Github Actions: self-hosted runner in docker (with support of docker)

This a slight modification of beikeni/github-runner-dockerfile with updated OS, github worker versions and internal docker support.

Prebuilt images

Already built images are located in public docker hub repository iterait/github-runner.

Build from source

docker build -t my-runner .

Optionally specify the worker version and checksum via --build-arg RUNNER_VERSION=xxx and --build-arg RUNNER_SHA256=xxx, respectively.

Run

Fetch personal token

Generate new classic personal token. Select repo, workflow and write:packages permissions.

Alternatively use fine-grained personal access tokens.

Set up compose.yml

1. copy compose.example.yml to compose.yml
2. set the env. variable REPOSITORY specifying the github repository to which the worker will be associated (or just organisation name if it's shared for whole organization)
3. set the env. variable ACCESS_TOKEN specifying the github personal token from the previous section
4. set the env. variable WORKER_NAME specifying the worker name base (e.g. hostname of the host machine)
5. set the env. variable WORKER_LABELS specifying the github worker labels (comma separated, at least one label)

Run the containers

docker compose up [-d]

The successful output should look like this:

$ docker compose
github-runner-1  | Obtaining registration token...
github-runner-1  |   % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
github-runner-1  |                                  Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100    96  100    96    0     0    306      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--   306
github-runner-1  | Configuring runner...
github-runner-1  |
github-runner-1  | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
github-runner-1  | |        ____ _ _   _   _       _          _        _   _                      |
github-runner-1  | |       / ___(_) |_| | | |_   _| |__      / \   ___| |_(_) ___  _ __  ___      |
github-runner-1  | |      | |  _| | __| |_| | | | | '_ \    / _ \ / __| __| |/ _ \| '_ \/ __|     |
github-runner-1  | |      | |_| | | |_|  _  | |_| | |_) |  / ___ \ (__| |_| | (_) | | | \__ \     |
github-runner-1  | |       \____|_|\__|_| |_|\__,_|_.__/  /_/   \_\___|\__|_|\___/|_| |_|___/     |
github-runner-1  | |                                                                              |
github-runner-1  | |                       Self-hosted runner registration                        |
github-runner-1  | |                                                                              |
github-runner-1  | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
github-runner-1  |
github-runner-1  | # Authentication
github-runner-1  |
github-runner-1  |
github-runner-1  | √ Connected to GitHub
github-runner-1  |
github-runner-1  | # Runner Registration
github-runner-1  |
github-runner-1  |
github-runner-1  |
github-runner-1  |
github-runner-1  | √ Runner successfully added
github-runner-1  |
github-runner-1  | # Runner settings
github-runner-1  |
github-runner-1  |
github-runner-1  | √ Settings Saved.
github-runner-1  |
github-runner-1  | Running runner...
github-runner-1  |
github-runner-1  | √ Connected to GitHub
github-runner-1  |
github-runner-1  | Current runner version: '2.331.0'
github-runner-1  | 2026-01-15 11:11:23Z: Listening for Jobs