How to Set PowerShell ErrorActionPreference to Fail on Errors in GitHub Actions

Setting $ErrorActionPreference to Stop turns cmdlet errors into terminating errors that fail the step.

Add $ErrorActionPreference = "Stop" so non-terminating cmdlet errors stop the step. For native executables, also check $LASTEXITCODE, since their nonzero exits do not throw.

Steps

• Set $ErrorActionPreference = "Stop" at the top of the pwsh block.
• After a native command, check if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) { exit $LASTEXITCODE }.
• Optionally set Set-PSDebug -Trace 1 while debugging a flaky step.

Workflow

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: windows-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Strict PowerShell
        shell: pwsh
        run: |
          $ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"
          Get-Item ./does-not-exist.txt    # terminating error fails the step
          npm run build
          if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) { exit $LASTEXITCODE }

Gotchas

• $ErrorActionPreference = "Stop" only affects cmdlet errors; native exe exit codes still need a $LASTEXITCODE check.
• GitHub already sets a strict-ish preference for pwsh steps, but setting it explicitly removes ambiguity.

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