GitHub Actions: Expressions, Contexts, Variables, and Outputs/Set an environment variable for later steps
Append to `GITHUB_ENV` to persist a variable in the current job.
Section: Env files, step outputs, and job outputs
Set an environment variable for later steps
bash
bash
echo "IMAGE_TAG=${GITHUB_SHA}" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"Explanation
This is the supported way to set environment variables for subsequent steps in the job.
Learn the surrounding workflow
Compare similar commands or jump into common fixes when this command is part of a bigger troubleshooting path.
Related commands
Same sheet · prioritizing Env files, step outputs, and job outputs
Read a previous step output
Use the `steps` context to consume a step output.
Promote a step output to a job output
Pass values between jobs through `needs`.
Write a multiline value to GITHUB_OUTPUT
Preserve newlines in an output variable.
Use repository or organization variables
Read configuration values from the `vars` context.