GitHub Action: publish a markdown report as a shareable link

What does the action do?

It POSTs the file to the Docs MD share API, masks the returned edit token, and exposes the reading URL, raw URL, id and expiry as step outputs. It is a composite action (bash + curl + jq), so there is no container to pull and nothing to install.

- name: Publish report
  id: report
  uses: invisible-hand/share-markdown-action@v1
  with:
    file: bundle-report.md
    expiry: 7d            # 1d | 7d | 30d | never

- name: Link it from the job summary
  run: echo "Readable report: ${{ steps.report.outputs.url }}" >> "$GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY"

What are the inputs and outputs?

How do I post a test report link on every pull request?

Generate the report, publish it, and comment the URL on the PR. Reviewers without a GitHub account for that repository — a client, a QA vendor — can still open it.

name: Test report
on: [pull_request]
jobs:
  report:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      pull-requests: write
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm ci && npm test -- --reporter=markdown > test-report.md || true
      - id: share
        uses: invisible-hand/share-markdown-action@v1
        with:
          file: test-report.md
          expiry: 7d
      - uses: actions/github-script@v7
        with:
          script: |
            github.rest.issues.createComment({
              owner: context.repo.owner, repo: context.repo.repo,
              issue_number: context.issue.number,
              body: `Test report for ${context.sha.slice(0,7)}: ${{ steps.share.outputs.url }}`
            })

How do I keep one stable URL and update it on every run?

Create the share once (a first run of the action, or the editor), save the id and edit-token outputs as repository secrets, and pass them back in. The action then updates the existing page instead of creating a new one — a status page, a nightly benchmark table, a changelog draft.

- uses: invisible-hand/share-markdown-action@v1
  with:
    file: STATUS.md
    share-id: ${{ secrets.STATUS_SHARE_ID }}
    edit-token: ${{ secrets.STATUS_EDIT_TOKEN }}

What are the limits?

• 120,000 characters per file; 20 shares per minute per IP (a busy monorepo with many parallel jobs should stagger publishes).
• Shares are public to anyone with the link. Never publish secrets, private hostnames or customer data.
• Expiry deletes the page at its URL; it does not recall copies already fetched.
• Pin to @v1 for stability or to a commit SHA for reproducibility. Source and issues: share-markdown-action repository.

Prefer a plain script? The API docs carry a 12-line bash equivalent. For documents an assistant writes rather than CI, see the agent handoff walkthrough.

FAQ