What's Installed on the ubuntu-latest GitHub Actions Runner
The GitHub-hosted Ubuntu runner ships with a lot preinstalled. Here is the gist - and how to add what is not there.
The runner image bundles common languages, build tools, and CLIs so most workflows run without extra setup. Exact versions change with each image release.
Typically preinstalled
- Languages: Node.js, Python, Ruby, Go, Java (multiple JDKs), .NET, PHP.
- Build tools: gcc/clang, make, cmake, build-essential.
- CLIs: git, curl, jq, AWS/Azure/gcloud CLIs, GitHub CLI.
- Containers: Docker, Buildx, docker compose.
- Package managers: npm, yarn, pnpm, pip, Maven, Gradle.
Adding what is missing
Install extra packages with apt-get in a step, or pin specific language versions with the setup-* actions. For repeatable, faster setup, bake a custom runner image.
Disk reality
A lot of that preinstalled software eats disk. Docker-heavy jobs often free space first (remove unused toolchains) to avoid "no space left on device".
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