Clarify 'description' key is optional for composite actions

[mcummings128]

Code of Conduct

• I have read and agree to the GitHub Docs project's Code of Conduct

What article on docs.github.com is affected?

https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/workflows-and-actions/metadata-syntax

What part(s) of the article would you like to see updated?

For composite actions, the description key is not strictly required in the action.yml for the composite action to function correctly (see Additional Information for proof).

Instead of Required this should either have an addendum like in the pull request (that is, that description is not required for composite actions, or change Required to optional. In either case, it is probably worth it to state that a description key is highly recommended.

Additional information

I just ran a workflow run that calls a composite action whose action.yml file did not include a description key at the time this workflow ran. The workflow ran as expected (all the composite action does is produce an output that gets passed to the calling workflow).

See https://github.com/mcummings128/gh-actions-outputs-experiments-1/actions/runs/24743176941 for details.
This commit SHA shows the description key was removed from the composite action during the time the workflow ran.
mcummings128/gh-actions-outputs-experiments-1@6037d82

Lastly, please see the pull request this is linked to: #43911

[ozie777]

Yahoo Mail: Search, Organize, Conquer On Tue, Apr 21, 2026 at 1:12 PM, Matt ***@***.***> wrote: mcummings128 created an issue (github/docs#43910) Code of Conduct - I have read and agree to the GitHub Docs project's Code of Conduct What article on docs.github.com is affected? https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/workflows-and-actions/metadata-syntax What part(s) of the article would you like to see updated? For composite actions, the description key is not strictly required for the composite action to fire off (see Additional Information for proof). Instead of Required this should either have an addendum like in the pull request (that is, that description is not required for composite actions, or change Required to optional. In either case, it is probably worth it to state that a description key is highly recommended. Additional information I just ran a workflow run that calls a composite action whose action.yml file did not include a description key at the time this workflow ran. The workflow ran as expected (all the composite action does is produce an output that gets passed to the calling workflow). See https://github.com/mcummings128/gh-actions-outputs-experiments-1/actions/runs/24743176941 for details. This commit SHA shows the description key was removed from the composite action during the time the workflow ran. ***@***.*** — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe. You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[astagaastaga439-create]

No