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GitHub Actions’ continue-on-error expression lets you prevent failures in a specific step or an entire job from aborting your workflow. You can use this setting to:
  • Handle non-critical errors without stopping downstream steps.
  • Upload logs and artifacts even when tests or checks fail.
  • Experiment with unstable configurations in a matrix without blocking the run.
Below is an overview of how continue-on-error behaves at each level:
LevelScopeTypical Use Case
StepA single step within a jobAllow a flaky test or coverage threshold to fail “softly”
JobThe entire job in a workflowLet an experimental matrix configuration fail quietly

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Continue-on-error at the Step Level

When you set continue-on-error: true on a step, a non-zero exit code won’t fail the job. This is ideal for allowing post-test uploads or cleanup steps to run even if tests or coverage checks fail.
The image shows a GitHub Docs page about GitHub Actions, specifically focusing on the "continue-on-error" feature in workflow syntax. It includes an example of preventing a specific failing matrix job from causing a workflow run to fail.
In this example, the Code Coverage job executes tests, enforces a coverage threshold, and then uploads the report regardless of success or failure. 
# .github/workflows/coverage.yml
jobs:
  code-coverage:
    name: Code Coverage
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout Repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: 18

      - name: Install Dependencies
        run: npm install

      - name: Check Code Coverage
        continue-on-error: true
        run: npm run coverage

      - name: Archive Coverage Report
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
        with:
          name: Code-Coverage-Result
          path: coverage
          retention-days: 5
By enabling continue-on-error on the coverage step, your workflow still uploads the coverage report even if the threshold isn’t met.
Example output when coverage fails: 
> nyc --reporter cobertura --reporter lcov --reporter text --reporter json-summary mocha app-test.js --timeout 10000 --exit

ERROR: Coverage for lines (88.8%) does not meet global threshold (90%)
...
Error: Process completed with exit code 1
Despite the exit code, the Archive Coverage Report step proceeds and your artifact is saved.

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Continue-on-error at the Job Level

Applying continue-on-error on a job prevents that job from failing the entire workflow run. This is useful for matrix jobs where you want an “experimental” axis to fail quietly. 
# .github/workflows/main.yml
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    continue-on-error: ${{ matrix.experimental }}
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        node: [13, 14]
        os: [macos-latest, ubuntu-latest]
        experimental: [false]
      include:
        - node: 15
          os: ubuntu-latest
          experimental: true
    steps:
      - name: Checkout Repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: ${{ matrix.node }}

      # ... additional test steps ...
Here, any job with matrix.experimental: true will not block the workflow on failure. Below is the workflow summary, showing completed unit tests, a coverage job with an error, and the uploaded artifacts:
The image shows a GitHub Actions workflow summary with completed unit testing jobs and a code coverage job that has an error. It also lists artifacts produced during runtime, including "Code-Coverage-Result" and "Mocha-Test-Result."

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