From 66a723f9a66936b6697e91476da00c1644e6b817 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Lunny Xiao <xiaolunwen@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:05:24 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix: preserve job env for steps

Co-Authored-By: Codet (GPT-5) <codet@commitgo.dev>
---
 act/runner/run_context.go      | 18 +++++++++++-------
 act/runner/run_context_test.go | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 act/runner/step_test.go        | 11 +++++++----
 3 files changed, 42 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/act/runner/run_context.go b/act/runner/run_context.go
index 19ad88ef..1e35b957 100644
--- a/act/runner/run_context.go
+++ b/act/runner/run_context.go
@@ -78,15 +78,19 @@ func (rc *RunContext) String() string {
 
 // GetEnv returns the env for the context
 func (rc *RunContext) GetEnv() map[string]string {
-	if rc.Env == nil {
-		rc.Env = map[string]string{}
-		if rc.Run != nil && rc.Run.Workflow != nil && rc.Config != nil {
-			job := rc.Run.Job()
-			if job != nil {
-				rc.Env = mergeMaps(rc.Run.Workflow.Env, job.Environment(), rc.Config.Env)
-			}
+	baseEnv := map[string]string{}
+	if rc.Run != nil && rc.Run.Workflow != nil && rc.Config != nil {
+		job := rc.Run.Job()
+		if job != nil {
+			baseEnv = mergeMaps(rc.Run.Workflow.Env, job.Environment(), rc.Config.Env)
 		}
 	}
+
+	if rc.Env == nil {
+		rc.Env = baseEnv
+	} else {
+		rc.Env = mergeMaps(baseEnv, rc.Env)
+	}
 	rc.Env["ACT"] = "true"
 
 	if !rc.Config.NoSkipCheckout {
diff --git a/act/runner/run_context_test.go b/act/runner/run_context_test.go
index a1e86597..8cf35130 100644
--- a/act/runner/run_context_test.go
+++ b/act/runner/run_context_test.go
@@ -572,6 +572,10 @@ if: false`, ""),
 }
 
 func TestRunContextGetEnv(t *testing.T) {
+	var jobEnv yaml.Node
+	err := jobEnv.Encode(map[string]string{"JOB_ONLY": "job-value"})
+	assert.NoError(t, err) //nolint:testifylint // pre-existing issue from nektos/act
+
 	tests := []struct {
 		description string
 		rc          *RunContext
@@ -612,6 +616,26 @@ func TestRunContextGetEnv(t *testing.T) {
 			targetEnv: "OVERWRITTEN",
 			want:      "false",
 		},
+		{
+			description: "Pre-populated run context env should still include job env",
+			rc: &RunContext{
+				Config: &Config{},
+				Env: map[string]string{
+					"RUNTIME_ONLY": "true",
+				},
+				Run: &model.Run{
+					JobID: "test",
+					Workflow: &model.Workflow{
+						Jobs: map[string]*model.Job{"test": {
+							Name: "test",
+							Env:  jobEnv,
+						}},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			targetEnv: "JOB_ONLY",
+			want:      "job-value",
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, test := range tests {
diff --git a/act/runner/step_test.go b/act/runner/step_test.go
index 7f4d93a4..e3484118 100644
--- a/act/runner/step_test.go
+++ b/act/runner/step_test.go
@@ -120,6 +120,10 @@ func TestSetupEnv(t *testing.T) {
 	cm := &containerMock{}
 	sm := &stepMock{}
 
+	var jobEnv yaml.Node
+	err := jobEnv.Encode(map[string]string{"JOB_KEY": "jobvalue"})
+	assert.NoError(t, err) //nolint:testifylint // pre-existing issue from nektos/act
+
 	rc := &RunContext{
 		Config: &Config{
 			Env: map[string]string{
@@ -131,9 +135,7 @@ func TestSetupEnv(t *testing.T) {
 			Workflow: &model.Workflow{
 				Jobs: map[string]*model.Job{
 					"1": {
-						Env: yaml.Node{
-							Value: "JOB_KEY: jobvalue",
-						},
+						Env: jobEnv,
 					},
 				},
 			},
@@ -155,7 +157,7 @@ func TestSetupEnv(t *testing.T) {
 	sm.On("getStepModel").Return(step)
 	sm.On("getEnv").Return(&env)
 
-	err := setupEnv(context.Background(), sm)
+	err = setupEnv(context.Background(), sm)
 	assert.Nil(t, err) //nolint:testifylint // pre-existing issue from nektos/act
 
 	// These are commit or system specific
@@ -191,6 +193,7 @@ func TestSetupEnv(t *testing.T) {
 		"GITHUB_SERVER_URL":        "https://",
 		"GITHUB_WORKFLOW":          "",
 		"INPUT_STEP_WITH":          "with-value",
+		"JOB_KEY":                  "jobvalue",
 		"RC_KEY":                   "rcvalue",
 		"RUNNER_PERFLOG":           "/dev/null",
 		"RUNNER_TRACKING_ID":       "",