What Is GITHUB_REF?

GITHUB_REF is the full Git ref that triggered the workflow, such as refs/heads/main or refs/tags/v1.2.0.

GITHUB_REF tells your workflow what branch or tag is being built. Because it is the fully-qualified ref, you often want GITHUB_REF_NAME for just the short name.

Format

Branch push: refs/heads/<branch>
Tag push: refs/tags/<tag>
Pull request: refs/pull/<number>/merge

Getting the short name

Use GITHUB_REF_NAME (e.g. main or v1.2.0) instead of parsing GITHUB_REF yourself.

Key takeaways

GITHUB_REF is the full ref that triggered the run.
It is prefixed with refs/heads, refs/tags, or refs/pull.
Use GITHUB_REF_NAME for the short branch/tag name.

Related guides

What Is GITHUB_REF_NAME?GITHUB_REF_NAME is the short branch or tag name for a GitHub Actions run, like main or v1.2.0. Learn how it d… What Is GITHUB_SHA?GITHUB_SHA is the commit SHA that triggered a GitHub Actions workflow run. Learn what it contains and how to… What Is a Release Tag?What is a release tag? Learn how version tags mark shippable commits, how semantic versioning structures them…