denoland/deno · error · anyhow::Error

GITHUB_REF environment variable is not set

Error message

GITHUB_REF environment variable is not set

What it means

Provenance predicate construction reads `GITHUB_REF` (the branch/tag ref being built) after GITHUB_SERVER_URL and throws this message when it is unset. All of these variables are stock on GitHub Actions runners; a missing one means the publish process is not seeing the full Actions environment.

Source

Thrown at cli/tools/publish/provenance.rs:183

      anyhow!("GITHUB_REPOSITORY environment variable is not set")
    })?;
    let rel_ref = std::env::var("GITHUB_WORKFLOW_REF")
      .unwrap_or_default()
      .replace(&format!("{}/", &repo), "");

    let (workflow_path, workflow_ref) = if let Some(delimn) = rel_ref.find('@')
    {
      let (path, ref_) = rel_ref.split_at(delimn);
      (path, &ref_[1..])
    } else {
      (rel_ref.as_str(), "")
    };

    let server_url = std::env::var("GITHUB_SERVER_URL").map_err(|_| {
      anyhow!("GITHUB_SERVER_URL environment variable is not set")
    })?;
    let github_ref = std::env::var("GITHUB_REF")
      .map_err(|_| anyhow!("GITHUB_REF environment variable is not set"))?;
    let github_sha = std::env::var("GITHUB_SHA")
      .map_err(|_| anyhow!("GITHUB_SHA environment variable is not set"))?;
    let runner_env = std::env::var("RUNNER_ENVIRONMENT").map_err(|_| {
      anyhow!("RUNNER_ENVIRONMENT environment variable is not set")
    })?;
    let run_id = std::env::var("GITHUB_RUN_ID")
      .map_err(|_| anyhow!("GITHUB_RUN_ID environment variable is not set"))?;
    let run_attempt = std::env::var("GITHUB_RUN_ATTEMPT").map_err(|_| {
      anyhow!("GITHUB_RUN_ATTEMPT environment variable is not set")
    })?;

    Ok(Self {
      build_definition: BuildDefinition {
        build_type: GITHUB_BUILD_TYPE,
        external_parameters: ExternalParameters {
          workflow: GhaWorkflow {
            ref_: workflow_ref.to_string(),
            repository: format!("{}/{}", server_url, &repo),

View on GitHub (pinned to 89f33cbef2)

Solutions

1. Forward the complete Actions environment into the publish process (GITHUB_REF included)
2. Run publish directly on the runner instead of through an env-sanitizing wrapper
3. Drop `--provenance` when publishing outside GitHub Actions

if [ -z "$GITHUB_REF" ]; then
  echo "GITHUB_REF unset — publish --provenance needs the full Actions env" >&2
  exit 1
fi

When it happens

Trigger: `deno publish --provenance` in an environment where GITHUB_REPOSITORY and GITHUB_SERVER_URL exist but GITHUB_REF does not — partial env forwarding into a container, or a wrapper that clears specific variables.

Common situations: Dockerized CI steps with selective env passthrough; minimal repro environments built by copying only a few runner variables.

Related errors

• GITHUB_REPOSITORY environment variable is not set
• GITHUB_SERVER_URL environment variable is not set
• GITHUB_SHA environment variable is not set
• RUNNER_ENVIRONMENT environment variable is not set
• GITHUB_RUN_ID environment variable is not set

AI-assisted analysis of denoland/deno@89f33cbef2 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/025c61d40ea92033. Report an issue: GitHub.