Support `entrypoint` and `command` for service containers by ericsciple · Pull Request #4276 · actions/runner

ericsciple · 2026-03-04T15:01:22Z

Summary

Adds support for entrypoint and command properties on service containers in workflow YAML.

Feature flag:

actions_service_container_command

Changes

Updated both legacy (PipelineTemplateConverter) and new (WorkflowTemplateConverter) parsers to support entrypoint and command on service containers when the flag is on, and emit context.Error with source location when the flag is off
Set existing ContainerInfo.EntryPoint and ContainerInfo.Command properties, which DockerCommandManager already uses for docker create

E2E Testing

Validated end-to-end using the following workflow:

Test workflow

services:
  custom-nginx:
    image: nginx:alpine
    ports:
      - 19080:80
    entrypoint: /bin/sh
    command: >-
      -c "echo 'entrypoint-and-command-works' > /usr/share/nginx/html/proof.txt && nginx -g 'daemon off;'"
steps:
  - name: Verify entrypoint and command
    run: |
      RESULT=$(curl -sf http://localhost:19080/proof.txt)
      [ "$RESULT" = "entrypoint-and-command-works" ] && echo "SUCCESS" || exit 1

ericsciple · 2026-03-04T20:08:45Z

src/Sdk/WorkflowParser/workflow-v1.0.json

          "image": {
            "type": "string",
-            "description": "Use `jobs.<job_id>.container.image` to define the Docker image to use as the container to run the action. The value can be the Docker Hub image or a registry name."
+            "description": "The Docker image to use as the container. The value can be the Docker Hub image or a registry name."


Matches descriptions from server copy

ericsciple · 2026-03-04T20:20:32Z

src/Runner.Worker/Container/ContainerInfo.cs

            this.ContainerImage = containerImage;
            this.ContainerDisplayName = $"{container.Alias}_{Pipelines.Validation.NameValidation.Sanitize(containerImage)}_{Guid.NewGuid().ToString("N").Substring(0, 6)}";
            this.ContainerCreateOptions = container.Options;
+            this.ContainerEntryPoint = container.Entrypoint;


Sets existing properties, which DockerCommandManager already uses for docker create

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds support for entrypoint and command on service containers in workflow YAML, gated behind the actions_service_container_command feature flag, and wires the parsed values through to container creation.

Changes:

Extend both legacy (DTPipelines) and new (WorkflowParser) schemas/parsers to recognize services.<id>.entrypoint and services.<id>.command.
Gate parsing/evaluation via actions_service_container_command (plus ACTIONS_SERVICE_CONTAINER_COMMAND env var fallback) and emit a validation error when disabled.
Add/extend L0 coverage to validate parity between legacy and new evaluators (flag on/off cases).

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 15 out of 15 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/Test/L0/Worker/PipelineTemplateEvaluatorWrapperL0.cs	Updates wrapper construction and adds tests for service container `entrypoint`/`command` with flag on/off.
src/Sdk/WorkflowParser/workflow-v1.0.json	Introduces `service-container-mapping` and allows `entrypoint`/`command` under services.
src/Sdk/WorkflowParser/WorkflowFeatures.cs	Adds `AllowServiceContainerCommand` feature switch to WorkflowParser feature set.
src/Sdk/WorkflowParser/JobContainer.cs	Adds `Entrypoint` and `Command` properties to WorkflowParser `JobContainer`.
src/Sdk/WorkflowParser/Conversion/WorkflowTemplateConverter.cs	Parses/gates `entrypoint`/`command` and sets them on the converted container model.
src/Sdk/WorkflowParser/Conversion/WorkflowTemplateConstants.cs	Adds constants for `entrypoint` and `command` keys.
src/Sdk/DTPipelines/workflow-v1.0.json	Introduces `service-container-mapping` for legacy schema and allows `entrypoint`/`command` under services.
src/Sdk/DTPipelines/Pipelines/ObjectTemplating/PipelineTemplateEvaluator.cs	Threads `AllowServiceContainerCommand` through service container evaluation.
src/Sdk/DTPipelines/Pipelines/ObjectTemplating/PipelineTemplateConverter.cs	Parses/gates `entrypoint`/`command` for legacy `JobContainer` conversion.
src/Sdk/DTPipelines/Pipelines/ObjectTemplating/PipelineTemplateConstants.cs	Adds constants for `entrypoint` and `command` keys in legacy pipeline templating.
src/Sdk/DTPipelines/Pipelines/JobContainer.cs	Adds `Entrypoint` and `Command` properties to legacy `JobContainer`.
src/Runner.Worker/PipelineTemplateEvaluatorWrapper.cs	Passes the flag into both evaluators and compares `Entrypoint`/`Command` for mismatch recording.
src/Runner.Worker/ExecutionContext.cs	Reads feature flag + env var and propagates it to evaluators/wrapper.
src/Runner.Worker/Container/ContainerInfo.cs	Maps parsed `Entrypoint`/`Command` into `ContainerInfo` for downstream container creation.
src/Runner.Common/Constants.cs	Adds `actions_service_container_command` feature flag constant.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

src/Runner.Worker/PipelineTemplateEvaluatorWrapper.cs:418

These mismatch logs include the full Command value. command often contains long shell fragments and can include secrets; consider avoiding logging the raw command (or redact/limit it) to reduce the risk of leaking sensitive workflow content into diagnostic logs.

            if (!string.Equals(legacyResult.Command, newResult.Command, StringComparison.Ordinal))
            {
                _trace.Info($"CompareJobContainer mismatch - Command differs (legacy='{legacyResult.Command}', new='{newResult.Command}')");
                return false;
            }

src/Runner.Worker/PipelineTemplateEvaluatorWrapper.cs

src/Runner.Worker/Container/ContainerInfo.cs

Support entrypoint and command for service containers

296ae07

ericsciple force-pushed the users/ericsciple/26-03-services branch from b5f9f62 to 296ae07 Compare March 4, 2026 17:32

ericsciple commented Mar 4, 2026

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ericsciple marked this pull request as ready for review March 4, 2026 20:21

ericsciple requested a review from a team as a code owner March 4, 2026 20:21

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings March 4, 2026 20:21

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of ericsciple March 4, 2026 20:21 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Mar 4, 2026

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ericsciple changed the title ~~Support entrypoint and command for service containers~~ Support entrypoint and command for service containers Mar 4, 2026

luketomlinson approved these changes Mar 4, 2026

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ericsciple enabled auto-merge (squash) March 4, 2026 23:32

Merge branch 'main' into users/ericsciple/26-03-services

d5a090c

ericsciple merged commit 20111cb into main Mar 4, 2026
11 checks passed

ericsciple deleted the users/ericsciple/26-03-services branch March 4, 2026 23:36

github-actions bot mentioned this pull request Mar 19, 2026

Update GH Runner from 2.329.0 to 2.333.0 PasseiDireto/gh-runner#132

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dawidmalina pushed a commit to dawidmalina/github-runner that referenced this pull request Mar 19, 2026

Support entrypoint and command for service containers (actions#4276)

2332a85

github-actions bot mentioned this pull request Mar 28, 2026

Update GH Runner from 2.329.0 to 2.333.1 PasseiDireto/gh-runner#133

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Support `entrypoint` and `command` for service containers#4276

Support `entrypoint` and `command` for service containers#4276
ericsciple merged 2 commits intomainfrom
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ericsciple commented Mar 4, 2026 •

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ericsciple commented Mar 4, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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Summary

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E2E Testing

Test workflow

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ericsciple commented Mar 4, 2026 •

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