A self-hosted runner is a system that you deploy and manage to execute jobs from GitHub Actions on GitHub.
Self-hosted runners:
- Are free to use with GitHub Actions, but you are responsible for the cost of maintaining your runner machines.
- Let you create custom hardware configurations that meet your needs with processing power or memory to run larger jobs, install software available on your local network.
- Receive automatic updates for the self-hosted runner application only, though you may disable automatic updates of the runner.
- Don't need to have a clean instance for every job execution.
- Can be organized into groups to restrict access to specific workflows, organizations, and repositories. See Managing access to self-hosted runners using groups.
- Can be physical, virtual, in a container, on-premises, or in a cloud.
You can use self-hosted runners anywhere in the management hierarchy. Repository-level runners are dedicated to a single repository, while organization-level runners can process jobs for multiple repositories in an organization. Organization owners can choose which repositories are allowed to create repository-level self-hosted runners. See Disabling or limiting GitHub Actions for your organization. Finally, enterprise-level runners can be assigned to multiple organizations in an enterprise account.
Next steps
To get hands-on experience with the policies and usage of self-hosted runners, see Getting started with self-hosted runners for your enterprise
To find information about the requirements and supported software and hardware for self-hosted runners, see Self-hosted runners reference.