share

Passing a value from one job to another in raw YAML is a three-part chore: give the step an id, echo the value to $GITHUB_OUTPUT, declare it under the producing job's outputs:, add the consuming job to needs:, then read it back through ${{ needs.<job>.outputs.<name> }}. share collapses all of that. Attach it to the producing step, reference the value anywhere as ${{ share.<name> }}, and Actio wires id, job.outputs, needs, and the runtime reference for you.

share is for outputs you mint on your own step — a value you compute or capture. To reference an output that already exists — an action's uses: output, a hand-written $GITHUB_OUTPUT write, or a reusable call-job output — use ref. They are two front-ends over the same wiring engine.

name: Release
on: [push]
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: ./build.sh
        share:
          version:
            run: cat VERSION
            required: true
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: ./deploy.sh ${{ share.version }}

name: Release
on:
  - push
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: |-
          ./build.sh
          {
            __ACTIO_EOF="ACTIO_EOF_version_$(openssl rand -hex 8 2>/dev/null || echo ${RANDOM}${RANDOM})"
            echo "version<<${__ACTIO_EOF}"
            cat VERSION
            echo "${__ACTIO_EOF}"
          } >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
        id: step_version
    outputs: 
      version: ${{ steps.step_version.outputs.version }}
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: ./deploy.sh ${{ needs.build.outputs.version }}
    needs: 
      - build

name: Release
on: [push]
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: ./build.sh
        share:
          version:
            run: cat VERSION
            required: true
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: ./deploy.sh ${{ share.version }}

name: Release
on:
  - push
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: |-
          ./build.sh
          {
            __ACTIO_EOF="ACTIO_EOF_version_$(openssl rand -hex 8 2>/dev/null || echo ${RANDOM}${RANDOM})"
            echo "version<<${__ACTIO_EOF}"
            cat VERSION
            echo "${__ACTIO_EOF}"
          } >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
        id: step_version
    outputs: 
      version: ${{ steps.step_version.outputs.version }}
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: ./deploy.sh ${{ needs.build.outputs.version }}
    needs: 
      - build

The ${{ share.version }} reference in deploy is resolved to ${{ needs.build.outputs.version }}, and needs: [build] is added automatically. The capture uses a randomized heredoc delimiter so multi-line values can't break the $GITHUB_OUTPUT file format.

Forms

share accepts a map of <name> → output definition in one of two forms:

• value-form (value:) — publish a static or expression value directly.
• capture-form (run:) — run a command and capture its stdout as the output.

Gotchas

See the share entry in the syntax reference for the full option list.