How to Pass Information Between Jobs in GitHub Actions

GitHub Actions supports exchanging data between jobs using job outputs, making workflows more modular and flexible. Job outputs are defined inside a job using the outputs field and can be referenced from other jobs using the dependsOn keyword. Outputs are always strings and are evaluated at the end of the job execution. They are useful for passing dynamic information such as tokens, IDs, or version numbers across the workflow. In a matrix job, each instance of the job creates one output, and unique output names are recommended. Job outputs can be used to pass sensitive data between jobs, and GitHub Actions provides functionality for handling secrets, including redaction in logs. Sensitive information can be explicitly masked using the add-mask command. A real-world example of using job outputs is integrating a database in a CI pipeline, where database credentials are created in one job and passed to another job for testing. Passing information between jobs in GitHub Actions can clean up and streamline CI/CD workflows, providing flexible and secure ways to handle data across jobs. By following best practices and using features like add-mask and matrix strategies, workflows can be made secure, maintainable, and efficient.