setup-node/docs/advanced-usage.md

Advanced usage

Check latest version

The check-latest flag defaults to false. When set to false, the action will first check the local cache for a semver match. If unable to find a specific version in the cache, the action will attempt to download a version of Node.js. It will pull LTS versions from node-versions releases and on miss or failure will fall back to the previous behavior of downloading directly from node dist. Use the default or set check-latest to false if you prefer stability and if you want to ensure a specific version of Node.js is always used.

If check-latest is set to true, the action first checks if the cached version is the latest one. If the locally cached version is not the most up-to-date, a version of Node.js will then be downloaded. Set check-latest to true it you want the most up-to-date version of Node.js to always be used.

Setting check-latest to true has performance implications as downloading versions of Node is slower than using cached versions.

steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- uses: actions/setup-node@v3
  with:
    node-version: '14'
    check-latest: true
- run: npm install
- run: npm test

Node version file

The node-version-file input accepts a path to a file containing the version of Node.js to be used by a project, for example .nvmrc or .node-version. If both the node-version and the node-version-file inputs are provided then the node-version input is used. See supported version syntax

The action will search for the node version file relative to the repository root.

steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- uses: actions/setup-node@v3
  with:
    node-version-file: '.nvmrc'
- run: npm install
- run: npm test

Architecture

You can use any of the supported operating systems, and the compatible architecture can be selected using architecture. Values are x86, x64, arm64, armv6l, armv7l, ppc64le, s390x (not all of the architectures are available on all platforms).

When using architecture, node-version must be provided as well.

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: windows-latest
    name: Node sample
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: '14'
          architecture: 'x64' # optional, x64 or x86. If not specified, x64 will be used by default
      - run: npm install
      - run: npm test

Caching packages dependencies

The action follows actions/cache guidelines, and caches global cache on the machine instead of node_modules, so cache can be reused between different Node.js versions.

Caching yarn dependencies: Yarn caching handles both yarn versions: 1 or 2.

steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- uses: actions/setup-node@v3
  with:
    node-version: '14'
    cache: 'yarn'
- run: yarn install
- run: yarn test

Caching pnpm (v6.10+) dependencies:

# This workflow uses actions that are not certified by GitHub.
# They are provided by a third-party and are governed by
# separate terms of service, privacy policy, and support
# documentation.

# NOTE: pnpm caching support requires pnpm version >= 6.10.0

steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- uses: pnpm/action-setup@646cdf48217256a3d0b80361c5a50727664284f2
  with:
    version: 6.10.0
- uses: actions/setup-node@v3
  with:
    node-version: '14'
    cache: 'pnpm'
- run: pnpm install
- run: pnpm test

Using wildcard patterns to cache dependencies

steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- uses: actions/setup-node@v3
  with:
    node-version: '14'
    cache: 'npm'
    cache-dependency-path: '**/package-lock.json'
- run: npm install
- run: npm test

Using a list of file paths to cache dependencies

steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- uses: actions/setup-node@v3
  with:
    node-version: '14'
    cache: 'npm'
    cache-dependency-path: |
      server/app/package-lock.json
      frontend/app/package-lock.json      
- run: npm install
- run: npm test

Multiple Operating Systems and Architectures

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    strategy:
      matrix:
        os:
          - ubuntu-latest
          - macos-latest
          - windows-latest
        node_version:
          - 12
          - 14
          - 16
        architecture:
          - x64
        # an extra windows-x86 run:
        include:
          - os: windows-2016
            node_version: 12
            architecture: x86
    name: Node ${{ matrix.node_version }} - ${{ matrix.architecture }} on ${{ matrix.os }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Setup node
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: ${{ matrix.node_version }}
          architecture: ${{ matrix.architecture }}
      - run: npm install
      - run: npm test

Publish to npmjs and GPR with npm

steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- uses: actions/setup-node@v3
  with:
    node-version: '14.x'
    registry-url: 'https://registry.npmjs.org'
- run: npm install
- run: npm publish
  env:
    NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
- uses: actions/setup-node@v3
  with:
    registry-url: 'https://npm.pkg.github.com'
- run: npm publish
  env:
    NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

Publish to npmjs and GPR with yarn

steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- uses: actions/setup-node@v3
  with:
    node-version: '14.x'
    registry-url: <registry url>
- run: yarn install
- run: yarn publish
  env:
    NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.YARN_TOKEN }}
- uses: actions/setup-node@v3
  with:
    registry-url: 'https://npm.pkg.github.com'
- run: yarn publish
  env:
    NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

Use private packages

steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- uses: actions/setup-node@v3
  with:
    node-version: '14.x'
    registry-url: 'https://registry.npmjs.org'
# Skip post-install scripts here, as a malicious
# script could steal NODE_AUTH_TOKEN.
- run: npm install --ignore-scripts
  env:
    NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
# `npm rebuild` will run all those post-install scripts for us.
- run: npm rebuild && npm run prepare --if-present