's also disappointing that github can both not support any later version than 16 in an action, while demanding a minimum version of 18 to use octokit. https://github.com/octokit/octokit.js/#fetch-missing

Please can this be reconsidered?

[AWare]

I have also raised an issue in octokit octokit/octokit.js#2505

[nebuk89]

Hey! Really sorry this has come about :( I just want to clarify, if we are able to accelerate a move to node20 would this solve this for you? (our preference is still to get as far ahead as we can as we know it's Actions that has lagged here 😞 )

[AWare]

That would certainly be appreciated thanks, but I think more important would be coordination between the various teams to keep a consistent set of supported node versions.

[AWare]

@nebuk89 thanks for your accelerated release of node 20.

[kuvaus]

This is great to hear! Thanks a lot!

One small suggestion:

It took me a bit of googling and browsing various github actions issues to find this post.
Since most github actions depend on Node.js, it might be worth to somehow pin the original post or maybe make a post on the blog so that people immediately see what are Github's official plans on this. It is relieving to see that when Node 20 LTS comes, all the action developers can just smoothly switch to that. Maybe you're already planning a bigger official post when you can finalize the exact date.

As for #2704 (comment):

For now you can either use Node 16, import node-fetch and give that to Octokit:

const fetch = require('node-fetch').default;
const octokit = new Octokit({ auth: token, request: {fetch: fetch, } });

Or you can make a composite action with Node 18:

With composite actions in action.yml you need to also give the inputs as environment variables to your index.js:

inputs:
  my_parameter:
    description: 'My input'
    required: false

And after setting up Node 18

      env:
        INPUT_MY_PARAMETER:          ${{ inputs.my_parameter }}

If you need, I have those in more detail in Node16 and Node18 branches of one of my actions.

Now, with the upcoming support for Node 20 I can remove both of these workarounds. This makes the code much simpler which is always lovely. :)

[AWare]

while this is a very helpful comment and workaround, I don't think this is a reasonable expectation on githubs part.

[DariuszPorowski]

@AWare Did PoC with workaround a while ago, see: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/53217#discussioncomment-6227341
I think the approach is similar to @kuvaus

[razor-x]

Since Node 20 won't be LTS until 2022-10-24 does that mean the soonest we can expect support is around early November?

Can you share any updates on if your team is making any process changes to ensure this doesn't happen in the future? Thanks.

[ChristopherHX]

Node20 support has been merged #2732 by the runner team

It is now only a matter of waiting for the next runner release, if nobody reverts it
Maybe in 14th August? node12 has been removed already from the default branch. Yes I'm speculating.

[MikeMcC399]

@ChristopherHX Thanks for the heads-up! I couldn't see any documentation PR in the pipeline, but maybe node20 will get released silently first as a pre-release?

[ChristopherHX]

@MikeMcC399 You should not make use of node20 until 14th September if released on 14th August.

• Self-Hosted runners have a 1 month grace period on github.com to upgrade manually
• GHES users won't be able to use node20 for a longer time, without manual upgrade of all self-hosted runners without an official backport
• Create a new major release / tag

So yes it's better to wait longer.

Azure Devops allowed to specify node16 + node20 (prefer newer node) to be backward compatible, while GitHub decided removing this feature(while forking the agent/runner in 2019, this was never possible it Github Actions).

[MikeMcC399]

Create a new major release / tag

Absolutely! This is a breaking change and needs a new major release version number for any published action using it.

[MikeMcC399]

@benwells

Do you have any update for us on the release date for Node.js 20 support in JavaScript Actions? This would help very much for downstream planning.

[MikeMcC399]

My question was answered in #2619 (comment)

Hello, latest runner release (2.308.0) contains latest node16 version and node20 version. This runner version will be fully rolled-out by the end of this week. After release you will be able to use 'node20' actions

[MikeMcC399]

I have now successfully used node20 with runner version (2.308.0) 👍🏻

[MikeMcC399]

@benwells

• Since you've now released node20 support, I ask for it to be added to the documentation. See Missing documentation for node20 support #2786.

[MikeMcC399]

• Missing documentation for node20 support #2786 in this repo was rejected. I refiled under https://github.com/github/docs/issues/27673 (this now says "This issue has been moved to a repository you don't have access to.", which means it is being worked on, but progress is not visible for external users).
• runs.using for JavaScript actions to read current contents.

[MikeMcC399]

Documentation runs.using for JavaScript actions is now fixed as refers only to node20.

[MikeMcC399]

@benwells

In your original post in July 2023 you wrote:

We will update this discussion in the coming weeks with our plans once we finalize them.

That is currently the first and last post in this discussion from any maintainer. The milestone of Node.js 16 end-of-life on Sep 11, 2023 has now been reached, so it would be highly appreciated to hear of your further detailed planning!

• Can we assume that node20 support will be announced in https://github.blog/changelog/ soon?

• What will happen with node16? Will it be deprecated?

• Will GitHub JavaScript Actions specifying node16 be forced to run on node20?

• Will GitHub JavaScript Actions specifying node12 stop working, continue to be forced on to node16 or will they be forced to run on node20?

[MikeMcC399]

The list of questions is mostly answered in https://github.blog/changelog/2023-09-22-github-actions-transitioning-from-node-16-to-node-20/

The only unanswered question is:

• Will GitHub JavaScript Actions specifying node12 stop working, continue to be forced on to node16 or will they be forced to run on node20?

[thboop]

Eventually you will be forced onto to the "lowest node version we support" with an appropriate warning so you know it is happening. I'll make sure it is clear in future communications, thanks for the feedback @MikeMcC399

[MikeMcC399]

@thboop

Thanks very much for explaining about what will happen with older versions. That makes absolute sense!

One more feedback point: GitHub Actions: Transitioning from Node 16 to Node 20 Sep 22, 2023 announced "Our plan is to transition all actions to run on Node 20 by Spring 2024."

Using northern hemisphere seasons is not a globally compatible way of naming time-frames. Spring 2024 is 6 months later in the southern hemisphere compared to the northern hemisphere. If you use months (or month ranges like Apr - Jun) or calendar quarters, like second calendar quarter 2024 for instance, that would be correct over the whole globe.

[gilzow]

The blog post states

Given this, we will remove Node12 from the Actions runner on the 14th of August 2023

But the actions platform still states Node12 as a valid option if you use the wrong argument for the runs:using property

System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Specified argument was out of the range of valid values. (Parameter ''using: nod16' is not supported, use 'docker', 'node12', 'node16' or 'node20' instead.')

[MikeMcC399]

@gilzow

If a runner specifies node12 then it currently runs as node16 and the message is:

The following actions uses node12 which is deprecated and will be forced to run on node16: . For more info: https://github.blog/changelog/2023-06-13-github-actions-all-actions-will-run-on-node16-instead-of-node12-by-default

So it can still be specified as a parameter but node12 isn't actually there anymore.

Does that make sense?

[muzimuzhi]

But the actions platform still states Node12 as a valid option if you use the wrong argument for the runs:using property

System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Specified argument was out of the range of valid values. (Parameter ''using: nod16' is not supported, use 'docker', 'node12', 'node16' or 'node20' instead.')

BTW, this exception is thrown by main/src/Runner.Worker/ActionManifestManager.cs in https://github.com/actions/runner repo.

[MikeMcC399]

• Remove node12 #2717 removed node12 as part of release v2.308.0
• Support node20 in runs for JavaScript actions #2619 (comment) notes on Aug 15, 2023 that this release would be rolled out in that week

[MikeMcC399]

According to the blog post GitHub Actions: Transitioning from Node 16 to Node 20 Sep 22, 2023 I would expect to see warnings now for node16 usage (since we are past the date Oct 23, 2023), but I don't see any additional warnings on GitHub-hosted runners such as ubuntu-22.04.

Node 16 has reached its end of life, prompting us to initiate its deprecation process for GitHub Actions. Our plan is to transition all actions to run on Node 20 by Spring 2024. We will actively monitor the migration's progress and gather community feedback before finalizing the transition date. Starting October 23rd, workflows containing actions running on Node 16 will display a warning to alert users about the upcoming migration.

Has there been a change or delay to the plan?

[muzimuzhi]

I can already see such warnings in a recent run.

Node.js 16 actions are deprecated. Please update the following actions to use Node.js 20: actions/cache/restore@v3, actions/cache/save@v3, actions/upload-artifact@v3. For more information see: https://github.blog/changelog/2023-09-22-github-actions-transitioning-from-node-16-to-node-20/.

[MikeMcC399]

@muzimuzhi

Thanks for sharing! It seems to be a staged-rollout in that case. I just ran a workflow which contained actions/upload-artifact@v3 and I did not receive any warning.

[MikeMcC399]

@muzimuzhi

Thanks again! I am now receiving the deprecation warnings as expected. 🙂

[MikeMcC399]

• ... and now the warnings have been disabled - see [feat req] Upgrade action to use node20 upload-artifact#444 (comment)

[Danielku15]

Can someone shed some light on the plan with GHES? We are on GHES 3.10.3 and the latest runner provided there is 2.304.0 (indicated in the 'New Runner' page and also auto-upgrade). But for node20 we need 2.308.0.

GHES 3.11 is "only" in RC and also typically our internal IT does not upgrade directly.

As actions in the market are moving to node20 things start to get tricky as we need bugfixes only provided on new versions already targeting node20.

[MikeMcC399]

According to actions/upload-artifact#444 (comment) from @joshmgross

👋 We've disabled the deprecation warning for now until we can get all of our official actions onto Node 20.

As far as I can see, the last related blog entry is https://github.blog/changelog/2023-09-22-github-actions-transitioning-from-node-16-to-node-20/ from Sep 22, 2023 and this says:

Starting October 23rd (2023), workflows containing actions running on Node 16 will display a warning to alert users about the upcoming migration.

which has no mention about the warning having been disabled.

I couldn't find any related update in https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/categories/actions either.

---

What is the plan for re-enabling the node16 warnings?

[joshmgross]

👋 Hey @MikeMcC399, thanks for the ping. I'll find someone who can provide at timeline.

[thboop]

Hey @MikeMcC399 , we want to heavily encourage upgrading to node 20. The warnings will be coming back on in the next couple of weeks, alongside the full removal of node 16 in spring 2024.

Node 16 workflows at that time will then automatically run on node 20, with a warning to users to let them know.

[MikeMcC399]

Hi @thboop

Thank you very much for sharing the plans! That is very helpful. 👍🏻

[MikeMcC399]

I'm seeing the warning on GitHub-hosted runners appearing again.

[MikeMcC399]

There is a new GitHub blog post GitHub Actions; All Actions will run on Node20 instead of Node16 by default announcing that all actions will be forced to run under Node.js 20 starting on May 13, 2024.

[ScottBrenner]

Hello, found this discussion while searching around a bit - is support for Node 22 on the roadmap?

https://github.com/actions/setup-node added support for Node 22 as of https://github.com/actions/node-versions/releases/tag/22.0.0-8879734543, yet the runner errors when configured to use Node 22 in https://docs.github.com/en/actions/creating-actions/metadata-syntax-for-github-actions#runsusing-for-javascript-actions:

Error: System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Specified argument was out of the range of valid values. (Parameter ''using: node22' is not supported, use 'docker', 'node12', 'node16' or 'node20' instead.')

via jaymzh/main-branch-check-action#1 (comment)

[muzimuzhi]

I think they are different things.

• use of runs.using: 'node22' in metadata file (action.y(a)ml) for JavaScript actions is not supported yet.
• use of action

  - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
    with:
      node-version: 22
  # more steps using node and/or npm

  is supported, though not revealed from the doc of actions/setup-node@v4.

[bmuenzenmeyer]

Ran into this today - it's a pretty significant use case, IMO, in that it would support actions to be written in TypeScript and use --experimental-strip-types to run them natively.