Job Dependencies

ELI5 — The Vibe Check

Job Dependencies tell GitHub Actions 'don't start job B until job A finishes.' Build before test. Test before deploy. It's like telling a kitchen: don't plate the food until it's actually cooked. The 'needs' keyword is your workflow's traffic controller.

Real Talk

The 'needs' keyword in GitHub Actions creates explicit dependencies between jobs, ensuring execution order. Jobs without dependencies run in parallel by default. A job can depend on multiple jobs and access their outputs. Failed dependencies skip downstream jobs.

Show Me The Code

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps: [...]
  test:
    needs: build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps: [...]
  deploy:
    needs: [build, test]
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps: [...]

When You'll Hear This

"Deploy needs both build and test to pass before it runs." / "Jobs without 'needs' run in parallel — great for independent test suites."