Workflow to Generate ASCII Artwork

Automate ASCII art generation using the cowsay utility in a dedicated GitHub Actions workflow. Isolating this process into its own workflow file keeps your CI/CD pipelines clean and easy to maintain.

1. Create the Workflow File

Under .github/workflows/, create generate-ascii.yaml and add:

name: Generate ASCII Artwork

on:
  push:

jobs:
  ascii_job:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout Repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Install cowsay
        run: |
          sudo apt-get update
          sudo apt-get install -y cowsay

      - name: Generate ASCII Art
        run: cowsay -f dragon "Run for cover, I am a DRAGON....RAWR" >> dragon.txt

      - name: Verify Output
        run: grep -i "dragon" dragon.txt

      - name: Display Artwork
        run: cat dragon.txt

      - name: List Workspace Files
        run: ls -ltra

Summary of Steps

Step	Purpose
Checkout Repository	Retrieves your code so later steps can access files
Install cowsay	Installs the `cowsay` utility on the Ubuntu runner
Generate ASCII Art	Creates dragon ASCII art and appends it to `dragon.txt`
Verify Output	Confirms the word “dragon” exists in the text file
Display Artwork	Prints the ASCII art to the console
List Workspace Files	Ensures `dragon.txt` is present in the runner directory

2. Trigger the Workflow

Commit and push the new workflow to your repository:

git add .github/workflows/generate-ascii.yaml
git commit -m "Add Generate ASCII Artwork workflow"
git push origin main

GitHub Actions will detect the push event and run all workflows configured for it—including your new ASCII art generator.

3. View and Inspect Runs

Navigate to the Actions tab in your GitHub repository to see the status of each workflow:

The image shows a GitHub Actions page with a list of workflow runs, including their status, branch, and timestamps. Some workflows are in progress, while others have completed with success or failure.

Successful Run Logs

Run sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y cowsay
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  cowsay
Fetched 18.6 kB in 0s (269 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package cowsay.
...
> grep -i dragon dragon.txt
Run for cover, I am a DRAGON....RAWR

> cat dragon.txt
 ____________
< Run for cover, I am a DRAGON....RAWR >
 ------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

Note

Files created during a workflow run (e.g., dragon.txt) exist only on the runner VM. They are removed once the job completes and do not persist in your repository.

4. Disable an Outdated Workflow

If you have multiple workflows listening on push and want to prevent an old one from running:

Open the Actions tab and select the workflow to disable.
Click Disable workflow in the sidebar.

Warning

Disabling a workflow stops all future runs for that configuration. Ensure you’re disabling the correct workflow.

References

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