clever link fails when app is already linked (re-deploy scenario)

[guillaumebadin]

Summary

The action fails with exit code 1 when attempting to link an app that is already linked, even though this is a valid use case for re-deployments (e.g., synchronize events on PRs).

Environment

• Action: 47ng/actions-clever-cloud@v2.1.0
• Context: GitHub Actions workflow for review apps

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create a PR that triggers the review app workflow
2. Workflow creates and links the app successfully
3. Push a new commit to the PR (triggers synchronize event)
4. Workflow re-runs and attempts to link the same app
5. Fails with: Application app_xxx is already linked with alias app_xxx

Error Log

[command]/action/node_modules/.bin/clever link app_24e00c72-7811-42a4-9fb2-e95928f2a3f6 --alias app_24e00c72-7811-42a4-9fb2-e95928f2a3f6

[ERROR] Application app_24e00c72-7811-42a4-9fb2-e95928f2a3f6 is already linked with alias app_24e00c72-7811-42a4-9fb2-e95928f2a3f6

##[error]The process '/action/node_modules/.bin/clever' failed with exit code 1

Expected Behavior

The action should handle the "already linked" case gracefully:

• Either skip linking if already linked
• Or unlink first, then re-link

Suggested Fix

In the action's entrypoint script, before calling clever link:

# Unlink any existing app first (ignore errors if not linked)
clever unlink --alias "$APP_ID" 2>/dev/null || true

# Then link
clever link "$APP_ID" --alias "$APP_ID"

Or check if already linked:

if ! clever link "$APP_ID" --alias "$APP_ID" 2>&1 | grep -q "already linked"; then
  # Handle actual errors
  exit 1
fi

Workaround

Replace the action with direct CLI commands:

- name: Setup Clever CLI
  run: npm install -g clever-tools

- name: Deploy Code to CleverCloud
  run: |
    clever login --token "$CLEVER_TOKEN" --secret "$CLEVER_SECRET"
    clever unlink --alias "$APP_ID" 2>/dev/null || true
    clever link "$APP_ID" --alias "$APP_ID"
    clever deploy --force --alias "$APP_ID"

[guillaumebadin]

Root Cause Found

Looking at src/action.ts, when appID is provided, the code unconditionally calls clever link:

if (appID) {
  core.debug(`Linking ${appID}`)
  await exec(cleverCLI, ['link', appID, '--alias', appID], execOptions)
  alias = appID
}

This fails on re-runs (e.g., PR synchronize events) because the app is already linked from the previous run.

Suggested Fix

if (appID) {
  core.debug(`Linking ${appID}`)
  // Unlink first to handle re-runs gracefully
  try {
    await exec(cleverCLI, ['unlink', '--alias', appID], { ...execOptions, ignoreReturnCode: true })
  } catch {
    // Ignore - app might not be linked yet
  }
  await exec(cleverCLI, ['link', appID, '--alias', appID], execOptions)
  alias = appID
}

Happy to submit a PR if helpful.

[franky47]

Happy to submit a PR if helpful

That would be lovely, thanks!

Would it be better to try/catch the link operation and ignore if it's already been linked (to the same app ID)? And rethrow otherwise.

If the link operation is only a local update to .clever.json then either method is acceptable, I'm just trying to think about ways to minimise side effects (eg: if the link operation fails after a successful unlink).