How to Download an Artifact From a Different Workflow Run in GitHub Actions

actions/download-artifact only sees the current run by default, so pulling output from a separate workflow needs the run id and a token.

Point download-artifact at the source run with run-id and github-token, after locating the run id via the API or a triggering event.

Steps

• Identify the source workflow run id, often from the triggering event payload.
• Call actions/download-artifact with run-id and github-token set.
• Grant the job actions: read permission so it can list artifacts on another run.
• Use the artifact name to fetch only the file set you need.

Workflow

name: Consume Artifact
on:
  workflow_run:
    workflows: ['Build']
    types: [completed]
permissions:
  actions: read
  contents: read
jobs:
  use:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: dist
          run-id: ${{ github.event.workflow_run.id }}
          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      - run: ls -la

Notes

• Without actions: read permission the cross-run download returns 403.
• Latchkey managed runners chain these dependent workflows cheaper and self-heal between stages.

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