How to Keep Processes Running After a GitHub Action Job Ends

When a GitHub Actions job finishes, the runner terminates any orphaned processes it started. It identifies these processes by checking for the RUNNER_TRACKING_ID environment variable. Any process with this variable set is treated as a child of the runner and will be stopped.

To allow a process to continue running after the job completes, start it without the RUNNER_TRACKING_ID environment variable set.

var psi = new ProcessStartInfo("sample_app");
psi.EnvironmentVariables.Remove("RUNNER_TRACKING_ID");
Process.Start(psi);

# Options 1
$env:RUNNER_TRACKING_ID = $null

# Options 2
$psi = New-Object System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo "sample_app"
$psi.EnvironmentVariables.Remove("RUNNER_TRACKING_ID")
[System.Diagnostics.Process]::Start($psi)

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