How to set an env secret in Github action?

I want to access env variables in my .env. But of course, we can't commit the .env file.

So I've added an action secret to my Github called MONGODB_PASSWORD. But when I tried to access that secret, it's not working as expected.

Any thought on how I can do this?

This is what I have in my .yml

name: Node.js CI

on:
  push:
    branches: ['master']
  pull_request:
    branches: ['master']

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    strategy:
      matrix:
        node-version: [12.x, 14.x, 16.x]
        # See supported Node.js release schedule at https://nodejs.org/en/about/releases/

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Use Node.js ${{ matrix.node-version }}
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
          cache: 'npm'
        env:
          MONGODB_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.MONGODB_PASSWORD }} // Setting the secret here
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run build --if-present
      - run: npm run lint
      - run: npm run test
      - run: npm run test:e2e

Solution

Try setting env on job level instead of step level:

name: Node.js CI

on:
  push:
    branches: ['master']
  pull_request:
    branches: ['master']

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    env:
      MONGODB_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.MONGODB_PASSWORD }} // Setting the secret here

    strategy:
      matrix:
        node-version: [12.x, 14.x, 16.x]
        # See supported Node.js release schedule at https://nodejs.org/en/about/releases/

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Use Node.js ${{ matrix.node-version }}
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
          cache: 'npm'
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run build --if-present
      - run: npm run lint
      - run: npm run test
      - run: npm run test:e2e