act

A tool that runs GitHub Actions workflows on your own machine. It gives quick feedback without pushing commits and can also serve as a local task runner.

Share on XLicense: MIT

Overview

act runs your GitHub Actions workflows on your own machine. It reads the files in .github/workflows, works out which jobs to run, and uses the Docker API to pull or build images and run a container for each action, with environment variables and filesystem set up to match GitHub. This gives fast feedback without committing and pushing each change. It can also stand in for a Makefile as a local task runner. It is written in Go.

Key features

  • Runs workflows from .github/workflows locally
  • Uses Docker containers for each action
  • Matches GitHub environment variables and filesystem
  • Works as a local task runner in place of make
  • A VS Code extension can manage and run it

Best for

Developers who edit GitHub Actions workflows and want to test them without pushing commits. Docker is required.

Upstream
nektos/act
Fork on GitHub
Guo-astro/act
Upstream stars
72k
Category
Developer tools and infrastructure
License
MIT
Forked
2026-09-12
Sync status
In syncLast synced 2026-09-29