Easy URL checking GitHub Action

url-checker.yml

name: Check URL Status

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  schedule:
    - cron: 0 0 * * 0

env:
  LINK_TRACKING_ISSUE_NUMBER: 322
  
permissions:
  issues: write

jobs:
  check-urls:
    if: ${{ !github.event.repository.fork }}
    env:
      LYCHEE_REPORT_FILE: ./lychee/out.md
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Link Checker
        id: lychee
        uses: lycheeverse/lychee-action@v1.8.0

      - name: Read Lychee report
        if: env.lychee_exit_code != 0
        id: readReport
        run: |
          EOF=$(dd if=/dev/urandom bs=15 count=1 status=none | base64)
          echo "FILE_CONTENT<<$EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
          echo "$(cat ${{ env.LYCHEE_REPORT_FILE }})" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
          echo "$EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
      - run: echo "${{ steps.readReport.outputs.FILE_CONTENT }}"
      - name: Update link tracking issue (update invalid links)
        if: env.lychee_exit_code != 0
        uses: actions-cool/issues-helper@v3
        with:
          actions: "update-issue"
          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          issue-number: ${{ env.LINK_TRACKING_ISSUE_NUMBER }}
          state: "open"
          body: ${{ steps.readReport.outputs.FILE_CONTENT }}
          update-mode: "replace"

      - name: Update link tracking issue (no invalid links)
        if: env.lychee_exit_code == 0
        uses: actions-cool/issues-helper@v3
        with:
          actions: "update-issue"
          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          issue-number: ${{ env.link_tracking_issue_number }}
          state: "closed"
          body: "No invalid links found! 🤖"
          update-mode: "replace"

      - name: Upload artifact
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
        with:
          name: lychee-report
          path: ${{ env.LYCHEE_REPORT_FILE }}

This GitHub Action workflow checks the statuses of URLs within a repository, generating a report, and updating an issue with report results (by updating the issue body). This allows for the automated testing an monitoring of links in a non-intrusive way (i.e. without failing CI) with good oversight.

Steps:

• Copy/paste workflow
• Create an issue in your repo
• Update LINK_TRACKING_ISSUE_NUMBER with issue number
• Update workflow triggers to your liking

Other notes:

• Mileage may vary on forks (a permission error with actions-cool/issues-helper, something about security [1])
• Update versions of workflow actions before using

Screenshot of updated issue: