Datadog CI: GitHub Actions Metadata Upload - What metadata is collected when running datadog-ci upload commands in GitHub Actions

datadog-ci-github-metadata.md

Datadog CI: GitHub Actions Metadata Upload

When running datadog-ci upload commands in a GitHub Actions workflow, the CLI can automatically detect the CI environment and upload GitHub metadata to Datadog. However, not all upload commands include this metadata.

Important: Which Commands Upload GitHub Metadata?

Command	Uploads GitHub CI Metadata?
junit upload	Yes
coverage upload	Yes
git-metadata upload	No

The git-metadata upload command only uploads git repository data (commit SHA, repository URL, tracked files). It does not include GitHub Actions workflow/job metadata.

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Related Datadog Products

These commands feed into different Datadog products:

Command	Datadog Product	Documentation
junit upload	Test Visibility	Track test results, flakiness, performance
coverage upload	Code Coverage	Track code coverage metrics
git-metadata upload	Source Code Integration	Link stack traces to source code
dora deployment	DORA Metrics	Software delivery performance metrics

Note: The GitHub CI metadata collected by junit upload and coverage upload is used to correlate test results with CI pipelines in Test Visibility / Code Coverage. It is not used for DORA metrics—those require the separate dora deployment command.

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git-metadata upload - What It Actually Uploads

Call Path

1. Command entry point: packages/base/src/commands/git-metadata/upload.ts:67-152

2. Payload generation via getCommitInfo(): packages/base/src/commands/git-metadata/git.ts:61-76

3. Payload structure in CommitInfo.asMultipartPayload(): packages/base/src/commands/git-metadata/interfaces.ts:14-31

4. GitDB sync (packfiles): packages/base/src/commands/git-metadata/gitdb.ts:67-149

Data Uploaded

The git-metadata upload command uploads:

{
  "cli_version": "...",
  "git_commit_sha": "abc123...",
  "git_repository_url": "https://github.com/org/repo",
  "type": "repository"
}

Plus:

• List of tracked files (from git ls-files)
• Git packfiles containing commit history

No GitHub Actions environment variables are read or uploaded.

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junit upload / coverage upload - GitHub Metadata Included

These commands do upload GitHub Actions metadata via getCISpanTags():

packages/plugin-junit/src/commands/upload.ts:250-262

const ciSpanTags = getCISpanTags() // GitHub environment variables
const gitSpanTags = await getGitMetadata() // Git repository info
const userGitSpanTags = getUserGitSpanTags() // User-provided overrides

How GitHub Actions is Detected

The CLI checks for GITHUB_ACTIONS or GITHUB_ACTION environment variables:

packages/base/src/helpers/ci.ts:329-332

GitHub Metadata Collected

CI Pipeline Information

Environment Variable	Datadog Tag	Description
GITHUB_RUN_ID	ci.pipeline.id	Workflow run ID
GITHUB_WORKFLOW	ci.pipeline.name	Workflow name
GITHUB_RUN_NUMBER	ci.pipeline.number	Run number
GITHUB_RUN_ATTEMPT	Run attempt	Attempt number for re-runs
GITHUB_WORKSPACE	ci.workspace_path	Working directory

CI Job Information

Environment Variable	Datadog Tag	Description
GITHUB_JOB	ci.job.name, ci.job.id	Job identifier
DD_GITHUB_JOB_NAME	ci.job.name	Custom override for job name

Git Information

Environment Variable	Datadog Tag	Description
GITHUB_SHA	git.commit.sha	Commit SHA
GITHUB_REPOSITORY	git.repository_url	Repository (org/repo format)
GITHUB_REF	git.branch	Branch reference
GITHUB_HEAD_REF	git.branch	PR head branch (takes precedence)
GITHUB_SERVER_URL	Used for URL construction	GitHub server URL

Pull Request Information

When running in a PR context (detected via GITHUB_BASE_REF):

Source	Datadog Tag	Description
GITHUB_BASE_REF	git.pull_request.base_branch	PR base branch
Event payload	git.commit.sha	PR head SHA
Event payload	PR base SHA	Base commit SHA
Event payload	pr.number	Pull request number

PR metadata is extracted from the GitHub event payload file at GITHUB_EVENT_PATH:

packages/base/src/helpers/ci.ts:381-388

URL Construction

The CLI constructs pipeline and job URLs:

Pipeline URL: ${GITHUB_SERVER_URL}/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}/actions/runs/${GITHUB_RUN_ID}
Job URL:      ${GITHUB_SERVER_URL}/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}/actions/runs/${GITHUB_RUN_ID}/job/${JOB_ID}

packages/base/src/helpers/ci.ts:356-369

Special Feature: Job Name Extraction from Logs

GitHub Actions doesn't expose the human-readable job display name in environment variables. The CLI extracts it from diagnostic logs:

packages/base/src/helpers/ci.ts:1077-1164

Tag Definitions

All CI/CD tags are defined in:

packages/base/src/helpers/tags.ts:1-60

CI Environment Variables Passed to Backend

The getCIEnv() function filters GitHub-specific environment variables sent to Datadog:

• GITHUB_SERVER_URL
• GITHUB_REPOSITORY
• GITHUB_RUN_ID
• GITHUB_RUN_ATTEMPT
• GITHUB_JOB
• DD_GITHUB_JOB_NAME

packages/base/src/helpers/ci.ts:921-981

Security: Sensitive Information Filtering

Repository URLs are sanitized to remove credentials before uploading:

packages/base/src/helpers/ci.ts:356

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Based on datadog-ci commit 604463d9