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Running a series of shell commands directly in a workflow can quickly become messy. By placing your commands in a standalone script file and invoking it in one step, you maintain a clean, maintainable workflow.

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Table of Contents

StepDescriptionFile/Command
1Create the shell scriptascii-script.sh
2Show a failing workflow (permission error)./ascii-script.sh
3Update workflow to grant execute rightschmod +x ascii-script.sh
4Verify successful runActions → Logs

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1. Create the Shell Script

In your repository root, add a file named ascii-script.sh: 
#!/bin/sh
sudo apt-get update -y
sudo apt-get install cowsay -y
cowsay -f dragon "Run for cover, I am a DRAGON....RAWR" >> dragon.txt
grep -i "dragon" dragon.txt
ls -ltra
Commit and push this script.
Make sure your script uses a Unix-style line ending (LF) and the correct shebang (#!/bin/sh).

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2. Example: Workflow Fails Due to Permissions

A minimal workflow that invokes the script directly will fail because the checked-out file isn’t executable by default: 
name: Run ASCII Script

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]

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

      - name: List Files Before Run
        run: ls -ltra

      - name: Run Script
        run: ./ascii-script.sh
When this runs, you’ll see: 
/home/runner/work/_temp/abcdef.sh: line 1: ./ascii-script.sh: Permission denied
Error: Process completed with exit code 126
Without executable permissions, the runner cannot invoke your script. Always ensure your scripts are marked as executable before running.

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3. Grant Execute Permissions in Workflow

Update the workflow to add a chmod +x step before executing: 
name: Run ASCII Script

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]

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

      - name: List Files Before Run
        run: ls -ltra

      - name: Make Script Executable and Run
        run: |
          chmod +x ascii-script.sh
          ./ascii-script.sh
Commit and push these changes to trigger a new run.

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4. Verify the Workflow Run

  1. Go to the Actions tab and select your latest workflow.
  2. In List Files Before Run, notice ascii-script.sh is still -rw-r--r--: 
    -rw-r--r-- 1 runner docker 161 Oct 11 11:17 ascii-script.sh
  3. The Make Script Executable and Run step applies chmod +x and executes the script. You’ll see: 
    Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
...
Fetched 18.6 kB in 0s (177 kB/s)
Reading database...
  4. Finally, the script’s ls -ltra shows both the executable script and generated dragon.txt: 
    -rwxr-xr-x 1 runner docker 161 Oct 11 11:18 ascii-script.sh
-rw-r--r-- 1 runner docker 227 Oct 11 11:18 dragon.txt
With executable permissions in place, your script will run smoothly—keeping your workflow concise and your commands centralized.

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