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Automate ASCII art creation on every push with a dedicated GitHub Actions workflow. Using cowsay, you’ll generate and display art in your CI logs, verify its output, and explore how ephemeral runners handle generated files.

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1. Create the Workflow File

Under .github/workflows, create generate-ascii.yaml: 
name: Generate ASCII Artwork
on:
  push:

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

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

      - name: Execute Cowsay
        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 Repository Files
        run: ls -ltra

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2. Workflow Steps Overview

StepPurposeCommand
Checkout RepoFetch code from GitHubactions/checkout@v4
Install CowsayAdd ASCII-art generator to runnersudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install cowsay -y
Generate ASCII ArtCreate the dragon artworkcowsay -f dragon "..." >> dragon.txt
Verify OutputConfirm “dragon” appears in the filegrep -i "dragon" dragon.txt
Display ArtworkPrint the generated ASCII artcat dragon.txt
List Repo FilesInspect runner workspace contentsls -ltra
Installing cowsay is crucial. Without it, any cowsay commands will fail.

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3. Workflow Execution & Results

Once you commit and push, GitHub Actions triggers all workflows on push. In our example:
The image shows a GitHub Actions page with a list of workflow runs, including their status, branch, and action details. Some workflows are in progress, while others have completed with different outcomes.
  • The legacy workflow fails because it skips the cowsay install.
  • Generate ASCII Artwork completes successfully.

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Installation Logs

Run sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install cowsay -y
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
Suggested packages:
  filters cowsay-off
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  cowsay
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 30 not upgraded.
Need to get 18.6 kB of archives.
...

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Generate & Verify Art

cowsay -f dragon "Run for cover, I am a DRAGON....RAWR" >> dragon.txt
grep -i "dragon" dragon.txt
cat dragon.txt

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List Workspace Files

ls -ltra
total 24
drwxr-xr-x 3 runner docker 4096 Oct 11 11:04 .
-rw-r--r-- 1 runner docker  227 Oct 11 11:04 README.md
drwxr-xr-x 8 runner docker 4096 Oct 11 11:04 .github
drwxr-xr-x 4 runner docker 4096 Oct 11 11:04 .git
-rw-r--r-- 1 runner docker 1017 Oct 11 11:04 dragon.txt

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4. Ephemeral Runner Environment

Art files like dragon.txt exist only on the runner VM. Once the job ends, the VM is torn down and all generated files are lost.
The image shows a GitHub repository page titled "actions-1" with a README file open, discussing GitHub Actions for automating workflows.

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5. Disabling Unused Workflows

If you have multiple workflows on the same event, disable any you don’t need:
  1. Go to your repo’s Actions tab.
  2. Select the workflow to disable.
  3. Click Disable workflow.
This saves CI minutes and reduces clutter.

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