VHS Action

To automate GIF generation using VHS in your GitHub workflows, follow these steps:

1. Create a workflow file at .github/workflows/vhs.yml in your project.
2. Configure the workflow using one of the provided examples (e.g., auto-committing the GIF or commenting it on a Pull Request).
3. Create .tape files in your repository containing the VHS instructions for the demo you want to record.
4. Trigger the action by making a commit or opening a pull request, depending on your workflow configuration.

Whenever the action is triggered, VHS will regenerate the GIF from your .tape files on CI.

# Example workflow structure
name: VHS
on: [push]
jobs:
  vhs:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: charmbracelet/vhs-action@v2
        with:
          path: demo.tape

The action follows a specific lifecycle during execution:

1. Validation: If a path is provided, it checks for the file's existence and readability.
2. Environment Setup: It installs required fonts and dependencies.
3. Installation: It installs the specified version of the VHS binary.
4. Path Configuration: It adds the VHS binary directory to the system PATH.
5. Terminal Configuration:
   • It unsets the CI environment variable to ensure termenv does not ignore ANSI sequences.
   • It sets COLORTERM to truecolor to enable true color support in GitHub Actions.
6. Execution: If a path was provided, it runs the command: ${bin} ${filePath}.

You can use the following patterns for your VHS workflow:

• Auto-commit latest generated GIF file: Automatically commits the newly generated GIF back to your repository. See examples/auto-commit.yml.
• Upload GIF to host and comment on PR: Uploads the generated GIF to a host and posts it as a comment on a Pull Request. See examples/comment-pr.yml.

The vhs-action accepts the following inputs in your GitHub Actions workflow:

By default, the action provides JetBrains Mono. If you set install-fonts to true, you can access additional fonts and their Nerd Font variations, including:

• Bitstream Vera Sans Mono
• DejaVu
• Fira Code
• Hack
• IBM Plex Mono
• Inconsolata
• Liberation
• Roboto Mono
• Source Code Pro
• Ubuntu Mono

The vhs-action requires specific inputs to function correctly within a GitHub Actions workflow.

• version: The version of VHS to install.
• path: (Optional) The path to the .tape file that VHS should execute. If provided, the action validates that the file exists and is readable before attempting to run it.

When a path is provided, the action automatically executes the VHS binary against that file.

inputs:
  version: 
    description: 'VHS version to install'
  path: 
    description: 'Path to the .tape file to run'
    required: false