Azure Blob Upload

This GitHub Action a simple and easy way to upload any files to any blob container.

• There are a few samples below to help you get started (under the Examples section).
• Visit this repo's main_release.yml workflow to see the working tests for examples of different use cases.
• To see a production app using this Action, visit Media File Manager repo's cd_release_sideload.yml workflow.

Workflow	Status
main

Inputs

Below are the action's inputs that need to be defined in the Action's with block.

Required	Inputs	Example	Summary
✔	Authentication	See basic use examples	You can use a ConnectionString or a Service Principal for authentication.
✔	container_name	my-container	Name of the Blob container.
✔	source_folder	src/LocalFolderName/	Folder with the files to upload. Note that the path separators will be automatically normalized for you.
	destination_folder	MyTargetFolder/Subfolder	Folder to upload to (it will be created for you if it does not exist).
	clean_destination_folder	false (default)	Delete all destination files before uploading new ones.
	fail_if_source_empty	false (default)	Set to true if you want action to fail if source folder has no files.
	is_recursive	true (default)	Set to false if you want all subfolders ignored.
	delete_if_exists	false (default)	Set to true if you want to overwrite an exiting blob with the same filename.

Authentication Method

Option 1 - ConnectionString

The most common and easy approach is to use a connection string for that blob storage. You can find them on your storage account's "Access Keys" blade in the Azure Portal.

Required	Inputs	Example	Summary
✔	connection_string	${{secrets.AZURE_CONNECTION_STRING}}	Azure Blob Storage conection string (for help, visit View Account Access Keys).

Option 2 - Service Principal

Service principal, aka an Entra ID Application, uses a managed identity to authenticate access. This is helpful for more complex scenarios where the identity might be dynamic or an app identity only.

Required	Inputs	Example	Summary
✔	tenant_id	${{secrets.AZURE_TENANT_ID}}	The App Registration tenant ID used for Service Principal authentication.
✔	client_id	${{secrets.AZURE_CLIENT_ID}}	The App Registration client (application) ID used for Service Principal authentication.
✔	client_secret	${{secrets.AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET}}	The App Registration client secret used for Service Principal authentication.
✔	storage_account	storageaccount	The name of the Azure Storage account to be accessed. Need for authenticating a Service Principal.

Examples

If you copy-paste from the examples below, make sure the version number is up to date. For example, you can an exact version number LanceMcCarthy/[email protected] or you can use just the major number LanceMcCarthy/Action-AzureBlobUpload@v3 to get the latest release for that version (most common).

Basic Use

In the most basic form, the Action will upload all the files in the source_folder to the root of that blob container. Here's the same example using both authentication methods.

Using Connection String Authentication

- uses: LanceMcCarthy/Action-AzureBlobUpload@v3
  name: Uploading to Azure storage...
  with:
    connection_string: ${{secrets.YourAzureBlobConnectionString}}
    container_name: your-container-name
    source_folder: src/LocalFolderName/

Using Service Prinicipal Authentication (App Registration)

- uses: LanceMcCarthy/Action-AzureBlobUpload@v3
  name: Uploading to Azure storage...
  with:
    tenant_id: ${{secrets.YourTenantID}}
    client_id: ${{secrets.YourClientID}}
    client_secret: ${{secrets.YourClientSecret}}
    storage_account: your-storage-account
    container_name: your-container-name
    source_folder: src/LocalFolderName/

Note

The rest of the examples use the connection string authentication option for simplicity, but it is the same when using Service Principal.

Set a Destination Folder (most common)

If you want to upload the files to a folder in the blob container, you can set a destination_folder.

In this example, we use clean_destination_folder, which gives you a clean start for the entire operation.

- uses: LanceMcCarthy/Action-AzureBlobUpload@v2
  name: Azure Blob Upload with Destination folder defined
  with:
    connection_string: ${{secrets.YourAzureBlobConnectionString}}
    container_name: your-container-name
    source_folder: src/LocalFolderName/
    destination_folder: FolderNameInAzureStorage
    clean_destination_folder: true

Alternatively, you can use delete_if_exists if you only want to overwrite some files, but keep the rest.

- uses: LanceMcCarthy/Action-AzureBlobUpload@v2
  name: Azure Blob Upload with Destination folder defined
  with:
    connection_string: ${{secrets.YourAzureBlobConnectionString}}
    container_name: your-container-name
    source_folder: src/LocalFolderName/
    destination_folder: FolderNameInAzureStorage
    delete_if_exists: true

Ignore Subfolder

If you want to upload only files in the source_folder and skip subfolders and subfolder files, set is_recursive to false.

- name: Upload Text Files Non-recursive
  uses: LanceMcCarthy/Action-AzureBlobUpload@v2
  with:
    connection_string: ${{secrets.AzureBlobConnectionString}}
    container_name: your-container-name
    source_folder: src/LocalFolderName/
    destination_folder: FolderNameInAzureStorage
    clean_destination_folder: true
    is_recursive: false

Single File Mode

You can set the source_folder to a single file path to upload only one file. For example, this one uploads MySingleFileApplication.exe.

- uses: LanceMcCarthy/Action-AzureBlobUpload@v2
  name: Azure Blob Upload with Destination folder defined
  with:
    connection_string: ${{secrets.YourAzureBlobConnectionString}}
    container_name: your-container-name
    source_folder: src/LocalFolderName/MySingleFileApplication.exe
    destination_folder: FolderNameInAzureStorage

Advanced - Full Control

Here is an example that might represent a real-world Workflow that needs precise control over things.

• The source folder uses an environment variable uses (see Using Variables in Actions).
• The connection string uses a secrets variable.
• The desination folder combines a name and the run number of the workflow (see GitHub Context variables).
• The action will fail and stop the Workflow if there are no files to upload.

- uses: LanceMcCarthy/Action-AzureBlobUpload@v2
  name: Azure Blob Upload with Destination folder defined
  with:
    connection_string: ${{secrets.DeploymentsBlobConnectionString}}
    container_name: my-cd-container
    source_folder: ${{env.BuildOutputFolder}}
    destination_folder: Distributions/${{github.run_number}}
    clean_destination_folder: true
    fail_if_source_empty: true

Important Notes

Environment Variables

If you need to use a environment variable for a with input, you must use the ${{env.Name}} syntax and not $env:Name. See Github Contexts documentation for more help.

For example:

with:
  source_folder: $env:MyVariable # Does NOT work
  source_folder: ${{env.MyVariable}} # Works