Use MATLAB with GitHub Actions

With GitHub® Actions, you can build and test your MATLAB® project as part of your workflow. For example, you can automatically identify any code issues in your project, run tests and generate test and coverage artifacts, or package your files into a toolbox. The actions let you run MATLAB code and Simulink® models on self-hosted or GitHub-hosted runners:

To use a self-hosted runner, you must set up a computer with MATLAB as your runner. The runner uses the topmost MATLAB version on the system path to execute your workflow.
To use a GitHub-hosted runner, you must include the Setup MATLAB action in your workflow to set up MATLAB on the runner. Currently, this action is available only for public projects. It does not set up transformation products, such as MATLAB Coder™ and MATLAB Compiler™.

Overview of Actions

To run MATLAB in your workflow, use the appropriate actions when you define your workflow in the .github/workflows directory of your repository:

To set up MATLAB on a GitHub-hosted runner, use the Setup MATLAB action.
To run a MATLAB build, use the Run MATLAB Build action.
To run MATLAB and Simulink tests and generate artifacts, use the Run MATLAB Tests action.
To run a MATLAB script, function, or statement, use the Run MATLAB Command action.

Setup MATLAB

Use the Setup MATLAB action when you want to run MATLAB code and Simulink models on a GitHub-hosted runner. The action sets up your specified MATLAB release (R2020a or later) on a Linux® virtual machine. If you do not specify a release, the action sets up the latest release of MATLAB.

When you define your workflow, specify this action as matlab-actions/setup-matlab@v1. For more information, see Action for Setting Up MATLAB on GitHub-Hosted Runner.

Run MATLAB Build

Use the Run MATLAB Build action to invoke the MATLAB build tool and run software-build tasks, such as identifying code issues, running tests, or packaging a toolbox. To use this action, you need MATLAB R2022b or a later release.

When you define your workflow, specify this action as matlab-actions/run-build@v1. For more information, see Action for Running MATLAB Builds.

Run MATLAB Tests

Use the Run MATLAB Tests action to automatically run tests authored using the MATLAB unit testing framework or Simulink Test™. You can use this action with optional inputs to generate various test and coverage artifacts.

When you define your workflow, specify this action as matlab-actions/run-tests@v1. For more information, see Action for Running MATLAB Tests.

Run MATLAB Command

Use the Run MATLAB Command action to run MATLAB scripts, functions, and statements. You can use this action to flexibly customize your test run or add a step in MATLAB to your workflow.

When you define your workflow, specify this action as matlab-actions/run-command@v1. For more information, see Action for Running MATLAB Commands.

Examples

Run MATLAB Build on Self-Hosted Runner

Starting in R2022b, the Run MATLAB Build action lets you run builds using the MATLAB build tool. You can use this action to run the tasks specified in a file named buildfile.m in the root of your repository. For example, use a self-hosted runner to run the default tasks in your build plan as well as all the tasks on which they depend. To run the tasks, specify the Run MATLAB Build action in your workflow.

name: Run MATLAB Build on Self-Hosted Runner
on: [push]
jobs:
  my-job:
    name: Run MATLAB Build
    runs-on: self-hosted
    steps:
      - name: Check out repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Run build
        uses: matlab-actions/run-build@v1

Run MATLAB Tests on GitHub-Hosted Runner

Set up a GitHub-hosted runner to automatically run the tests in your MATLAB project and generate a JUnit test results report and a Cobertura code coverage report. To set up the latest release of MATLAB on the runner, specify the Setup MATLAB action in your workflow. To run the tests and generate the artifacts, specify the Run MATLAB Tests action.

name: Run MATLAB Tests on GitHub-Hosted Runner
on: [push]
jobs:
  my-job:
    name: Run MATLAB Tests and Generate Artifacts
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Check out repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Set up MATLAB
        uses: matlab-actions/setup-matlab@v1
      - name: Run tests and generate artifacts
        uses: matlab-actions/run-tests@v1
        with:
          test-results-junit: test-results/results.xml
          code-coverage-cobertura: code-coverage/coverage.xml

Run MATLAB Script on Self-Hosted Runner

Use a self-hosted runner to run the commands in a file named myscript.m in the root of your repository. To run the commands, specify the Run MATLAB Command action in your workflow.

name: Run MATLAB Script on Self-Hosted Runner
on: [push]
jobs:
  my-job:
    name: Run MATLAB Script
    runs-on: self-hosted
    steps:
      - name: Check out repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Run script
        uses: matlab-actions/run-command@v1
        with:
          command: myscript

Notes

To use the GitHub actions for MATLAB, enable GitHub Actions for your repository. For more information about GitHub Actions permissions, see Managing GitHub Actions settings for a repository.
The Run MATLAB Build action uses the -batch option to invoke the buildtool command. In addition, in MATLAB R2019a and later, the Run MATLAB Tests and Run MATLAB Command actions use the -batch option to start MATLAB noninteractively. Preferences do not persist across different MATLAB sessions launched with the -batch option. To run code that requires the same preferences, use a single action.
When you use the Setup MATLAB, Run MATLAB Build, Run MATLAB Tests, and Run MATLAB Command actions, you execute third-party code that is licensed under separate terms.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact MathWorks® at continuous-integration@mathworks.com.

matlab-actions/overview