Is there a variable in Github Actions that holds the total duration of a workflow run?

Question

I'd like to add to the Slack message that notifies that a Github workflow run has finished, the total duration it took to run.

Does anyone know how can it be achieved? I couldn't find "total duration" in any of the contexts...

Answer 1

I don't think it's available from a context, but you could do it with two separate run steps:

1. Store the current time as a timestamp (first step in workflow):

   - name: Set start timestamp
     id: start
     run: |
       printf '::set-output name=timestamp::%(%s)T\n'
   

2. Calculate difference (at end of workflow):

   - name: Calculate duration
     run: |
       printf -v now '%(%s)T'
       duration=$((now - ${{ steps.start.outputs.timestamp }}))
       # Do something with duration, set as output to then use in Slack message
       # or similar
   

This puts the duration in seconds into the duration variable.