I get exactly what you're facing—most examples focus on creating a Release from a tag via Actions, but you need to upload assets after manually creating the Release through the GitHub UI. Here's a straightforward solution that works perfectly for your scenario:

Core Idea #

When you manually create and publish a Release on GitHub, it triggers the release event (specifically the published type). We can leverage this event to run a GitHub Action that builds your artifacts (if needed) and uploads them directly to the existing Release.

Step-by-Step Implementation #

1. Create a Workflow File
   In your repo, create a new file at .github/workflows/upload-release-assets.yml with the following content:

   name: Upload Release Assets
   
   on:
     release:
       types: [published]  # Triggers when a Release is published (including manual ones)
   
   permissions:
     contents: write  # Required to upload assets to the Release
   
   jobs:
     upload-assets:
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       steps:
         - name: Checkout code
           uses: actions/checkout@v4
           
         # Optional: Add your build steps here to generate artifacts
         # For example, if you're building a Node.js project:
         # - name: Install dependencies
         #   run: npm install
         # - name: Build project
         #   run: npm run build
           
         - name: Upload Release Assets
           uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
           with:
             tag_name: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}
             files: |
               ./path/to/your/artifact1.zip
               ./path/to/your/artifact2.exe
               ./dist/**/*  # Use glob patterns to match multiple files
           env:
             GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
   

2. Key Details Explained

   • Trigger Event: on: release: types: [published] ensures the Action runs every time you publish a Release (whether manual or automated). When you create a Release via the UI and hit "Publish release", this event fires immediately.
   • Permissions: contents: write grants the Action permission to modify repository contents, which is mandatory for uploading assets to the Release.
   • Upload Action: softprops/action-gh-release is a well-maintained, popular tool that supports uploading assets to existing Releases. We use ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }} to target the exact Release you just created manually.
   • File Patterns: The files field accepts specific file paths or glob patterns (like ./dist/**/*) to upload multiple artifacts in one go.

3. Test It Out

   • Commit and push this workflow file to your repo.
   • Go to the GitHub UI, create a new Release (with a tag), fill in the release notes, and click "Publish release".
   • Head over to the "Actions" tab in your repo—you should see the "Upload Release Assets" workflow running. Once it completes, your artifacts will appear in the Release's "Assets" section.

Notes #

• If your artifacts are pre-built and stored elsewhere (not generated in the workflow), you can skip the build steps and directly point the files field to their location (just ensure they're accessible in the workflow environment).
• The GITHUB_TOKEN secret is automatically provided by GitHub, so you don't need to create or configure it manually.

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者sdgfsdh