What is GitHub Local Actions used for?

GitHub Local Actions is a VS Code extension that runs GitHub Actions workflows locally using nektos/act, with workflow and run-history views. It is a good fit for testing workflows before pushing and debugging CI jobs locally.

Is GitHub Local Actions open source?

Yes. GitHub Local Actions is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at SanjulaGanepola/github-local-actions and is written mainly in TypeScript.

Is GitHub Local Actions free?

Yes. GitHub Local Actions is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

What are some alternatives to GitHub Local Actions?

Similar open-source tools in the CI/CD & DevOps category include Act, Earthly and actionlint. SaaS products in the same category include Blacksmith, Depot and Namespace.

Is GitHub Local Actions actively maintained?

The most recent commit to GitHub Local Actions was on 5 April 2025, and the latest release is v1.2.5, published on 25 March 2025. The project has 761 stars on GitHub.

GitHub Local Actions: open-source CI/CD & DevOps

About GitHub Local Actions

GitHub Local Actions, listed here under its author's handle, is a Visual Studio Code extension for running GitHub Actions workflows on your own machine. It removes the need to commit and push every time you want to test a workflow change, and its interface is designed to feel like the official GitHub Actions extension.

You can run whole workflows or individual jobs, trigger standard GitHub events to run several workflows, view the run history and logs of past runs, and manage settings such as secrets, variables, inputs, runners, payloads and options. Under the hood the extension builds an act command from the nektos/act CLI and runs it as a VS Code task.

Docker Engine is required to run workflows in containers that mirror GitHub's environment, though selected jobs, such as Windows or macOS ones, can run directly on the host system without Docker. The extension is licensed under Apache-2.0 and has its own documentation site.

Key features

Run workflows and jobs from VS Code
Trigger standard GitHub events
Workflow run history and logs
Manage secrets, variables and inputs
Powered by nektos/act
Docker or host system runners

Good fit for

→Testing workflows before pushing
→Debugging CI jobs locally

Built with: TypeScript
Tags: github-actions; vscode; ci; devops; act; docker; vscode-extension; local-testing

GitHub Local Actions: questions and answers

What is GitHub Local Actions used for?: GitHub Local Actions is a VS Code extension that runs GitHub Actions workflows locally using nektos/act, with workflow and run-history views. It is a good fit for testing workflows before pushing and debugging CI jobs locally.
Is GitHub Local Actions open source?: Yes. GitHub Local Actions is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at SanjulaGanepola/github-local-actions and is written mainly in TypeScript.
Is GitHub Local Actions free?: Yes. GitHub Local Actions is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
What are some alternatives to GitHub Local Actions?: Similar open-source tools in the CI/CD & DevOps category include Act, Earthly and actionlint. SaaS products in the same category include Blacksmith, Depot and Namespace.
Is GitHub Local Actions actively maintained?: The most recent commit to GitHub Local Actions was on 5 April 2025, and the latest release is v1.2.5, published on 25 March 2025. The project has 761 stars on GitHub.