README Live Link

One URL in About. Zero drift in your README.

Syncs your README's live link with your repository's About URL, on demand. Ships as a composite GitHub Action (action.yml) and a standalone bash script (scripts/update-live-link.sh). No About URL set? The same link markup is written with a placeholder URL, so the README looks identical.

Live Site

View the Live Site

(Maintained by this repo's own workflow.)

Quick Run

From inside this repo, sync another repo's README in one command:

README_FILE=/path/to/other-repo/README.md \
  REPOSITORY=owner/other-repo \
  ./scripts/update-live-link.sh

Example, updating a sibling checkout of documind:

README_FILE=../documind/README.md REPOSITORY=DevArtsLab/documind ./scripts/update-live-link.sh

README_FILE points at the other repo's README; REPOSITORY is the owner/name to read the About URL from. Uses gh when installed, so a logged-in gh needs no token setup.

Setup

1. Put markers in your README:

   <!-- live-link:start -->
   <!-- live-link:end -->

   Everything between them is managed by the tool.

2. Copy examples/consumer-workflow.yml to .github/workflows/update-readme-live-link.yml and replace YOUR_ORG:

   name: Update README Live Link
   
   on:
     workflow_dispatch: # "Run workflow" button, any branch
     repository_dispatch: # optional external trigger
   
   permissions:
     contents: write
   
   jobs:
     sync:
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       steps:
         - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         - uses: YOUR_ORG/tool-readme-links@v1
         - uses: stefanzweifel/git-auto-commit-action@v5
           with:
             commit_message: "docs: sync live link from repository About section"

3. Set the URL in the repo's About section, then press "Run workflow". Commits only when the rendered link actually changed.

Inputs

Input	Default	Description
readme	README.md	File to update
marker	live-link	Marker name in <!-- NAME:start --> / <!-- NAME:end -->
link-text	View the Live Site	Visible text of the link
placeholder-url	https://example.com/your-live-url	URL used when no homepage is set
repository	${{ github.repository }}	Repo to read the homepage from
token	${{ github.token }}	Token for the GitHub API

Outputs

Output	Description
url	URL written (real or placeholder)
changed	"true" if the README was modified
using_placeholder	"1" if the placeholder URL was used

Standalone usage

GH_TOKEN=$(gh auth token) REPOSITORY=owner/repo ./scripts/update-live-link.sh

Env vars mirror the inputs: README_FILE, MARKER, LINK_TEXT, PLACEHOLDER_URL, REPOSITORY. Set LIVE_LINK_URL to skip the API.

Notes

• Multiple marker blocks are all updated; markers inside code fences are left alone.
• Missing markers or reversed marker order are hard errors. API failure or no homepage: placeholder is written, warning on stderr, run still succeeds — check using_placeholder to react.

Tests

bash test/test-update-live-link.sh

Data handling

Collects nothing. Reads the repository homepage field via the GitHub API inside the Actions runner, writes the link to the README, exits. No data leaves GitHub infrastructure.

Support

Open an issue.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

Credits

Built by DevArts Lab.