create-pull-request/docs/common-issues.md

Common issues

• Troubleshooting
  • Command substitution in action inputs
  • Create using an existing branch as the PR branch
• Frequently requested features
  • Disable force updates to existing PR branches
  • Add a no-verify option to bypass git hooks

Troubleshooting

Command substitution in action inputs

Shell command substitution (e.g., $(date), backticks, or other shell expansions) does not work directly in GitHub Actions workflow inputs. This is a limitation of how GitHub Actions processes YAML inputs—they are treated as literal strings, not executed as shell commands.

This will NOT work:

- name: Create Pull Request
  uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v7
  with:
    commit-message: "Update Daily $(date -u +'%B %d, %Y')"
    title: "Update Daily $(date -u +'%B %d, %Y')"

The $(date -u +'%B %d, %Y') will appear literally in your commit message and PR title instead of being replaced with the actual date.

Solution 1: Use a separate shell step with outputs (Recommended)

Execute the shell command in a separate step and pass the result to the action using GitHub Actions outputs:

- name: Set PR variables
  id: vars
  run: |
    echo "date=$(date -u +'%B %d, %Y')" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
    echo "commit_msg=Update Daily $(date -u +'%B %d, %Y')" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

- name: Create Pull Request
  uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v7
  with:
    commit-message: ${{ steps.vars.outputs.commit_msg }}
    title: "Update Daily ${{ steps.vars.outputs.date }}"
    body: Automated daily update.

Solution 2: Use environment variables

Set environment variables in a shell step and reference them in the action:

- name: Set environment variables
  run: |
    echo "PR_DATE=$(date -u +'%B %d, %Y')" >> $GITHUB_ENV

- name: Create Pull Request
  uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v7
  with:
    commit-message: "Update Daily ${{ env.PR_DATE }}"
    title: "Update Daily ${{ env.PR_DATE }}"
    body: Automated daily update.

For more examples of using dynamic values in pull requests, see Dynamic configuration using variables.

Create using an existing branch as the PR branch

A common point of confusion is to try and use an existing branch containing changes to raise in a PR as the branch input. This will not work because the action is primarily designed to be used in workflows where the PR branch does not exist yet. The action creates and manages the PR branch itself.

If you have an existing branch that you just want to create a PR for, then I recommend using the official GitHub CLI in a workflow step.

Alternatively, if you are trying to keep a branch up to date with another branch, then you can follow this example.

Frequently requested features

Disable force updates to existing PR branches

This behaviour is fundamental to how the action works and is a conscious design decision. The "rule" that I based this design on is that when a workflow executes the action to create or update a PR, the result of those two possible actions should never be different. The easiest way to maintain that consistency is to rebase the PR branch and force push it.

If you want to avoid this behaviour there are some things that might work depending on your use case:

• Check if the pull request branch exists in a separate step before the action runs and act accordingly.
• Use the alternative strategy of always creating a new PR that won't be updated by the action.
• Create your own commits each time the action is created/updated.

Add a no-verify option to bypass git hooks

Presently, there is no plan to add this feature to the action. The reason is that I'm trying very hard to keep the interface for this action to a minimum to prevent it becoming bloated and complicated.

Git hooks must be installed after a repository is checked out in order for them to work. So the straightforward solution is to just not install them during the workflow where this action is used.

• If hooks are automatically enabled by a framework, use an option provided by the framework to disable them. For example, for Husky users, they can be disabled with the --ignore-scripts flag, or by setting the HUSKY environment variable when the action runs.

  uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v7
  env:
    HUSKY: '0'
  

• If hooks are installed in a script, then add a condition checking if the CI environment variable exists.

  #!/bin/sh
  
  [ -n "$CI" ] && exit 0
  

• If preventing the hooks installing is problematic, just delete them in a workflow step before the action runs.

  - run: rm .git/hooks -rf