github actions - variable and references

In github actions, we often generate a pipeline variable and then re-use it elsewhere in our pipeline, the example here shows how can we do just that:- 

name: Manual Deploy

on:

  workflow_dispatch:

    inputs:

      environment:

        description: 'Deployment environment'

        required: true

        default: 'staging'

        type: choice

        options:

          - staging

          - production

      version:

        description: 'Version to deploy'

        required: true

        type: string

jobs:

  build:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    outputs:

      image-tag: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}

    steps:

      - id: meta

        run: echo "tags=myapp:latest" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

 

  deploy:

    needs: build

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:

      - run: echo "Deploying ${{ needs.build.outputs.image-tag }}"