GitHub Actions reusable workflow secret not inherited

By Daniel Zoghalchali·Latchkey

A called reusable workflow does not automatically receive the caller secrets. You must pass each secret under secrets:, or use secrets: inherit to forward all of the caller secrets.

What this error means

A reusable workflow sees empty secret values, even though the caller has them configured, because no secrets were forwarded.

# In the reusable workflow, secrets.NPM_TOKEN is '' because the caller did not forward it

Common causes

Secrets not forwarded by the caller

Without secrets: inherit or explicit pass-through, the callee gets no secrets.

Secret not declared in the reusable workflow

A reusable workflow must declare expected secrets under on.workflow_call.secrets.

How to fix it

Forward secrets to the reusable workflow

1. In the caller, add secrets: inherit or pass secrets explicitly.
2. In the reusable workflow, declare expected secrets under workflow_call.
3. Reference them as secrets.NAME inside the reusable workflow.

# caller
jobs:
  call:
    uses: ./.github/workflows/reusable.yml
    secrets: inherit

How to prevent it

• Use secrets: inherit or explicit pass-through for every reusable workflow.
• Declare required secrets in the reusable workflow_call definition.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

References

• GitHub Actions documentation
• Workflow syntax for GitHub Actions