actions/delete-package-versions

When configuring the action, you must use compatible input combinations. The following combinations are valid when used with the required parameters (owner, package-name, package-type, and token):

• num-old-versions-to-delete (alone)
• min-versions-to-keep (alone)
• delete-only-pre-release-versions (alone)
• ignore-versions (alone)
• num-old-versions-to-delete + ignore-versions
• min-versions-to-keep + ignore-versions
• min-versions-to-keep + delete-only-pre-release-versions
• delete-only-untagged-versions (alone)
• min-versions-to-keep + delete-only-untagged-versions

The token input is used to authenticate with GitHub Packages.

• Default Behavior: Defaults to github.token.
• When it is required: If the repository running the workflow does not have permission to delete the package.
  • For rubygems and maven: The repo has access if the package is hosted in the same repo as the workflow.
  • For container, npm, and nuget: The repo must be assigned the Admin role under Package Settings > Manage Actions Access.
• Scope Requirements:
  • If package-version-ids is provided: The token only needs the delete packages scope.
  • If package-version-ids is NOT provided: The token needs both delete packages and read packages scopes.

The actions/delete-package-versions action allows you to manage GitHub Packages by deleting specific versions, implementing retention policies, or cleaning up old/pre-release/untagged versions.

Important Limitations:

• The action will delete a maximum of 100 versions in a single run.
• Some input parameters are mutually exclusive (e.g., you cannot use num-old-versions-to-delete and min-versions-to-keep together).

- uses: actions/delete-package-versions@v5
  with:
    package-name: "your-package-name"
    package-type: "npm"
    owner: "your-org-or-user"
    token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

To delete a specific count of the oldest versions while protecting certain versions via regex, use num-old-versions-to-delete and ignore-versions.

Note: If the oldest $X$ versions include versions that match the ignore-versions pattern, fewer than $X$ versions will actually be deleted.

Required inputs: package-name, package-type, num-old-versions-to-delete, and ignore-versions.

- uses: actions/delete-package-versions@v5
  with: 
    package-name: 'test-package'
    package-type: 'npm'
    num-old-versions-to-delete: 3
    ignore-versions: '^(0|[1-9]\d*)\.0\.0$'

To keep the latest $Y$ versions but protect specific versions (like major releases) from deletion, use the ignore-versions input with a regex pattern.

Required inputs: package-name, package-type, min-versions-to-keep, and ignore-versions.

- uses: actions/delete-package-versions@v5
  with: 
    package-name: 'test-package'
    package-type: 'npm'
    min-versions-to-keep: 3
    ignore-versions: '^(0|[1-9]\d*)\.0\.0$'

To delete all pre-release versions while keeping a specific number of the most recent pre-release versions, use delete-only-pre-release-versions: 'true' and min-versions-to-keep.

Required inputs: package-name, package-type, min-versions-to-keep, and delete-only-pre-release-versions.

- uses: actions/delete-package-versions@v5
  with: 
    package-name: 'test-package'
    package-type: 'npm'
    min-versions-to-keep: 10
    delete-only-pre-release-versions: "true"

To clean up untagged container images, use delete-only-untagged-versions: 'true'.

Note: package-type must be set to container for this scenario.

Required inputs: package-name, package-type, min-versions-to-keep, and delete-only-untagged-versions.

- uses: actions/delete-package-versions@v5
  with: 
    package-name: 'test-package'
    package-type: 'container'
    min-versions-to-keep: 10
    delete-only-untagged-versions: 'true'

To delete exact versions, provide their unique IDs to the package-version-ids input. This input accepts a single ID or a comma-separated list of IDs.

IDs can be retrieved via the GitHub REST API.

Required inputs: package-name, package-type, and package-version-ids.

- uses: actions/delete-package-versions@v5
  with:
    package-version-ids: 'MDE0OlBhY2thZ2VWZXJzaW9uOTcyMDY3, MDE0OlBhY2thZ2VWZXJzaW9uOTcyMzQ5'
    package-name: 'test-package'
    package-type: 'npm'

Use deletePackageVersion to delete a specific package version via the GitHub API. It returns an Observable<boolean> that resolves to true if the version was successfully deleted (HTTP 204).

If the API call fails, the error message will include the specific error from GitHub or a fallback message indicating how many versions were successfully deleted prior to the failure.

// Note: This function returns an RxJS Observable
deletePackageVersion(
  packageVersionId: string, // The numeric ID of the package version
  owner: string,            // The owner of the package
  packageName: string,      // The name of the package
  packageType: string,      // The type of package (e.g., 'npm', 'maven', 'container', etc.)
  token: string             // GitHub personal access token
): Observable<boolean>