Merge pull request #4225 from github/mbg/reduce-config-requirements

Store and restore "failed" configuration if `init` step aborts
Revert config === undefined condition
2026-10-13 14:21:30 +00:00 · 2026-10-13 09:34:24 +00:00 · 2026-10-12 22:54:47 +01:00 · 2026-10-12 22:50:11 +01:00 · 2026-10-12 22:48:21 +01:00 · 2026-10-12 22:42:38 +01:00
56 changed files with 1428 additions and 1042 deletions
--- a/.github/workflows/__go-tracing-autobuilder.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/__go-tracing-autobuilder.yml
@@ -44,8 +44,6 @@ jobs:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        include:
-          - os: ubuntu-latest
-            version: stable-v2.19.4
          - os: ubuntu-latest
            version: stable-v2.20.7
          - os: ubuntu-latest
@@ -56,6 +54,8 @@ jobs:
            version: stable-v2.23.9
          - os: ubuntu-latest
            version: stable-v2.24.3
+          - os: ubuntu-latest
+            version: stable-v2.25.6
          - os: ubuntu-latest
            version: default
          - os: ubuntu-latest
--- a/.github/workflows/__go-tracing-custom-build-steps.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/__go-tracing-custom-build-steps.yml
@@ -44,8 +44,6 @@ jobs:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        include:
-          - os: ubuntu-latest
-            version: stable-v2.19.4
          - os: ubuntu-latest
            version: stable-v2.20.7
          - os: ubuntu-latest
@@ -56,6 +54,8 @@ jobs:
            version: stable-v2.23.9
          - os: ubuntu-latest
            version: stable-v2.24.3
+          - os: ubuntu-latest
+            version: stable-v2.25.6
          - os: ubuntu-latest
            version: default
          - os: ubuntu-latest
--- a/.github/workflows/__go-tracing-legacy-workflow.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/__go-tracing-legacy-workflow.yml
@@ -44,8 +44,6 @@ jobs:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        include:
-          - os: ubuntu-latest
-            version: stable-v2.19.4
          - os: ubuntu-latest
            version: stable-v2.20.7
          - os: ubuntu-latest
@@ -56,6 +54,8 @@ jobs:
            version: stable-v2.23.9
          - os: ubuntu-latest
            version: stable-v2.24.3
+          - os: ubuntu-latest
+            version: stable-v2.25.6
          - os: ubuntu-latest
            version: default
          - os: ubuntu-latest
--- a/.github/workflows/__multi-language-autodetect.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/__multi-language-autodetect.yml
@@ -54,10 +54,6 @@ jobs:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        include:
-          - os: ubuntu-latest
-            version: stable-v2.19.4
-          - os: macos-15-xlarge
-            version: stable-v2.19.4
          - os: ubuntu-latest
            version: stable-v2.20.7
          - os: macos-15-xlarge
@@ -78,6 +74,10 @@ jobs:
            version: stable-v2.24.3
          - os: macos-latest-xlarge
            version: stable-v2.24.3
+          - os: ubuntu-latest
+            version: stable-v2.25.6
+          - os: macos-latest-xlarge
+            version: stable-v2.25.6
          - os: ubuntu-latest
            version: default
          - os: macos-latest-xlarge
--- a/.github/workflows/__rust.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/__rust.yml
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ jobs:
      matrix:
        include:
          - os: ubuntu-latest
-            version: stable-v2.19.4
+            version: stable-v2.20.7
          - os: ubuntu-latest
            version: stable-v2.22.1
          - os: ubuntu-latest
--- a/.github/workflows/debug-artifacts-failure-safe.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/debug-artifacts-failure-safe.yml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ jobs:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        version:
-        - stable-v2.20.3
+        - stable-v2.20.7
        - default
        - linked
        - nightly-latest
--- a/.github/workflows/debug-artifacts-safe.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/debug-artifacts-safe.yml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ jobs:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        version:
-        - stable-v2.20.3
+        - stable-v2.20.7
        - default
        - linked
        - nightly-latest
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ jobs:
        uses: actions/download-artifact@3e5f45b2cfb9172054b4087a40e8e0b5a5461e7c # v8.0.1
      - name: Check expected artifacts exist
        run: |
-          VERSIONS="stable-v2.20.3 default linked nightly-latest"
+          VERSIONS="stable-v2.20.7 default linked nightly-latest"
          LANGUAGES="cpp csharp go java javascript python"
          for version in $VERSIONS; do
            pushd "./my-debug-artifacts-${version//./}"
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@

 See the [releases page](https://github.com/github/codeql-action/releases) for the relevant changes to the CodeQL CLI and language packs.

+## [UNRELEASED]
+
+- _Breaking change_: Bump the minimum required CodeQL bundle version to 2.20.7. [#4205](https://github.com/github/codeql-action/pull/4205)
+
 ## 4.38.3 - 08 Oct 2026

 - _Upcoming breaking change_: CodeQL version 2.21.2 and earlier were discontinued on 24 September 2026 alongside GitHub Enterprise Server 3.17, and will be unsupported by the next minor release of the CodeQL Action. Added a deprecation warning for customers using these versions of CodeQL. [#4188](https://github.com/github/codeql-action/pull/4188)
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ Here are a few things you can do that will increase the likelihood of your pull
 - Write tests.
 - Keep your change as focused as possible. If there are multiple changes you would like to make that are not dependent upon each other, consider submitting them as separate pull requests.
 - Write a [good commit message](http://tbaggery.com/2008/04/19/a-note-about-git-commit-messages.html).
+- For user-facing changes, add a change-note file. See [unreleased-change-notes/README.md](unreleased-change-notes/README.md).

 ## Releasing (write access required)

--- a/ava.setup.mjs
+++ b/ava.setup.mjs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 import pkg from "./package.json" with { type: "json" };

 globalThis.__CODEQL_ACTION_VERSION__ = pkg.version;
+globalThis.__CODEQL_ACTION_TEST_ENV__ = "unit-test";
--- a/build.mjs
+++ b/build.mjs
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ const UPLOAD_LIB_SRC = "./src/upload-lib";
 *
 * The virtual module additionally re-exports `upload-lib` under the `uploadLib` namespace so that
 * external consumers can access it via the small `lib/upload-lib.js` stub emitted below.
- * 
+ *
 * A tiny stub file is emitted for each Action entrypoint, and one for `upload-lib`. Each stub
 * imports the shared bundle and calls/re-exports from the respective entry point.
 *
@@ -212,6 +212,7 @@ const context = await esbuild.context({
  target: ["node20"],
  define: {
    __CODEQL_ACTION_VERSION__: JSON.stringify(pkg.version),
+    __CODEQL_ACTION_TEST_ENV__: JSON.stringify(""),
  },
  metafile: true,
 });
--- a/eslint.config.mjs
+++ b/eslint.config.mjs
@@ -140,6 +140,17 @@ export default [
      "no-async-foreach/no-async-foreach": "error",
      "no-sequences": "error",
      "no-shadow": "off",
+
+      // A basic check that we don't use `exportVariable` from `@actions/core`.
+      "no-restricted-syntax": [
+        "error",
+        {
+          selector: "MemberExpression[property.name='exportVariable']",
+          message:
+            "Use the `export` method of an `Env` instance or `exportEnvVar` from `environment.ts` instead.",
+        },
+      ],
+
      // This is overly restrictive with unsetting `EnvVar`s
      "@typescript-eslint/no-dynamic-delete": "off",
      "@typescript-eslint/no-shadow": "error",
@@ -157,6 +168,15 @@ export default [
      ],
    },
  },
+  {
+    files: ["src/environment.ts"],
+
+    // We allow `exportVariable` from `@actions/core` to be used in this file
+    // since it defines the wrapper around it that other modules use.
+    rules: {
+      "no-restricted-syntax": "off",
+    },
+  },
  {
    files: ["**/*.ts", "**/*.js"],

--- a/lib/entry-points.js
+++ b/lib/entry-points.js
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
  "name": "codeql",
-  "version": "4.38.3",
+  "version": "4.39.0",
  "lockfileVersion": 3,
  "requires": true,
  "packages": {
    "": {
      "name": "codeql",
-      "version": "4.38.3",
+      "version": "4.39.0",
      "license": "MIT",
      "workspaces": [
        "pr-checks"
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@
        "eslint-import-resolver-typescript": "^4.4.5",
        "eslint-plugin-github": "^6.1.2",
        "eslint-plugin-import-x": "^4.17.1",
-        "eslint-plugin-jsdoc": "^64.5.4",
+        "eslint-plugin-jsdoc": "^65.0.1",
        "eslint-plugin-no-async-foreach": "^0.1.1",
        "glob": "^13.0.6",
        "globals": "^17.12.0",
@@ -5381,15 +5381,15 @@
      }
    },
    "node_modules/eslint-plugin-jsdoc": {
-      "version": "64.5.4",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/eslint-plugin-jsdoc/-/eslint-plugin-jsdoc-64.5.4.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha512-xfRhXPSSWT612muJ6XTvxuVJ8zYHv99qNgBqPVqF28aSqoy4s4XbSkrWXnYA2hl5ejC02yEpk6fqkj3BmJ6Xbg==",
+      "version": "65.0.1",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/eslint-plugin-jsdoc/-/eslint-plugin-jsdoc-65.0.1.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-7IvB+ZS71WCw5tGKh6f6D5k55qtXKdrGTnIpQTBKWdpyZ5IfhGHfh0i6ArWlCJ4JEtz22YRk5Bqu1MvbOlpMKQ==",
      "dev": true,
      "license": "BSD-3-Clause",
      "dependencies": {
        "@es-joy/jsdoccomment": "~0.98.0",
        "@es-joy/resolve.exports": "1.2.0",
-        "@typescript-eslint/utils": "^8.70.0",
+        "@typescript-eslint/utils": "^8.70.1",
        "are-docs-informative": "^0.1.1",
        "comment-parser": "1.4.9",
        "debug": "^4.4.3",
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
  "name": "codeql",
-  "version": "4.38.3",
+  "version": "4.39.0",
  "private": true,
  "description": "CodeQL action",
  "scripts": {
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@
    "eslint-import-resolver-typescript": "^4.4.5",
    "eslint-plugin-github": "^6.1.2",
    "eslint-plugin-import-x": "^4.17.1",
-    "eslint-plugin-jsdoc": "^64.5.4",
+    "eslint-plugin-jsdoc": "^65.0.1",
    "eslint-plugin-no-async-foreach": "^0.1.1",
    "glob": "^13.0.6",
    "globals": "^17.12.0",
--- a/pr-checks/changelog/validate.test.ts
+++ b/pr-checks/changelog/validate.test.ts
@@ -154,26 +154,6 @@ await describe("isValidChangenoteFile", async () => {
    assert.equal(isValidChangenoteFile("non-existent-file.md"), false);
  });

-  await it("rejects invalid filename", async () => {
-    await withTmpFile(
-      "fix-bug.md",
-      "---\ncategory: fix\n---\n- Fixed a bug\n",
-      (filePath) => {
-        assert.equal(isValidChangenoteFile(filePath), false);
-      },
-    );
-  });
-
-  await it("rejects missing frontmatter", async () => {
-    await withTmpFile(
-      "2026-01-01-fix-bug.md",
-      "- Fixed a bug\n",
-      (filePath) => {
-        assert.equal(isValidChangenoteFile(filePath), false);
-      },
-    );
-  });
-
  await it("rejects invalid Markdown", async () => {
    await withTmpFile(
      "2026-01-01-fix-bug.md",
--- a/pr-checks/changelog/validate.ts
+++ b/pr-checks/changelog/validate.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import * as fs from "node:fs";
-import * as path from "node:path";

 import { matter } from "lite-matter";
 import type { List, ListItem } from "mdast";
@@ -95,21 +94,7 @@ export function isValidChangenoteFile(filename: string): boolean {
    return false;
  }

-  const { data: frontmatter, content } = matter(fileData);
-
-  if (!isValidChangenoteFilename(path.basename(filename))) {
-    isValid = false;
-    console.error(
-      `${filename}: invalid filename; must match pattern YYYY-MM-DD-id.md`,
-    );
-  }
-  if (!hasValidChangenoteCategory(frontmatter)) {
-    isValid = false;
-    const categories = Object.keys(VALID_CHANGE_NOTE_CATEGORIES).join(", ");
-    console.error(
-      `${filename}: invalid category; must be one of: ${categories}`,
-    );
-  }
+  const { content } = matter(fileData);
  if (!isValidChangenoteContent(content)) {
    isValid = false;
    console.error(
--- a/pr-checks/changenotes.ts
+++ b/pr-checks/changenotes.ts
@@ -28,12 +28,12 @@ interface ChangenoteFile {

 /**
 * Returns the absolute file paths of all files in
- * {@link CHANGENOTES_DIR} (except ".gitkeep").
+ * {@link CHANGENOTES_DIR} (except ".gitkeep" and "README.md").
 * */
 function listUnreleasedChangenoteDir(): string[] {
  return fs
    .readdirSync(CHANGENOTES_DIR)
-    .filter((name) => name !== ".gitkeep")
+    .filter((name) => ![".gitkeep", "README.md"].includes(name))
    .map((name) => path.join(CHANGENOTES_DIR, name));
 }

--- a/pr-checks/checks/multi-language-autodetect.yml
+++ b/pr-checks/checks/multi-language-autodetect.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ operatingSystems:
  - os: macos
    runner-image: macos-15-xlarge
    codeql-versions:
-      - stable-v2.19.4
      - stable-v2.20.7
      - stable-v2.21.4
      - stable-v2.22.4
--- a/pr-checks/checks/rust.yml
+++ b/pr-checks/checks/rust.yml
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 name: "Rust analysis"
 description: "Tests creation of a Rust database"
 versions:
-  # experimental rust support introduced, requires action to set `CODEQL_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURES`
-  - stable-v2.19.4
+  # oldest CodeQL version supported by the Action, where Rust support is experimental and requires the Action to set `CODEQL_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURES`
+  - stable-v2.20.7
  # first public preview version
  - stable-v2.22.1
  - linked
--- a/pr-checks/sync.ts
+++ b/pr-checks/sync.ts
@@ -136,8 +136,6 @@ type LanguageSetups = Partial<Record<BuiltInLanguage, LanguageSetup>>;
 // The default set of CodeQL Bundle versions to use for the PR checks.
 const defaultTestVersions = [
  // The oldest supported CodeQL version. If bumping, update `CODEQL_MINIMUM_VERSION` in `codeql.ts`
-  "stable-v2.19.4",
-  // The last CodeQL release in the 2.20 series.
  "stable-v2.20.7",
  // The last CodeQL release in the 2.21 series.
  "stable-v2.21.4",
@@ -147,6 +145,8 @@ const defaultTestVersions = [
  "stable-v2.23.9",
  // The last CodeQL release in the 2.24 series.
  "stable-v2.24.3",
+  // The last CodeQL release in the 2.25 series.
+  "stable-v2.25.6",
  // The default version of CodeQL for Dotcom, as determined by feature flags.
  "default",
  // The version of CodeQL shipped with the Action in `defaults.json`. During the release process
--- a/queries/default-setup-environment-variables.ql
+++ b/queries/default-setup-environment-variables.ql
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ predicate isSafeForDefaultSetup(string envVar) {
      "GITHUB_BASE_REF", "GITHUB_EVENT_NAME", "GITHUB_JOB", "GITHUB_RUN_ATTEMPT", "GITHUB_RUN_ID",
      "GITHUB_SHA", "GITHUB_REPOSITORY", "GITHUB_SERVER_URL", "GITHUB_TOKEN", "GITHUB_WORKFLOW",
      "GITHUB_WORKSPACE", "GOFLAGS", "ImageVersion", "JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS", "RUNNER_ARCH",
-      "RUNNER_ENVIRONMENT", "RUNNER_NAME", "RUNNER_OS", "RUNNER_TEMP", "RUNNER_TOOL_CACHE"
+      "RUNNER_ENVIRONMENT", "RUNNER_NAME", "RUNNER_OS", "RUNNER_TEMP", "RUNNER_TOOL_CACHE",
+      "NODE_ENV"
    ]
 }

--- a/src/action-common.test.ts
+++ b/src/action-common.test.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,24 @@ import { getErrorMessage } from "./util";

 setupTests(test);

+for (const [key, displayName] of Object.entries(
+  statusReport.ACTION_DISPLAY_NAMES,
+)) {
+  test(`getDisplayActionName - '${displayName}' instead of '${key}'`, (t) => {
+    t.is(statusReport.getDisplayActionName(key as ActionName), displayName);
+  });
+}
+
+test("getDisplayActionName - returns action name", (t) => {
+  for (const actionName of Object.values(ActionName)) {
+    if (statusReport.ACTION_DISPLAY_NAMES[actionName]) {
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    t.is(statusReport.getDisplayActionName(actionName), actionName);
+  }
+});
+
 interface RunInActionsTestOpts {
  runFn?: () => Promise<any>;
  expectedErrorMessage?: string;
--- a/src/action-common.ts
+++ b/src/action-common.ts
@@ -56,6 +56,29 @@ export interface FeatureState {
 /** Identifies a type of state an Action may have. */
 export type StateFeature = keyof FeatureState;

+/**
+ * The `Env` feature implies the availability of the `ReadOnlyEnv` feature.
+ *
+ * If `T` is `Env`, this returns `Env | ReadOnlyEnv`.
+ * Otherwise, it is the identity and returns T.
+ */
+type ImpliedFeatures<T extends StateFeature> = T extends "Env"
+  ? "Env" | "ReadOnlyEnv"
+  : T;
+
+/**
+ * Given an object type `Obj`, this tries to lookup a corresponding `StateFeature`
+ * to which the object type belongs in `FeatureState`. Resolves to `never` if there
+ * is no match.
+ */
+type FeatureNameFor<Obj extends object> = {
+  [K in StateFeature]: [Obj] extends [FeatureState[K]]
+    ? [FeatureState[K]] extends [Obj]
+      ? K
+      : never
+    : never;
+}[StateFeature];
+
 /** Constructs the intersection of all state types identifies by `Fs`. */
 export type FieldsOf<Fs extends readonly StateFeature[]> = Fs extends []
  ? Record<never, never>
@@ -66,8 +89,54 @@ export type FieldsOf<Fs extends readonly StateFeature[]> = Fs extends []
    ? FeatureState[Head] & FieldsOf<Tail>
    : never;

+/**
+ * Symbol used for a field in `ActionState` that carries the type array of state features.
+ * This is a Symbol so that it doesn't clash with any property names we might want to have.
+ */
+const stateFeatures = Symbol();
+
 /** Describes the state of an Action that has access to the state corresponding to `Fs`. */
-export type ActionState<Fs extends readonly StateFeature[]> = FieldsOf<Fs>;
+export type ActionState<Fs extends readonly StateFeature[]> = FieldsOf<Fs> & {
+  /**
+   * When given a chance, TypeScript will simplify an `ActionState<Fs>` type as much as possible,
+   * which results in a concrete object type that doesn't mention `Fs`.
+   *
+   * That causes problems for functions which accept `ActionState<Fs>` values, but need to know the
+   * feature keys `Fs`. This property here explicitly captures `Fs` in the concrete object type
+   * that results from simplifying `ActionState<Fs>`.
+   *
+   * This is a function rather than a field, because we want to be able to provide values of type
+   * `ActionState<Fs>` to functions expecting `ActionState<As>` where `As` is a subset of `Fs`.
+   *
+   * Since function types are contravariant in the types of their parameters, using a function
+   * type here allows that to happen.
+   *
+   * Because the field is optional, we don't have to explicitly provide a value
+   * for it anywhere while the type is still inferred.
+   *
+   * `Fs[number]` returns the union of all features in `Fs`. We wrap it in `ImpliedFeatures`
+   * so that `Env` is expanded into `Env | ReadOnlyEnv`, allowing functions that expect the
+   * `ReadOnlyEnv` feature to be provided with an `ActionState` that has the `Env` feature
+   * without requiring this to be made explicit.
+   */
+  readonly [stateFeatures]?: (ts: ImpliedFeatures<Fs[number]>) => void;
+};
+
+/** Extends `state` with an `extra` feature. */
+export function extendActionState<
+  // In first position, so that it can be explicitly provided if `FeatureNameFor`
+  // should not work on `extra`.
+  F extends StateFeature,
+  Fs extends readonly StateFeature[],
+  E extends FeatureState[F],
+>(
+  state: ActionState<Fs>,
+  extra: E,
+): ActionState<[...Fs, FeatureNameFor<E> & F]> {
+  return { ...state, ...extra } as unknown as ActionState<
+    [...Fs, FeatureNameFor<E> & F]
+  >;
+}

 /** The type of an Action's main entry point. This is a function that is provided
 * with a basic `ActionState` object with features that are always available.
--- a/src/actions-util.test.ts
+++ b/src/actions-util.test.ts
@@ -7,12 +7,13 @@ import {
  isAnalyzingPullRequest,
  isDefaultSetup,
  isDynamicWorkflow,
+  printDebugLogs,
 } from "./actions-util";
 import { computeAutomationID } from "./api-client";
 import { EnvVar } from "./environment";
 import { getRunnerLogger } from "./logging";
-import { setupTests } from "./testing-utils";
-import { initializeEnvironment } from "./util";
+import { RecordingLogger, setupTests } from "./testing-utils";
+import { initializeEnvironment, withTmpDir } from "./util";

 setupTests(test);

@@ -100,6 +101,21 @@ test("computeAutomationID()", async (t) => {
  );
 });

+test("printDebugLogs - doesn't throw when config doesn't have needed properties", async (t) => {
+  const logger = new RecordingLogger();
+  await t.notThrowsAsync(printDebugLogs(logger, {}));
+  await t.notThrowsAsync(printDebugLogs(logger, { languages: [] }));
+  await t.notThrowsAsync(printDebugLogs(logger, { dbLocation: "nowhere" }));
+});
+
+test("printDebugLogs - doesn't throw when language db doesn't exist", async (t) =>
+  withTmpDir(async (tmpDir) => {
+    const logger = new RecordingLogger();
+    await t.notThrowsAsync(
+      printDebugLogs(logger, { dbLocation: tmpDir, languages: ["javascript"] }),
+    );
+  }));
+
 test.serial("getPullRequestBranches() with pull request context", (t) => {
  withMockedContext(
    {
--- a/src/actions-util.ts
+++ b/src/actions-util.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import * as toolrunner from "@actions/exec/lib/toolrunner";
 import * as github from "@actions/github";
 import * as io from "@actions/io";

-import type { Config } from "./config-utils";
+import { hasConfigKey, type Config } from "./config/action-config";
 import { Env, EnvVar, ActionsEnvVars, ReadOnlyEnv } from "./environment";
 import { Logger } from "./logging";
 import {
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ declare const __CODEQL_ACTION_VERSION__: string;
 export interface ActionsEnv {
  getRequiredInput: (name: string) => string;
  getOptionalInput: (name: string) => string | undefined;
-  exportVariable: (name: string, value: string) => void;
 }

 /**
@@ -40,7 +39,6 @@ export function getActionsEnv(): ActionsEnv {
  return {
    getRequiredInput,
    getOptionalInput,
-    exportVariable: core.exportVariable,
  };
 }

@@ -133,28 +131,38 @@ export function getWorkflowEvent(env: Env = getEnv()): any {
  }
 }

-export async function printDebugLogs(config: Config) {
+export async function printDebugLogs(logger: Logger, config: Partial<Config>) {
+  if (
+    !hasConfigKey(config, "languages") ||
+    !hasConfigKey(config, "dbLocation")
+  ) {
+    logger.debug(
+      `Not printing debug logs, because the configuration does not include the 'languages' or 'dbLocation' fields.`,
+    );
+    return;
+  }
+
  for (const language of config.languages) {
    const databaseDirectory = getCodeQLDatabasePath(config, language);
    const logsDirectory = path.join(databaseDirectory, "log");
    if (!doesDirectoryExist(logsDirectory)) {
-      core.info(`Directory ${logsDirectory} does not exist.`);
+      logger.info(`Directory ${logsDirectory} does not exist.`);
      continue; // Skip this language database.
    }

    const walkLogFiles = (dir: string) => {
      const entries = fs.readdirSync(dir, { withFileTypes: true });
      if (entries.length === 0) {
-        core.info(`No debug logs found at directory ${logsDirectory}.`);
+        logger.info(`No debug logs found at directory ${logsDirectory}.`);
      }
      for (const entry of entries) {
        if (entry.isFile()) {
          const absolutePath = path.resolve(dir, entry.name);
-          core.startGroup(
+          logger.startGroup(
            `CodeQL Debug Logs - ${language} - ${entry.name} from file at path ${absolutePath}`,
          );
-          process.stdout.write(fs.readFileSync(absolutePath));
-          core.endGroup();
+          logger.info(fs.readFileSync(absolutePath, "utf-8"));
+          logger.endGroup();
        } else if (entry.isDirectory()) {
          walkLogFiles(path.resolve(dir, entry.name));
        }
--- a/src/analyze-action-post.ts
+++ b/src/analyze-action-post.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ import * as core from "@actions/core";

 import * as actionsUtil from "./actions-util";
 import { getGitHubVersion } from "./api-client";
-import { getCodeQL } from "./codeql";
 import { getConfig } from "./config-utils";
 import * as debugArtifacts from "./debug-artifacts";
 import {
@@ -38,12 +37,9 @@ export async function runWrapper() {
        logger,
      );
      if (config !== undefined) {
-        const codeql = await getCodeQL(logger, config.codeQLCmd);
-        const version = await codeql.getVersion();
        await debugArtifacts.uploadCombinedSarifArtifacts(
          logger,
          config.gitHubVersion.type,
-          version.version,
        );
      }
    }
--- a/src/analyze-action.ts
+++ b/src/analyze-action.ts
@@ -214,9 +214,10 @@ async function runAutobuildIfLegacyGoWorkflow(config: Config, logger: Logger) {

 async function run({
  startedAt,
+  env,
  logger,
  actions,
-}: ActionState<["Base", "Logger", "Actions"]>) {
+}: ActionState<["Base", "Env", "Logger", "Actions"]>) {
  // To capture errors appropriately, keep as much code within the try-catch as
  // possible, and only use safe functions outside.

@@ -267,17 +268,6 @@ async function run({
      );
    }

-    // Unset the CODEQL_PROXY_* environment variables when using older CodeQL
-    // CLIs, as they are not needed and can cause issues.
-    if (
-      process.env.CODEQL_PROXY_HOST === "" &&
-      !(await util.codeQlVersionAtLeast(codeql, "2.20.7"))
-    ) {
-      delete process.env.CODEQL_PROXY_HOST;
-      delete process.env.CODEQL_PROXY_PORT;
-      delete process.env.CODEQL_PROXY_CA_CERTIFICATE;
-    }
-
    if (actionsUtil.getOptionalInput("cleanup-level")) {
      logger.info(
        "The 'cleanup-level' input is ignored since the CodeQL Action now automatically " +
@@ -287,7 +277,7 @@ async function run({

    const apiDetails = getApiDetails();
    const outputDir = actionsUtil.getRequiredInput("output");
-    core.exportVariable(EnvVar.SARIF_RESULTS_OUTPUT_DIR, outputDir);
+    env.export(EnvVar.SARIF_RESULTS_OUTPUT_DIR, outputDir);
    const threads = util.getThreadsFlag(
      actionsUtil.getOptionalInput("threads") || process.env["CODEQL_THREADS"],
      logger,
@@ -456,7 +446,7 @@ async function run({
        `expect-error input was set to true but no error was thrown.`,
      );
    }
-    core.exportVariable(EnvVar.ANALYZE_DID_COMPLETE_SUCCESSFULLY, "true");
+    env.export(EnvVar.ANALYZE_DID_COMPLETE_SUCCESSFULLY, "true");
  } catch (unwrappedError) {
    const error = util.wrapError(unwrappedError);
    if (
--- a/src/analyze.ts
+++ b/src/analyze.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { getTemporaryDirectory } from "./actions-util";
 import * as analyses from "./analyses";
 import { setupCppAutobuild } from "./autobuild";
 import { type CodeQL } from "./codeql";
+import type { ActionConfig } from "./config/action-config";
 import { defaultSuites } from "./config/db-config";
 import * as configUtils from "./config-utils";
 import {
@@ -124,7 +125,7 @@ export async function runExtraction(
          language === BuiltInLanguage.cpp &&
          config.buildMode === BuildMode.Autobuild
        ) {
-          await setupCppAutobuild(codeql, logger);
+          await setupCppAutobuild(logger);
        }

        // The Java and C# `build-mode: none` extractors place dependencies in the
@@ -171,7 +172,7 @@ async function shouldExtractLanguage(
 }

 export function dbIsFinalized(
-  config: configUtils.Config,
+  config: ActionConfig<"dbLocation">,
  language: Language,
  logger: Logger,
 ) {
--- a/src/api-client.ts
+++ b/src/api-client.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import {
  ReadOnlyEnv,
  RegistryProxyVars,
  getEnv,
+  exportEnvVar,
 } from "./environment";
 import { Logger } from "./logging";
 import { getRepositoryNwo, RepositoryNwo } from "./repository";
@@ -316,7 +317,7 @@ export async function getAnalysisKey(): Promise<string> {
  const jobName = getRequiredEnvParam("GITHUB_JOB");

  analysisKey = `${workflowPath}:${jobName}`;
-  core.exportVariable(EnvVar.ANALYSIS_KEY, analysisKey);
+  exportEnvVar(EnvVar.ANALYSIS_KEY, analysisKey);
  return analysisKey;
 }

--- a/src/autobuild-action.ts
+++ b/src/autobuild-action.ts
@@ -68,7 +68,11 @@ async function sendCompletedStatusReport(
  }
 }

-async function run({ startedAt, logger }: ActionState<["Base", "Logger"]>) {
+async function run({
+  startedAt,
+  env,
+  logger,
+}: ActionState<["Base", "Env", "Logger"]>) {
  // To capture errors appropriately, keep as much code within the try-catch as
  // possible, and only use safe functions outside.

@@ -135,7 +139,7 @@ async function run({ startedAt, logger }: ActionState<["Base", "Logger"]>) {
    return;
  }

-  core.exportVariable(EnvVar.AUTOBUILD_DID_COMPLETE_SUCCESSFULLY, "true");
+  env.export(EnvVar.AUTOBUILD_DID_COMPLETE_SUCCESSFULLY, "true");

  await sendCompletedStatusReport(config, logger, startedAt, languages ?? []);
 }
--- a/src/autobuild.ts
+++ b/src/autobuild.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,9 @@
-import * as core from "@actions/core";
-
 import { getTemporaryDirectory, getWorkflowEventName } from "./actions-util";
 import { getGitHubVersion } from "./api-client";
 import { CodeQL, getCodeQL } from "./codeql";
 import * as configUtils from "./config-utils";
 import { DocUrl } from "./doc-url";
-import { ActionsEnvVars, EnvVar } from "./environment";
+import { ActionsEnvVars, EnvVar, exportEnvVar } from "./environment";
 import { Feature, featureConfig, initFeatures } from "./feature-flags";
 import { BuiltInLanguage, Language } from "./languages";
 import { Logger } from "./logging";
@@ -112,7 +110,7 @@ export async function determineAutobuildLanguages(
  return languages;
 }

-export async function setupCppAutobuild(codeql: CodeQL, logger: Logger) {
+export async function setupCppAutobuild(logger: Logger) {
  const envVar = featureConfig[Feature.CppDependencyInstallation].envVar;
  const featureName = "C++ automatic installation of dependencies";
  const gitHubVersion = await getGitHubVersion();
@@ -123,7 +121,7 @@ export async function setupCppAutobuild(codeql: CodeQL, logger: Logger) {
    getTemporaryDirectory(),
    logger,
  );
-  if (await features.getValue(Feature.CppDependencyInstallation, codeql)) {
+  if (await features.getValue(Feature.CppDependencyInstallation)) {
    // disable autoinstall on self-hosted runners unless explicitly requested
    if (
      process.env[ActionsEnvVars.RUNNER_ENVIRONMENT] === "self-hosted" &&
@@ -136,16 +134,16 @@ export async function setupCppAutobuild(codeql: CodeQL, logger: Logger) {
            : ""
        }`,
      );
-      core.exportVariable(envVar, "false");
+      exportEnvVar(envVar, "false");
    } else {
      logger.info(
        `Enabling ${featureName}. This can be disabled by setting the ${envVar} environment variable to 'false'. See ${DocUrl.DEFINE_ENV_VARIABLES} for more information.`,
      );
-      core.exportVariable(envVar, "true");
+      exportEnvVar(envVar, "true");
    }
  } else {
    logger.info(`Disabling ${featureName}.`);
-    core.exportVariable(envVar, "false");
+    exportEnvVar(envVar, "false");
  }
 }

@@ -157,7 +155,7 @@ export async function runAutobuild(
  logger.startGroup(`Attempting to automatically build ${language} code`);
  const codeQL = await getCodeQL(logger, config.codeQLCmd);
  if (language === BuiltInLanguage.cpp) {
-    await setupCppAutobuild(codeQL, logger);
+    await setupCppAutobuild(logger);
  }
  if (config.buildMode) {
    await codeQL.extractUsingBuildMode(config, language);
@@ -165,7 +163,7 @@ export async function runAutobuild(
    await codeQL.runAutobuild(config, language);
  }
  if (language === BuiltInLanguage.go) {
-    core.exportVariable(EnvVar.DID_AUTOBUILD_GOLANG, "true");
+    exportEnvVar(EnvVar.DID_AUTOBUILD_GOLANG, "true");
  }
  logger.endGroup();
 }
--- a/src/codeql.ts
+++ b/src/codeql.ts
@@ -15,9 +15,10 @@ import * as api from "./api-client";
 import * as outputCache from "./cli/output-cache";
 import type { VersionInfo } from "./cli/types";
 import { CliError, wrapCliConfigurationError } from "./cli-errors";
+import type { ActionConfig } from "./config/action-config";
 import { appendExtraQueryExclusions, type Config } from "./config-utils";
 import { DocUrl } from "./doc-url";
-import { EnvVar, getEnv } from "./environment";
+import { EnvVar, getEnv, exportEnvVar } from "./environment";
 import {
  CodeQLDefaultVersionInfo,
  Feature,
@@ -197,7 +198,7 @@ export interface CodeQL {
  diagnosticsExport(
    sarifFile: string,
    automationDetailsId: string | undefined,
-    config: Config,
+    config: ActionConfig<"tempDir">,
  ): Promise<void>;
  /** Get the location of an extractor for the specified language. */
  resolveExtractor(language: Language): Promise<string>;
@@ -253,7 +254,7 @@ let cachedCodeQL: CodeQL | undefined = undefined;
 * The version flags below can be used to conditionally enable certain features
 * on versions newer than this.
 */
-const CODEQL_MINIMUM_VERSION = "2.19.4";
+const CODEQL_MINIMUM_VERSION = "2.20.7";

 /**
 * This version will shortly become the oldest version of CodeQL that the Action will run with.
@@ -913,7 +914,7 @@ async function getCodeQLForCmd(
    async diagnosticsExport(
      sarifFile: string,
      automationDetailsId: string | undefined,
-      config: Config,
+      config: ActionConfig<"tempDir">,
    ): Promise<void> {
      const args = [
        "diagnostics",
@@ -1054,7 +1055,7 @@ async function getCodeQLForCmd(
        }' by 'github/codeql-action/*@v${getActionVersion()}' in your code scanning workflow to ` +
        "continue using this version of the CodeQL Action.",
    );
-    core.exportVariable(EnvVar.SUPPRESS_DEPRECATED_SOON_WARNING, "true");
+    exportEnvVar(EnvVar.SUPPRESS_DEPRECATED_SOON_WARNING, "true");
  }
  return codeql;
 }
@@ -1237,7 +1238,9 @@ export async function getTrapCachingExtractorConfigArgsForLang(
 *
 * This will not exist if the configuration is being parsed in the Action.
 */
-function getGeneratedCodeScanningConfigPath(config: Config): string {
+function getGeneratedCodeScanningConfigPath(
+  config: ActionConfig<"tempDir">,
+): string {
  return path.resolve(config.tempDir, "user-config.yaml");
 }

--- a/src/config-utils.ts
+++ b/src/config-utils.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import * as fs from "fs";
 import * as path from "path";
 import { performance } from "perf_hooks";

-import * as core from "@actions/core";
 import * as yaml from "js-yaml";

 import { ActionState } from "./action-common";
@@ -22,7 +21,11 @@ import {
 import * as api from "./api-client";
 import { getCachingKind } from "./caching-utils";
 import { type CodeQL } from "./codeql";
-import { type Config } from "./config/action-config";
+import {
+  type AbortedInitConfig,
+  type ActionConfig,
+  type Config,
+} from "./config/action-config";
 import {
  calculateAugmentation,
  ExcludeQueryFilter,
@@ -46,7 +49,7 @@ import {
  makeTelemetryDiagnostic,
 } from "./diagnostics";
 import { prepareDiffInformedAnalysis } from "./diff-informed-analysis-utils";
-import { EnvVar } from "./environment";
+import { EnvVar, exportEnvVar } from "./environment";
 import * as errorMessages from "./error-messages";
 import { Feature, FeatureEnablement, FeatureWithoutCLI } from "./feature-flags";
 import {
@@ -72,6 +75,7 @@ import {
 import { OverlayDatabaseMode } from "./overlay/overlay-database-mode";
 import { shouldSkipOverlayAnalysis } from "./overlay/status";
 import { RepositoryNwo } from "./repository";
+import { ActionName } from "./status-report";
 import { ToolsFeature } from "./tools-features";
 import { downloadTrapCaches } from "./trap-caching";
 import {
@@ -965,10 +969,10 @@ async function setCppTrapCachingEnvironmentVariables(
      );
    } else if (config.trapCaches[BuiltInLanguage.cpp]) {
      logger.info("Enabling TRAP caching for C/C++.");
-      core.exportVariable(envVar, "true");
+      exportEnvVar(envVar, "true");
    } else {
      logger.debug(`Disabling TRAP caching for C/C++.`);
-      core.exportVariable(envVar, "false");
+      exportEnvVar(envVar, "false");
    }
  }
 }
@@ -1380,31 +1384,86 @@ export function getPathToParsedConfigFile(tempDir: string): string {
  return path.join(tempDir, "config");
 }

+function getPathToFailedConfigFile(tempDir: string): string {
+  return path.join(tempDir, "failed-config");
+}
+
 /**
- * Store the given config to the path returned from getPathToParsedConfigFile.
+ * Writes {@link config} to {@link configFilePath}.
+ *
+ * This function is not intended to be called, other than by
+ * {@link saveConfig} and {@link saveAbortedInitConfig} below.
 */
-export async function saveConfig(config: Config, logger: Logger) {
+function saveConfigFile(
+  logger: Logger,
+  configFilePath: string,
+  config: Partial<Config>,
+) {
  const configString = JSON.stringify(config);
-  const configFile = getPathToParsedConfigFile(config.tempDir);
-  fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(configFile), { recursive: true });
-  fs.writeFileSync(configFile, configString, "utf8");
+  fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(configFilePath), { recursive: true });
+  fs.writeFileSync(configFilePath, configString, "utf8");
  logger.debug("Saved config:");
  logger.debug(configString);
 }

 /**
- * Get the config that has been saved to the given temp dir.
- * If the config could not be found then returns undefined.
+ * Store the given config to the path returned from getPathToParsedConfigFile.
 */
-export async function getConfig(
-  tempDir: string,
+export async function saveConfig(config: Config, logger: Logger) {
+  const configFile = getPathToParsedConfigFile(config.tempDir);
+  saveConfigFile(logger, configFile, config);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Store parts of {@link config} as a failed configuration file.
+ *
+ * The file will only contain parts of {@link config} that are relevant to
+ * the `init-post` step in the workflow.
+ */
+export function saveAbortedInitConfig(
+  action: ActionState<["Base", "Logger"]>,
+  config: Config,
+) {
+  // Should only be called by init.
+  if (action.name !== ActionName.Init) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `Internal error: 'saveAbortedInitConfig' should only be called by '${ActionName.Init}', but was called by '${action.name}'.`,
+    );
+  }
+
+  // Create a copy of the input `Config` that only contains the keys we want.
+  const failedConfig: AbortedInitConfig = {
+    version: config.version,
+    tempDir: config.tempDir,
+    codeQLCmd: config.codeQLCmd,
+    debugMode: config.debugMode,
+    gitHubVersion: config.gitHubVersion,
+    languages: config.languages,
+    analysisKinds: config.analysisKinds,
+  };
+
+  action.logger.debug(`Saving config for failed init step.`);
+  saveConfigFile(
+    action.logger,
+    getPathToFailedConfigFile(config.tempDir),
+    failedConfig,
+  );
+}
+
+/**
+ * Attempts to read a {@link Config} from {@link configFilePath}.
+ *
+ * This function is not intended to be called, other than by
+ * {@link getConfig} and {@link getAbortedInitConfig} below.
+ */
+function readConfigFile(
  logger: Logger,
-): Promise<Config | undefined> {
-  const configFile = getPathToParsedConfigFile(tempDir);
-  if (!fs.existsSync(configFile)) {
+  configFilePath: string,
+): Config | undefined {
+  if (!fs.existsSync(configFilePath)) {
    return undefined;
  }
-  const configString = fs.readFileSync(configFile, "utf8");
+  const configString = fs.readFileSync(configFilePath, "utf8");
  logger.debug("Loaded config:");
  logger.debug(configString);

@@ -1429,6 +1488,38 @@ export async function getConfig(
  return config as Config;
 }

+/**
+ * Get the config that has been saved to the given temp dir.
+ * If the config could not be found then returns undefined.
+ */
+export async function getConfig(
+  tempDir: string,
+  logger: Logger,
+): Promise<Config | undefined> {
+  const configFile = getPathToParsedConfigFile(tempDir);
+  return readConfigFile(logger, configFile);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Loads a {@link AbortedInitConfig} from a failed `init` step if it exists.
+ *
+ * The result will only contain parts of a {@link Config} that are relevant to
+ * the `init-post` step in the workflow.
+ */
+export function getAbortedInitConfig(
+  action: ActionState<["Base", "Logger"]>,
+  tempDir: string,
+): AbortedInitConfig | undefined {
+  // Only intended to be called by the `init-post` action.
+  if (action.name !== ActionName.InitPost) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `Internal error: 'getAbortedInitConfig' should only be called by '${ActionName.InitPost}', but was called by '${action.name}'.`,
+    );
+  }
+
+  return readConfigFile(action.logger, getPathToFailedConfigFile(tempDir));
+}
+
 /**
 * Generate a `qlconfig.yml` file from the `registries` input.
 * This file is used by the CodeQL CLI to list the registries to use for each
@@ -1619,21 +1710,27 @@ export function appendExtraQueryExclusions(
 /**
 * Returns `true` if Code Scanning analysis is enabled, or `false` if not.
 */
-export function isCodeScanningEnabled(config: Config): boolean {
+export function isCodeScanningEnabled(
+  config: ActionConfig<"analysisKinds">,
+): boolean {
  return config.analysisKinds.includes(AnalysisKind.CodeScanning);
 }

 /**
 * Returns `true` if Code Quality analysis is enabled, or `false` if not.
 */
-export function isCodeQualityEnabled(config: Config): boolean {
+export function isCodeQualityEnabled(
+  config: ActionConfig<"analysisKinds">,
+): boolean {
  return config.analysisKinds.includes(AnalysisKind.CodeQuality);
 }

 /**
 * Returns `true` if Code Scanning Risk Assessment analysis is enabled, or `false` if not.
 */
-export function isRiskAssessmentEnabled(config: Config): boolean {
+export function isRiskAssessmentEnabled(
+  config: ActionConfig<"analysisKinds">,
+): boolean {
  return config.analysisKinds.includes(AnalysisKind.RiskAssessment);
 }

--- a/src/config/action-config.ts
+++ b/src/config/action-config.ts
@@ -126,3 +126,38 @@ export interface Config {
   */
  enableFileCoverageInformation: boolean;
 }
+
+/** Properties available in `Config`. */
+export type ActionConfigProperties = keyof Config;
+
+/**
+ * The CodeQL Action configuration state that is persisted
+ * between steps of the CodeQL Action in a CodeQL workflow.
+ *
+ * By default, this is equivalent to `Config`. By explicitly
+ * providing required property names for `T` this can be restricted
+ * to requiring only those. For example, in `ActionConfig<"codeQLCmd">`
+ * all properties except `codeqlCmd` are optional.
+ */
+export type ActionConfig<
+  T extends ActionConfigProperties = ActionConfigProperties,
+> = Partial<Config> & Pick<Config, T>;
+
+/** Helper function to check whether `config` has `key` to narrow the type of `config`. */
+export function hasConfigKey<Key extends ActionConfigProperties>(
+  config: Partial<Config>,
+  key: Key,
+): config is ActionConfig<Key> {
+  return config[key] !== undefined;
+}
+
+/** A minimal configuration that we can make available even when `init` aborts. */
+export type AbortedInitConfig = ActionConfig<
+  | "version"
+  | "tempDir"
+  | "gitHubVersion"
+  | "debugMode"
+  | "languages"
+  | "analysisKinds"
+  | "codeQLCmd"
+>;
--- a/src/debug-artifacts.test.ts
+++ b/src/debug-artifacts.test.ts
@@ -55,25 +55,20 @@ test("getArtifactSuffix", (t) => {
  }
 });

-// These next tests check the correctness of the logic to determine whether or not
-// artifacts are uploaded in debug mode. Since it's not easy to mock the actual
-// call to upload an artifact, we just check that we get an "upload-failed" result,
-// instead of actually uploading the artifact.
-//
-// For tests where we expect artifact upload to be blocked, we check for a different
-// response from the function.
+// These next tests check whether `uploadArtifacts` attempts to upload an artifact. Since it's not
+// easy to mock the actual call to upload an artifact, we check that we get an "upload-failed"
+// result, instead of actually uploading the artifact.

-test("uploadDebugArtifacts when artifacts empty should emit 'no-artifacts-to-upload'", async (t) => {
+test("uploadArtifacts returns 'no-artifacts-to-upload' when there are no files to upload", async (t) => {
  // Test that no error is thrown if artifacts list is empty.
  const logger = getActionsLogger();
  await t.notThrowsAsync(async () => {
-    const uploaded = await debugArtifacts.uploadDebugArtifacts(
+    const uploaded = await debugArtifacts.uploadArtifacts(
      logger,
      [],
      "i-dont-exist",
      "artifactName",
      GitHubVariant.DOTCOM,
-      undefined,
    );
    t.is(
      uploaded,
@@ -83,17 +78,15 @@ test("uploadDebugArtifacts when artifacts empty should emit 'no-artifacts-to-upl
  });
 });

-test("uploadDebugArtifacts when no codeql version is used should invoke artifact upload", async (t) => {
-  // Test that the artifact is uploaded.
+test("uploadArtifacts attempts an upload when there are files to upload", async (t) => {
  const logger = getActionsLogger();
  await t.notThrowsAsync(async () => {
-    const uploaded = await debugArtifacts.uploadDebugArtifacts(
+    const uploaded = await debugArtifacts.uploadArtifacts(
      logger,
      ["hucairz"],
      "i-dont-exist",
      "artifactName",
      GitHubVariant.DOTCOM,
-      undefined,
    );
    t.is(
      uploaded,
@@ -103,44 +96,3 @@ test("uploadDebugArtifacts when no codeql version is used should invoke artifact
    );
  });
 });
-
-test("uploadDebugArtifacts when new codeql version is used should invoke artifact upload", async (t) => {
-  // Test that the artifact is uploaded.
-  const logger = getActionsLogger();
-  await t.notThrowsAsync(async () => {
-    const uploaded = await debugArtifacts.uploadDebugArtifacts(
-      logger,
-      ["hucairz"],
-      "i-dont-exist",
-      "artifactName",
-      GitHubVariant.DOTCOM,
-      "2.20.3",
-    );
-    t.is(
-      uploaded,
-      // The failure is expected since we don't want to actually upload any artifacts in unit tests.
-      "upload-failed",
-      "Expect failure to upload artifacts since root dir does not exist",
-    );
-  });
-});
-
-test("uploadDebugArtifacts when old codeql is used should avoid trying to upload artifacts", async (t) => {
-  // Test that the artifact is not uploaded.
-  const logger = getActionsLogger();
-  await t.notThrowsAsync(async () => {
-    const uploaded = await debugArtifacts.uploadDebugArtifacts(
-      logger,
-      ["hucairz"],
-      "i-dont-exist",
-      "artifactName",
-      GitHubVariant.DOTCOM,
-      "2.20.2",
-    );
-    t.is(
-      uploaded,
-      "upload-not-supported",
-      "Expected artifact upload to be blocked because of old CodeQL version",
-    );
-  });
-});
--- a/src/debug-artifacts.ts
+++ b/src/debug-artifacts.ts
@@ -10,15 +10,11 @@ import { getOptionalInput, getTemporaryDirectory } from "./actions-util";
 import { dbIsFinalized } from "./analyze";
 import { scanArtifactsForTokens } from "./artifact-scanner";
 import { type CodeQL } from "./codeql";
-import { Config } from "./config-utils";
-import { EnvVar } from "./environment";
+import type { ActionConfig } from "./config/action-config";
+import { EnvVar, exportEnvVar } from "./environment";
 import * as json from "./json";
 import { Language } from "./languages";
 import { Logger, withGroup } from "./logging";
-import {
-  isSafeArtifactUpload,
-  SafeArtifactUploadVersion,
-} from "./tools-features";
 import {
  bundleDb,
  doesDirectoryExist,
@@ -40,7 +36,6 @@ export function sanitizeArtifactName(name: string): string {
 export async function uploadCombinedSarifArtifacts(
  logger: Logger,
  gitHubVariant: GitHubVariant,
-  codeQlVersion: string | undefined,
 ) {
  const tempDir = getTemporaryDirectory();

@@ -70,13 +65,12 @@ export async function uploadCombinedSarifArtifacts(
      }

      try {
-        await uploadDebugArtifacts(
+        await uploadArtifacts(
          logger,
          toUpload,
          baseTempDir,
          "combined-sarif-artifacts",
          gitHubVariant,
-          codeQlVersion,
        );
      } catch (e) {
        logger.warning(
@@ -95,7 +89,7 @@ export async function uploadCombinedSarifArtifacts(
 * @return The path to that debug artifact, or undefined if an error occurs.
 */
 function tryPrepareSarifDebugArtifact(
-  config: Config,
+  config: ActionConfig<"dbLocation">,
  language: Language,
  logger: Logger,
 ): string | undefined {
@@ -137,7 +131,7 @@ function tryPrepareSarifDebugArtifact(
 */
 async function tryBundleDatabase(
  codeql: CodeQL,
-  config: Config,
+  config: ActionConfig<"dbLocation">,
  language: Language,
  logger: Logger,
 ): Promise<string | undefined> {
@@ -163,6 +157,11 @@ async function tryBundleDatabase(
  }
 }

+/** The minimal configuration needed for `tryUploadAllAvailableDebugArtifacts`. */
+export type UploadDebugArtifactsConfig = ActionConfig<
+  "languages" | "gitHubVersion" | "dbLocation" | "debugArtifactName"
+>;
+
 /**
 * Attempt to upload all available debug artifacts.
 *
@@ -170,9 +169,8 @@ async function tryBundleDatabase(
 */
 export async function tryUploadAllAvailableDebugArtifacts(
  codeql: CodeQL,
-  config: Config,
+  config: UploadDebugArtifactsConfig,
  logger: Logger,
-  codeQlVersion: string | undefined,
 ) {
  const filesToUpload: string[] = [];
  try {
@@ -231,13 +229,12 @@ export async function tryUploadAllAvailableDebugArtifacts(

  try {
    await withGroup("Uploading debug artifacts", async () =>
-      uploadDebugArtifacts(
+      uploadArtifacts(
        logger,
        filesToUpload,
        config.dbLocation,
        config.debugArtifactName,
        config.gitHubVersion.type,
-        codeQlVersion,
      ),
    );
  } catch (e) {
@@ -283,26 +280,6 @@ export type UploadArtifactsResult =
  | "upload-successful"
  | "upload-failed";

-export async function uploadDebugArtifacts(
-  logger: Logger,
-  toUpload: string[],
-  rootDir: string,
-  artifactName: string,
-  ghVariant: GitHubVariant,
-  codeQlVersion: string | undefined,
-): Promise<UploadArtifactsResult | "upload-not-supported"> {
-  const uploadSupported = isSafeArtifactUpload(codeQlVersion);
-
-  if (!uploadSupported) {
-    core.info(
-      `Skipping debug artifact upload because the current CLI does not support safe upload. Please upgrade to CLI v${SafeArtifactUploadVersion} or later.`,
-    );
-    return "upload-not-supported";
-  }
-
-  return uploadArtifacts(logger, toUpload, rootDir, artifactName, ghVariant);
-}
-
 /**
 * Uploads the specified files as a single workflow artifact.
 *
@@ -330,7 +307,7 @@ export async function uploadArtifacts(
  // some issues early.
  if (isInTestMode()) {
    await scanArtifactsForTokens(toUpload, logger);
-    core.exportVariable("CODEQL_ACTION_ARTIFACT_SCAN_FINISHED", "true");
+    exportEnvVar("CODEQL_ACTION_ARTIFACT_SCAN_FINISHED", "true");
  }

  const suffix = getArtifactSuffix(getOptionalInput("matrix"));
@@ -381,7 +358,7 @@ export async function getArtifactUploaderClient(
 * all files in the database folder and return the path.
 */
 async function createPartialDatabaseBundle(
-  config: Config,
+  config: ActionConfig<"dbLocation">,
  language: Language,
 ): Promise<string> {
  const databasePath = getCodeQLDatabasePath(config, language);
@@ -422,7 +399,7 @@ async function createPartialDatabaseBundle(
 */
 async function createDatabaseBundleCli(
  codeql: CodeQL,
-  config: Config,
+  config: ActionConfig<"dbLocation">,
  language: Language,
 ): Promise<string> {
  const databaseBundlePath = await bundleDb(
--- a/src/environment.test.ts
+++ b/src/environment.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+import test from "ava";
+
+import { Env, ReadOnlyEnv } from "./environment";
+import { getTestEnv, setupTests } from "./testing-utils";
+
+setupTests(test);
+
+test("isTestingEnv() is true", (t) => {
+  t.true(new ReadOnlyEnv(process.env).isTestingEnv());
+  t.true(new Env(process.env).isTestingEnv());
+  t.true(getTestEnv().isTestingEnv());
+});
--- a/src/environment.ts
+++ b/src/environment.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+import * as core from "@actions/core";
+
+/**
+ * This constant is set in `ava.setup.mjs` for tests.
+ */
+declare const __CODEQL_ACTION_TEST_ENV__: string | undefined;
+
 /**
 * Environment variables used by Default Setup to communicate the private registry proxy configuration.
 */
@@ -211,8 +218,20 @@ export enum ActionsEnvVars {
  RUNNER_TOOL_CACHE = "RUNNER_TOOL_CACHE",
 }

+/** Environment variables which are not specific to CodeQL. */
+export enum SystemEnvVar {
+  /**
+   * Used by Node and related tools to indicate what kind of environment we are running in.
+   */
+  NODE_ENV = "NODE_ENV",
+}
+
 /** A type representing all known environment variables. */
-export type KnownEnvVar = EnvVar | ActionsEnvVars | RegistryProxyVars;
+export type KnownEnvVar =
+  | EnvVar
+  | ActionsEnvVars
+  | RegistryProxyVars
+  | SystemEnvVar;

 /**
 * Gets an environment variable, but throws an error if it is not set.
@@ -289,6 +308,26 @@ export class ReadOnlyEnv<T extends string | undefined = string | undefined> {
  public entries(): Array<[string, T]> {
    return Object.entries(this.vars);
  }
+
+  /**
+   * Gets a value indicating whether we should skip uploads of
+   * all kinds (SARIF results, status reports, DBs, ...).
+   *
+   * This is not guaranteed to be set in all test environments.
+   */
+  public isSkippingUploadsInTests(): boolean {
+    return this.getOptional(EnvVar.TEST_MODE) === "true";
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Gets a value indicative of whether we are in a testing environment
+   * by testing whether the value of the `NODE_ENV` variable is "test".
+   * This is expected to be the case if e.g. `ava` is running the tests
+   * or if this instance was constructed by `getTestEnv`.
+   */
+  public isTestingEnv(): boolean {
+    return __CODEQL_ACTION_TEST_ENV__ === "unit-test";
+  }
 }

 /**
@@ -307,6 +346,26 @@ export class Env<
    this.changed = true;
  }

+  /**
+   * Wrapper around `core.exportVariable` which does not call `core.exportVariable`
+   * when running unit tests. This is important, because otherwise `core.exportVariable`
+   * sets environment variables for other steps in a workflow when we run unit tests in CI.
+   *
+   * @param name The name of the environment variable to set and export.
+   * @param val The value to set and export for the environment variable.
+   */
+  public export(name: string, val: T): void {
+    // Setting the environment variable for this instance is always OK, including
+    // in tests, since we use fresh `Env` instances whenever needed. This allows
+    // tests to pass that rely on that part of the `core.exportVariable` behaviour.
+    this.set(name, val);
+
+    // Call `core.exportVariable` whenever we are not in a test environment.
+    if (!this.isTestingEnv()) {
+      core.exportVariable(name, val);
+    }
+  }
+
  /** Gets a value indicating whether `set` was called at least once. */
  public hasChanged(): boolean {
    return this.changed;
@@ -317,3 +376,34 @@ export class Env<
 export function getEnv(env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = process.env): Env {
  return new Env(env);
 }
+
+/**
+ * Returns whether we are in test mode. This is used by CodeQL Action PR checks.
+ *
+ * In test mode, we skip several uploads (SARIF results, status reports, DBs, ...).
+ *
+ * @deprecated
+ *  The purpose of this function is ambiguous. Use `isSkippingUploadsInTests` on
+ *  a `ReadOnlyEnv` instance instead for equivalent behaviour. Use `isTestingEnv`
+ *  to determine if we are running in a unit test.
+ */
+export function isInTestMode(): boolean {
+  return getEnv().isSkippingUploadsInTests();
+}
+
+/**
+ * Wrapper around `core.exportVariable` which does not call `core.exportVariable`
+ * when running unit tests. This is important, because otherwise `core.exportVariable`
+ * sets environment variables for other steps in a workflow when we run unit tests in CI.
+ *
+ * @deprecated Use `export` on an `Env` instance instead.
+ */
+export function exportEnvVar(name: string, val: any): void {
+  const env = getEnv();
+
+  if (typeof val === "string") {
+    env.export(name, val);
+  } else {
+    env.export(name, JSON.stringify(val));
+  }
+}
--- a/src/feature-flags.ts
+++ b/src/feature-flags.ts
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ export const featureConfig = {
    defaultValue: false,
    envVar: "CODEQL_EXTRACTOR_CPP_AUTOINSTALL_DEPENDENCIES",
    legacyApi: true,
-    minimumVersion: "2.15.0",
+    minimumVersion: undefined,
  },
  [Feature.CsharpCacheBuildModeNone]: {
    defaultValue: false,
--- a/src/init-action-post-helper.ts
+++ b/src/init-action-post-helper.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,11 @@ import * as actionsUtil from "./actions-util";
 import { CodeScanning, RiskAssessment } from "./analyses";
 import { getApiClient, getGitHubVersion } from "./api-client";
 import { CodeQL, getCodeQL } from "./codeql";
+import {
+  hasConfigKey,
+  type AbortedInitConfig,
+  type ActionConfig,
+} from "./config/action-config";
 import {
  Config,
  isCodeScanningEnabled,
@@ -16,6 +21,7 @@ import {
  getArtifactSuffix,
  getArtifactUploaderClient,
  sanitizeArtifactName,
+  type UploadDebugArtifactsConfig,
 } from "./debug-artifacts";
 import * as dependencyCaching from "./dependency-caching";
 import { EnvVar, ReadOnlyEnv } from "./environment";
@@ -86,6 +92,11 @@ interface FailedSarifInfo {
  checkoutPath: string;
 }

+/** The minimal Action configuration required to prepare and upload a failed SARIF. */
+export type FailedSarifConfig = ActionConfig<
+  "codeQLCmd" | "tempDir" | "analysisKinds" | "languages"
+>;
+
 /**
 * Tries to prepare a SARIF file that contains information about a failed analysis.
 *
@@ -94,7 +105,7 @@ interface FailedSarifInfo {
 async function prepareFailedSarif(
  logger: Logger,
  features: FeatureEnablement,
-  config: Config,
+  config: FailedSarifConfig,
 ): Promise<Result<FailedSarifInfo, UploadFailedSarifResult>> {
  if (!config.codeQLCmd) {
    return new Failure({
@@ -160,7 +171,7 @@ async function prepareFailedSarif(
 async function generateFailedSarif(
  logger: Logger,
  features: FeatureEnablement,
-  config: Config,
+  config: ActionConfig<"codeQLCmd" | "tempDir">,
  category: string | undefined,
  checkoutPath: string,
  sarifFile?: string,
@@ -192,7 +203,7 @@ async function generateFailedSarif(
 * category for the workflow.
 */
 async function maybeUploadFailedSarif(
-  config: Config,
+  config: FailedSarifConfig,
  repositoryNwo: RepositoryNwo,
  features: FeatureEnablement,
  logger: Logger,
@@ -227,7 +238,7 @@ async function maybeUploadFailedSarif(

 /** Uploads a failed SARIF file as workflow artifact, if it can be generated. */
 async function maybeUploadFailedSarifArtifact(
-  config: Config,
+  config: FailedSarifConfig,
  features: FeatureEnablement,
  logger: Logger,
 ): Promise<UploadFailedSarifResult> {
@@ -267,7 +278,7 @@ async function maybeUploadFailedSarifArtifact(
 * @returns The results of uploading the SARIF file for the failure.
 */
 export async function tryUploadSarifIfRunFailed(
-  config: Config,
+  config: FailedSarifConfig,
  repositoryNwo: RepositoryNwo,
  features: FeatureEnablement,
  logger: Logger,
@@ -324,13 +335,12 @@ export async function tryUploadSarifIfRunFailed(
 export async function uploadFailureInfo(
  uploadAllAvailableDebugArtifacts: (
    codeql: CodeQL,
-    config: Config,
+    config: UploadDebugArtifactsConfig,
    logger: Logger,
-    codeQlVersion: string,
  ) => Promise<void>,
-  printDebugLogs: (config: Config) => Promise<void>,
+  printDebugLogs: (logger: Logger, config: Partial<Config>) => Promise<void>,
  codeql: CodeQL,
-  config: Config,
+  config: Config | AbortedInitConfig,
  repositoryNwo: RepositoryNwo,
  features: FeatureEnablement,
  jobStatus: string | undefined,
@@ -377,21 +387,15 @@ export async function uploadFailureInfo(
  }

  // Upload appropriate Actions artifacts for debugging
-  if (config.debugMode) {
+  if (config.debugMode && hasConfigKey(config, "dbLocation")) {
    logger.info(
      "Debug mode is on. Uploading available database bundles and logs as Actions debugging artifacts...",
    );
-    const version = await codeql.getVersion();
-    await uploadAllAvailableDebugArtifacts(
-      codeql,
-      config,
-      logger,
-      version.version,
-    );
-    await printDebugLogs(config);
+    await uploadAllAvailableDebugArtifacts(codeql, config, logger);
+    await printDebugLogs(logger, config);
  }

-  if (actionsUtil.isSelfHostedRunner()) {
+  if (actionsUtil.isSelfHostedRunner() && config.dbLocation) {
    try {
      fs.rmSync(config.dbLocation, {
        recursive: true,
@@ -406,6 +410,10 @@ export async function uploadFailureInfo(
        `Failed to clean up database cluster directory ${config.dbLocation}. Details: ${e}`,
      );
    }
+  } else if (config.dbLocation === undefined) {
+    logger.debug(
+      "Skipping cleanup of database cluster directory since the configuration does not include a database path.",
+    );
  } else {
    logger.debug(
      "Skipping cleanup of database cluster directory since we are running on a GitHub-hosted " +
@@ -454,7 +462,7 @@ function isConclusiveJobStatus(jobStatus: string | undefined): boolean {
 */
 async function recordOverlayStatus(
  codeql: CodeQL,
-  config: Config,
+  config: Partial<Config>,
  features: FeatureEnablement,
  jobStatus: string | undefined,
  env: ReadOnlyEnv,
@@ -466,6 +474,11 @@ async function recordOverlayStatus(
    !(await features.getValue(Feature.OverlayAnalysisStatusSave))
  ) {
    return;
+  } else if (config.languages === undefined) {
+    logger.debug(
+      "Not recording overlay status, because the configuration contains no 'languages'.",
+    );
+    return;
  }

  // Only record a failure when the job outcome tells us something about the analysis. A cancelled
--- a/src/init-action-post.ts
+++ b/src/init-action-post.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@

 import * as core from "@actions/core";

+import { runInActions, type Action, type ActionState } from "./action-common";
 import {
  restoreInputs,
  getOptionalInput,
@@ -15,22 +16,25 @@ import {
 import { getGitHubVersion, wrapApiConfigurationError } from "./api-client";
 import { CachingKind } from "./caching-utils";
 import { getCodeQL } from "./codeql";
-import { type Config, getConfig } from "./config-utils";
+import {
+  hasConfigKey,
+  type AbortedInitConfig,
+  type Config,
+} from "./config/action-config";
+import { getAbortedInitConfig, getConfig } from "./config-utils";
 import * as debugArtifacts from "./debug-artifacts";
 import {
  DependencyCachingUsageReport,
  getDependencyCacheUsage,
 } from "./dependency-caching";
-import { EnvVar, getEnv } from "./environment";
+import { EnvVar, type ReadOnlyEnv } from "./environment";
 import { initFeatures } from "./feature-flags";
 import * as gitUtils from "./git-utils";
 import * as initActionPostHelper from "./init-action-post-helper";
-import { getActionsLogger } from "./logging";
 import { getRepositoryNwo } from "./repository";
 import {
  StatusReportBase,
  sendStatusReport,
-  sendUnhandledErrorStatusReport,
  createStatusReportBase,
  getActionsStatus,
  ActionName,
@@ -45,16 +49,17 @@ interface InitPostStatusReport
    initActionPostHelper.JobStatusReport,
    initActionPostHelper.DependencyCachingUsageReport {}

-async function run(startedAt: Date) {
+async function run(action: ActionState<["Base", "Logger", "Env"]>) {
  // To capture errors appropriately, keep as much code within the try-catch as
  // possible, and only use safe functions outside.
+  const logger = action.logger;

-  const logger = getActionsLogger();
-  let config: Config | undefined;
+  let config: Config | AbortedInitConfig | undefined;
  let uploadFailedSarifResult:
    | initActionPostHelper.UploadFailedSarifResult
    | undefined;
  let dependencyCachingUsage: DependencyCachingUsageReport | undefined;
+
  try {
    // Read the job status before restoring inputs, since it is provided by the Actions runtime
    // environment for this step and would otherwise be overwritten by the value that the `init`
@@ -64,7 +69,15 @@ async function run(startedAt: Date) {
    // Restore inputs from `init` Action.
    restoreInputs(logger);

-    config = await getConfig(getTemporaryDirectory(), logger);
+    const tmpDir = getTemporaryDirectory();
+    config = await getConfig(tmpDir, logger);
+
+    // If we weren't able to read the normal configuration file, the `init` step failed before it could write it.
+    // Try to load the "failed" configuration file instead which may have been written by the `init` step
+    // with a minimal configuration for this post-action.
+    if (config === undefined) {
+      config = getAbortedInitConfig(action, tmpDir);
+    }

    const gitHubVersion = config?.gitHubVersion ?? (await getGitHubVersion());
    checkGitHubVersionInRange(gitHubVersion, logger);
@@ -92,7 +105,7 @@ async function run(startedAt: Date) {
        repositoryNwo,
        features,
        jobStatus,
-        getEnv(),
+        action.env,
        logger,
      );

@@ -102,6 +115,7 @@ async function run(startedAt: Date) {
      // and where caching may not be enabled.
      if (
        (await gitUtils.isAnalyzingDefaultBranch()) &&
+        hasConfigKey(config, "dependencyCachingEnabled") &&
        config.dependencyCachingEnabled !== CachingKind.None
      ) {
        dependencyCachingUsage = await getDependencyCacheUsage(logger);
@@ -112,9 +126,9 @@ async function run(startedAt: Date) {
    core.setFailed(error.message);

    const statusReportBase = await createStatusReportBase(
-      ActionName.InitPost,
+      action.name,
      getActionsStatus(error),
-      startedAt,
+      action.startedAt,
      config,
      await checkDiskUsage(logger),
      logger,
@@ -126,13 +140,13 @@ async function run(startedAt: Date) {
    }
    return;
  }
-  const jobStatus = getFinalJobStatus(config);
+  const jobStatus = getFinalJobStatus(action, config);
  logger.info(`CodeQL job status was ${getJobStatusDisplayName(jobStatus)}.`);

  const statusReportBase = await createStatusReportBase(
-    ActionName.InitPost,
+    action.name,
    "success",
-    startedAt,
+    action.startedAt,
    config,
    await checkDiskUsage(logger),
    logger,
@@ -157,16 +171,21 @@ async function run(startedAt: Date) {
 * Otherwise, we determine the job status based on whether the analyze step
 * completed successfully and whether we have a valid CodeQL config.
 */
-function getFinalJobStatus(config: Config | undefined): JobStatus {
-  const existingJobStatus = getJobStatusFromEnvironment();
+function getFinalJobStatus(
+  action: ActionState<["Env"]>,
+  config: Partial<Config> | undefined,
+): JobStatus {
+  const existingJobStatus = getJobStatusFromEnvironment(action.env);
  if (existingJobStatus !== undefined) {
    return existingJobStatus;
  }

  let jobStatus: JobStatus;

-  if (process.env[EnvVar.ANALYZE_DID_COMPLETE_SUCCESSFULLY] === "true") {
-    core.exportVariable(EnvVar.JOB_STATUS, JobStatus.SuccessStatus);
+  if (
+    action.env.getOptional(EnvVar.ANALYZE_DID_COMPLETE_SUCCESSFULLY) === "true"
+  ) {
+    action.env.export(EnvVar.JOB_STATUS, JobStatus.SuccessStatus);
    jobStatus = JobStatus.SuccessStatus;
  } else if (config !== undefined) {
    // - We have computed a CodeQL config
@@ -191,7 +210,7 @@ function getFinalJobStatus(config: Config | undefined): JobStatus {

  // This shouldn't be necessary, but in the odd case that we run more than one
  // `init` post step, ensure the job status is consistent between them.
-  core.exportVariable(EnvVar.JOB_STATUS, jobStatus);
+  action.env.export(EnvVar.JOB_STATUS, jobStatus);
  return jobStatus;
 }

@@ -200,8 +219,8 @@ function getFinalJobStatus(config: Config | undefined): JobStatus {
 *
 * If the job status is invalid, return `UnknownStatus`.
 */
-function getJobStatusFromEnvironment(): JobStatus | undefined {
-  const jobStatusFromEnvironment = process.env[EnvVar.JOB_STATUS];
+function getJobStatusFromEnvironment(env: ReadOnlyEnv): JobStatus | undefined {
+  const jobStatusFromEnvironment = env.getOptional(EnvVar.JOB_STATUS);

  if (jobStatusFromEnvironment !== undefined) {
    // Validate the job status from the environment. If it is invalid, return unknown.
@@ -216,18 +235,11 @@ function getJobStatusFromEnvironment(): JobStatus | undefined {
  return undefined;
 }

+const initPost: Action = {
+  name: ActionName.InitPost,
+  run,
+};
+
 export async function runWrapper() {
-  const startedAt = new Date();
-  const logger = getActionsLogger();
-  try {
-    await run(startedAt);
-  } catch (error) {
-    core.setFailed(`init post action failed: ${wrapError(error).message}`);
-    await sendUnhandledErrorStatusReport(
-      ActionName.InitPost,
-      startedAt,
-      error,
-      logger,
-    );
-  }
+  return await runInActions(initPost);
 }
--- a/src/init-action.ts
+++ b/src/init-action.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,12 @@ import * as core from "@actions/core";
 import * as io from "@actions/io";
 import * as semver from "semver";

-import { Action, ActionState, runInActions } from "./action-common";
+import {
+  Action,
+  ActionState,
+  extendActionState,
+  runInActions,
+} from "./action-common";
 import {
  FileCmdNotFoundError,
  getActionVersion,
@@ -93,7 +98,6 @@ import {
  checkActionVersion,
  getErrorMessage,
  BuildMode,
-  getOptionalEnvVar,
 } from "./util";
 import { checkWorkflow } from "./workflow";

@@ -253,7 +257,7 @@ async function run(
    );
    const repositoryProperties = repositoryPropertiesResult.orElse({});

-    core.exportVariable(EnvVar.INIT_ACTION_HAS_RUN, "true");
+    actionState.env.export(EnvVar.INIT_ACTION_HAS_RUN, "true");

    // path.resolve() respects the intended semantics of source-root. If
    // source-root is relative, it is relative to the GITHUB_WORKSPACE. If
@@ -278,7 +282,9 @@ async function run(
    }

    // Compute the value of the `config-file` input.
-    const actionStateWithFeatures = { ...actionState, features };
+    const actionStateWithFeatures = extendActionState(actionState, {
+      features,
+    });
    configFile = await getConfigFileInput(
      actionStateWithFeatures,
      repositoryProperties,
@@ -349,7 +355,7 @@ async function run(
    // to the workflow log. No exceptions are thrown.
    await checkWorkflow(logger, codeql);

-    // Set CODEQL_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURES for Rust if between 2.19.3 (included) and 2.22.1 (excluded)
+    // Set CODEQL_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURES for Rust if the CLI is older than 2.22.1.
    // We need to set this environment variable before initializing the config, otherwise Rust
    // analysis will not be enabled (experimental language packs are only active with that environment
    // variable set to `true`).
@@ -360,16 +366,10 @@ async function run(
        .getRawLanguagesNoAutodetect(getOptionalInput("languages"))
        .includes(BuiltInLanguage.rust)
    ) {
-      const experimental = "2.19.3";
      const publicPreview = "2.22.1";
      const actualVer = (await codeql.getVersion()).version;
-      if (semver.lt(actualVer, experimental)) {
-        throw new ConfigurationError(
-          `Rust analysis is supported by CodeQL CLI version ${experimental} or higher, but found version ${actualVer}`,
-        );
-      }
      if (semver.lt(actualVer, publicPreview)) {
-        core.exportVariable(EnvVar.EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURES, "true");
+        actionState.env.export(EnvVar.EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURES, "true");
        logger.info("Experimental Rust analysis enabled");
      }
    }
@@ -457,6 +457,18 @@ async function run(

    await checkInstallPython311(config.languages, codeql);
  } catch (unwrappedError) {
+    // If we have initialised the Action state, then try to save a subset of it for use by the `init-post` action
+    // so that it can try to create and upload additional diagnostic information.
+    if (config !== undefined) {
+      try {
+        configUtils.saveAbortedInitConfig(actionState, config);
+      } catch (configSaveError) {
+        logger.warning(
+          `Unable to save configuration for '${ActionName.InitPost}' step: ${getErrorMessage(configSaveError)}`,
+        );
+      }
+    }
+
    const error = wrapError(unwrappedError);
    core.setFailed(error.message);
    const statusReportBase = await createStatusReportBase(
@@ -517,9 +529,9 @@ async function run(
    }

    // Forward Go flags
-    const goFlags = process.env["GOFLAGS"];
+    const goFlags = actionState.env.getOptional("GOFLAGS");
    if (goFlags) {
-      core.exportVariable("GOFLAGS", goFlags);
+      actionState.env.export("GOFLAGS", goFlags);
      core.warning(
        "Passing the GOFLAGS env parameter to the init action is deprecated. Please move this to the analyze action.",
      );
@@ -565,7 +577,7 @@ async function run(

            // Store the original location of our wrapper script somewhere where we can
            // later retrieve it from and cross-check that it hasn't been changed.
-            core.exportVariable(EnvVar.GO_BINARY_LOCATION, goWrapperPath);
+            actionState.env.export(EnvVar.GO_BINARY_LOCATION, goWrapperPath);
          } catch (e) {
            logger.warning(
              `Analyzing Go on Linux, but failed to install wrapper script. Tracing custom builds may fail: ${e}`,
@@ -574,7 +586,7 @@ async function run(
        } else {
          // Store the location of the original Go binary, so we can check that no setup tasks were performed after the
          // `init` Action ran.
-          core.exportVariable(EnvVar.GO_BINARY_LOCATION, goBinaryPath);
+          actionState.env.export(EnvVar.GO_BINARY_LOCATION, goBinaryPath);
        }
      } catch (e) {
        logger.warning(
@@ -609,12 +621,12 @@ async function run(
    // threads it would ask extractors to use. See help text for the "--ram" and "--threads"
    // options at https://codeql.github.com/docs/codeql-cli/manual/database-trace-command/
    // for details.
-    core.exportVariable(
+    actionState.env.export(
      "CODEQL_RAM",
      process.env["CODEQL_RAM"] ||
        getCodeQLMemoryLimit(getOptionalInput("ram"), logger).toString(),
    );
-    core.exportVariable(
+    actionState.env.export(
      "CODEQL_THREADS",
      process.env["CODEQL_THREADS"] ||
        getThreadsFlagValue(getOptionalInput("threads"), logger).toString(),
@@ -622,21 +634,15 @@ async function run(

    // Disable Kotlin extractor if feature flag set
    if (await features.getValue(Feature.DisableKotlinAnalysisEnabled)) {
-      core.exportVariable("CODEQL_EXTRACTOR_JAVA_AGENT_DISABLE_KOTLIN", "true");
+      actionState.env.export(
+        "CODEQL_EXTRACTOR_JAVA_AGENT_DISABLE_KOTLIN",
+        "true",
+      );
    }

    // Emergency override to force the CodeQL CLI back to the JGit-based Git backend.
    if (await features.getValue(Feature.ForceJGit)) {
-      core.exportVariable("CODEQL_GIT_BACKEND", "jgit");
-    }
-
-    const kotlinLimitVar =
-      "CODEQL_EXTRACTOR_KOTLIN_OVERRIDE_MAXIMUM_VERSION_LIMIT";
-    if (
-      (await codeQlVersionAtLeast(codeql, "2.20.3")) &&
-      !(await codeQlVersionAtLeast(codeql, "2.20.4"))
-    ) {
-      core.exportVariable(kotlinLimitVar, "2.1.20");
+      actionState.env.export("CODEQL_GIT_BACKEND", "jgit");
    }

    // Restore dependency cache(s), if they exist.
@@ -685,7 +691,7 @@ async function run(
      config.buildMode === BuildMode.None &&
      config.languages.includes(BuiltInLanguage.java)
    ) {
-      core.exportVariable(
+      actionState.env.export(
        EnvVar.JAVA_EXTRACTOR_MINIMIZE_DEPENDENCY_JARS,
        "true",
      );
@@ -743,7 +749,7 @@ async function run(
    const tracerConfig = await getCombinedTracerConfig(logger, codeql, config);
    if (tracerConfig !== undefined) {
      for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(tracerConfig.env)) {
-        core.exportVariable(key, value);
+        actionState.env.export(key, value);
      }
    }

@@ -751,10 +757,10 @@ async function run(
    if (await features.getValue(Feature.JavaNetworkDebugging)) {
      // Get the existing value of `JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS`, if any.
      const existingJavaToolOptions =
-        getOptionalEnvVar(JavaEnvVars.JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS) || "";
+        actionState.env.getOptional(JavaEnvVars.JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS) ?? "";

      // Add the network debugging options.
-      core.exportVariable(
+      actionState.env.export(
        JavaEnvVars.JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS,
        `${existingJavaToolOptions} -Djavax.net.debug=all`,
      );
--- a/src/init.test.ts
+++ b/src/init.test.ts
@@ -1,14 +1,13 @@
 import * as fs from "fs";
 import path from "path";

-import * as core from "@actions/core";
 import * as github from "@actions/github";
 import test, { ExecutionContext } from "ava";
 import * as sinon from "sinon";

 import * as actionsUtil from "./actions-util";
 import { createStubCodeQL } from "./codeql";
-import { ActionsEnvVars } from "./environment";
+import * as environment from "./environment";
 import { Feature } from "./feature-flags";
 import {
  checkPacksForOverlayCompatibility,
@@ -85,7 +84,7 @@ for (const { runnerEnv, ErrorConstructor, message } of [
    `cleanupDatabaseClusterDirectory throws a ${ErrorConstructor.name} when cleanup fails on ${runnerEnv} runner`,
    async (t) => {
      await withTmpDir(async (tmpDir: string) => {
-        process.env[ActionsEnvVars.RUNNER_ENVIRONMENT] = runnerEnv;
+        process.env[environment.ActionsEnvVars.RUNNER_ENVIRONMENT] = runnerEnv;

        const dbLocation = path.resolve(tmpDir, "dbs");
        fs.mkdirSync(dbLocation, { recursive: true });
@@ -546,7 +545,7 @@ test.serial(
 test.serial(
  "file coverage deprecation warning for org-owned repo with default setup recommends repo property",
  (t) => {
-    const exportVariableStub = sinon.stub(core, "exportVariable");
+    const exportEnvVarStub = sinon.stub(environment, "exportEnvVar");
    sinon.stub(actionsUtil, "isDefaultSetup").returns(true);
    github.context.payload = {
      repository: {
@@ -566,14 +565,14 @@ test.serial(
        'with the name `github-codeql-file-coverage-on-prs` and the type "True/false", then set this property to ' +
        "`true` in the repository's settings.",
    );
-    t.true(exportVariableStub.calledOnce);
+    t.true(exportEnvVarStub.calledOnce);
  },
 );

 test.serial(
  "file coverage deprecation warning for org-owned repo with advanced setup recommends env var and repo property",
  (t) => {
-    const exportVariableStub = sinon.stub(core, "exportVariable");
+    const exportEnvVarStub = sinon.stub(environment, "exportEnvVar");
    sinon.stub(actionsUtil, "isDefaultSetup").returns(false);
    github.context.payload = {
      repository: {
@@ -594,14 +593,14 @@ test.serial(
        'with the name `github-codeql-file-coverage-on-prs` and the type "True/false", then set this property to ' +
        "`true` in the repository's settings.",
    );
-    t.true(exportVariableStub.calledOnce);
+    t.true(exportEnvVarStub.calledOnce);
  },
 );

 test.serial(
  "file coverage deprecation warning for user-owned repo with default setup recommends advanced setup",
  (t) => {
-    const exportVariableStub = sinon.stub(core, "exportVariable");
+    const exportEnvVarStub = sinon.stub(environment, "exportEnvVar");
    sinon.stub(actionsUtil, "isDefaultSetup").returns(true);
    github.context.payload = {
      repository: {
@@ -620,14 +619,14 @@ test.serial(
        "To opt out of this change, switch to an advanced setup workflow and " +
        "set the `CODEQL_ACTION_FILE_COVERAGE_ON_PRS` environment variable to `true`.",
    );
-    t.true(exportVariableStub.calledOnce);
+    t.true(exportEnvVarStub.calledOnce);
  },
 );

 test.serial(
  "file coverage deprecation warning for user-owned repo with advanced setup recommends env var",
  (t) => {
-    const exportVariableStub = sinon.stub(core, "exportVariable");
+    const exportEnvVarStub = sinon.stub(environment, "exportEnvVar");
    sinon.stub(actionsUtil, "isDefaultSetup").returns(false);
    github.context.payload = {
      repository: {
@@ -645,14 +644,14 @@ test.serial(
        "to improve analysis performance. File coverage information will still be computed on non-PR analyses.\n\n" +
        "To opt out of this change, set the `CODEQL_ACTION_FILE_COVERAGE_ON_PRS` environment variable to `true`.",
    );
-    t.true(exportVariableStub.calledOnce);
+    t.true(exportEnvVarStub.calledOnce);
  },
 );

 test.serial(
  "file coverage deprecation warning for unknown owner type with default setup recommends advanced setup",
  (t) => {
-    const exportVariableStub = sinon.stub(core, "exportVariable");
+    const exportEnvVarStub = sinon.stub(environment, "exportEnvVar");
    sinon.stub(actionsUtil, "isDefaultSetup").returns(true);
    github.context.payload = { repository: undefined };
    const messages: LoggedMessage[] = [];
@@ -666,14 +665,14 @@ test.serial(
        "To opt out of this change, switch to an advanced setup workflow and " +
        "set the `CODEQL_ACTION_FILE_COVERAGE_ON_PRS` environment variable to `true`.",
    );
-    t.true(exportVariableStub.calledOnce);
+    t.true(exportEnvVarStub.calledOnce);
  },
 );

 test.serial(
  "file coverage deprecation warning for unknown owner type with advanced setup recommends env var",
  (t) => {
-    const exportVariableStub = sinon.stub(core, "exportVariable");
+    const exportEnvVarStub = sinon.stub(environment, "exportEnvVar");
    sinon.stub(actionsUtil, "isDefaultSetup").returns(false);
    github.context.payload = { repository: undefined };
    const messages: LoggedMessage[] = [];
@@ -686,7 +685,7 @@ test.serial(
        "to improve analysis performance. File coverage information will still be computed on non-PR analyses.\n\n" +
        "To opt out of this change, set the `CODEQL_ACTION_FILE_COVERAGE_ON_PRS` environment variable to `true`.",
    );
-    t.true(exportVariableStub.calledOnce);
+    t.true(exportEnvVarStub.calledOnce);
  },
 );

@@ -695,10 +694,10 @@ test.serial(
  (t) => {
    process.env["CODEQL_ACTION_DID_LOG_FILE_COVERAGE_ON_PRS_DEPRECATION"] =
      "true";
-    const exportVariableStub = sinon.stub(core, "exportVariable");
+    const exportEnvVarStub = sinon.stub(environment, "exportEnvVar");
    const messages: LoggedMessage[] = [];
    logFileCoverageOnPrsDeprecationWarning(getRecordingLogger(messages));
    t.is(messages.length, 0);
-    t.true(exportVariableStub.notCalled);
+    t.true(exportEnvVarStub.notCalled);
  },
 );
--- a/src/init.ts
+++ b/src/init.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import * as fs from "fs";
 import * as path from "path";

-import * as core from "@actions/core";
 import * as toolrunner from "@actions/exec/lib/toolrunner";
 import * as github from "@actions/github";
 import * as io from "@actions/io";
@@ -17,7 +16,7 @@ import {
 import { GitHubApiDetails } from "./api-client";
 import { CodeQL, setupCodeQL } from "./codeql";
 import * as configUtils from "./config-utils";
-import { EnvVar } from "./environment";
+import { EnvVar, exportEnvVar } from "./environment";
 import {
  CodeQLDefaultVersionInfo,
  Feature,
@@ -411,5 +410,5 @@ export function logFileCoverageOnPrsDeprecationWarning(logger: Logger): void {
  }

  logger.warning(message);
-  core.exportVariable(EnvVar.DID_LOG_FILE_COVERAGE_ON_PRS_DEPRECATION, "true");
+  exportEnvVar(EnvVar.DID_LOG_FILE_COVERAGE_ON_PRS_DEPRECATION, "true");
 }
--- a/src/overlay/caching.test.ts
+++ b/src/overlay/caching.test.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import * as sinon from "sinon";
 import * as actionsUtil from "../actions-util";
 import * as apiClient from "../api-client";
 import type { ResolveDatabaseOutput } from "../codeql";
+import * as environment from "../environment";
 import * as gitUtils from "../git-utils";
 import { BuiltInLanguage } from "../languages";
 import { getRunnerLogger } from "../logging";
@@ -82,7 +83,7 @@ const testDownloadOverlayBaseDatabaseFromCache = makeMacro({

      sinon.stub(apiClient, "getAutomationID").resolves("test-automation-id/");

-      sinon.stub(utils, "isInTestMode").returns(testCase.isInTestMode);
+      sinon.stub(environment, "isInTestMode").returns(testCase.isInTestMode);

      if (testCase.restoreCacheResult instanceof Error) {
        sinon
--- a/src/setup-codeql-action.ts
+++ b/src/setup-codeql-action.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 import * as core from "@actions/core";

-import { Action, ActionState, runInActions } from "./action-common";
+import {
+  Action,
+  ActionState,
+  extendActionState,
+  runInActions,
+} from "./action-common";
 import {
  getActionVersion,
  getOptionalInput,
@@ -131,7 +136,9 @@ async function run(
    );
    const repositoryProperties = repositoryPropertiesResult.orElse({});

-    const actionStateWithFeatures = { ...actionState, features };
+    const actionStateWithFeatures = extendActionState(actionState, {
+      features,
+    });

    const statusReportBase = await createStatusReportBase(
      ActionName.SetupCodeQL,
@@ -184,7 +191,7 @@ async function run(
    core.setOutput("codeql-path", codeql.getPath());
    core.setOutput("codeql-version", (await codeql.getVersion()).version);

-    core.exportVariable(EnvVar.SETUP_CODEQL_ACTION_HAS_RUN, "true");
+    actionState.env.export(EnvVar.SETUP_CODEQL_ACTION_HAS_RUN, "true");
  } catch (unwrappedError) {
    const error = wrapError(unwrappedError);
    core.setFailed(error.message);
--- a/src/setup-codeql.ts
+++ b/src/setup-codeql.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ import { OutgoingHttpHeaders } from "http";
 import * as path from "path";
 import { performance } from "perf_hooks";

-import * as core from "@actions/core";
 import * as toolcache from "@actions/tool-cache";
 import { default as deepEqual } from "fast-deep-equal";
 import * as semver from "semver";
@@ -29,7 +28,7 @@ import {
  makeDiagnostic,
  makeTelemetryDiagnostic,
 } from "./diagnostics";
-import { EnvVar, getEnv } from "./environment";
+import { EnvVar, exportEnvVar, getEnv } from "./environment";
 import {
  CODEQL_VERSION_ZSTD_BUNDLE,
  CodeQLDefaultVersionInfo,
@@ -1071,7 +1070,7 @@ export async function setupCodeQLBundle(

  // Record that this job now has a copy of the CodeQL tools, so that a later step doesn't delete
  // the toolcache out from under the path we are about to return.
-  core.exportVariable(EnvVar.HAS_SET_UP_CODEQL, "true");
+  exportEnvVar(EnvVar.HAS_SET_UP_CODEQL, "true");

  return {
    codeqlFolder,
--- a/src/start-proxy-action.ts
+++ b/src/start-proxy-action.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,12 @@ import * as path from "path";

 import * as core from "@actions/core";

-import { Action, ActionState, runInActions } from "./action-common";
+import {
+  Action,
+  ActionState,
+  extendActionState,
+  runInActions,
+} from "./action-common";
 import * as actionsUtil from "./actions-util";
 import { getGitHubVersion } from "./api-client";
 import { FeatureEnablement, initFeatures } from "./feature-flags";
@@ -98,7 +103,8 @@ async function run(action: ActionState<["Base", "Logger", "Env", "Actions"]>) {
    };

    // Start the Proxy
-    const proxyBin = await getProxyBinaryPath({ ...action, features });
+    const actionWithFeatures = extendActionState(action, { features });
+    const proxyBin = await getProxyBinaryPath(actionWithFeatures);
    const proxyInfo = await startProxy(
      proxyBin,
      proxyConfig,
--- a/src/status-report.ts
+++ b/src/status-report.ts
@@ -23,7 +23,13 @@ import type { ComputedInput, InputName } from "./config/inputs";
 import { parseRegistriesWithoutCredentials } from "./config/pack-registries";
 import type { DependencyCacheRestoreStatusReport } from "./dependency-caching";
 import { DocUrl } from "./doc-url";
-import { EnvVar, getEnv, ReadOnlyEnv, RegistryProxyVars } from "./environment";
+import {
+  EnvVar,
+  getEnv,
+  ReadOnlyEnv,
+  RegistryProxyVars,
+  exportEnvVar,
+} from "./environment";
 import { getRef } from "./git-utils";
 import * as json from "./json";
 import type { Logger } from "./logging";
@@ -55,13 +61,21 @@ export enum ActionName {
  UploadSarif = "upload-sarif",
 }

+/** A partial mapping from `ActionName` to names for actions whose display name is not the `ActionName` value. */
+export const ACTION_DISPLAY_NAMES: Partial<Record<ActionName, string>> = {
+  [ActionName.Analyze]: "analyze",
+  [ActionName.InitPost]: "init post",
+};
+
 /**
- * Maps an `ActionName` to its display name. Usually that is the same, except
- * for `ActionName.Analyze` where it is `"analyze"` instead of `"finish"`.
+ * Maps an {@link ActionName} to its display name. Usually that is the same, except
+ * for actions which have a different display name in {@link ACTION_DISPLAY_NAMES}.
 */
 export function getDisplayActionName(actionName: ActionName): string {
-  if (actionName === ActionName.Analyze) {
-    return "analyze";
+  const displayName = ACTION_DISPLAY_NAMES[actionName];
+
+  if (displayName !== undefined) {
+    return displayName;
  }
  return actionName;
 }
@@ -71,9 +85,7 @@ export function getDisplayActionName(actionName: ActionName): string {
 * environment and returns it.
 * If a new UUID is generated, it is also exported as an environment variable.
 */
-export function getJobUUID(
-  action: ActionState<["Logger", "ReadOnlyEnv", "Actions"]>,
-) {
+export function getJobUUID(action: ActionState<["Logger", "Env", "Actions"]>) {
  // Check if we already have a UUID for the analysis and return it if so.
  const existingJobRunUuid = action.env.getOptional(EnvVar.JOB_RUN_UUID);

@@ -86,7 +98,7 @@ export function getJobUUID(
  const jobRunUuid = uuid.v4();
  action.logger.info(`Job run UUID is ${jobRunUuid}.`);

-  action.actions.exportVariable(EnvVar.JOB_RUN_UUID, jobRunUuid);
+  action.env.export(EnvVar.JOB_RUN_UUID, jobRunUuid);
  return jobRunUuid;
 }

@@ -268,12 +280,12 @@ export function getJobStatusDisplayName(status: JobStatus): string {
 */
 function setJobStatusIfUnsuccessful(actionStatus: ActionStatus) {
  if (actionStatus === "user-error") {
-    core.exportVariable(
+    exportEnvVar(
      EnvVar.JOB_STATUS,
      process.env[EnvVar.JOB_STATUS] ?? JobStatus.ConfigErrorStatus,
    );
  } else if (actionStatus === "failure" || actionStatus === "aborted") {
-    core.exportVariable(
+    exportEnvVar(
      EnvVar.JOB_STATUS,
      process.env[EnvVar.JOB_STATUS] ?? JobStatus.FailureStatus,
    );
@@ -376,7 +388,7 @@ export async function createStatusReportBase(
    let workflowStartedAt = process.env[EnvVar.WORKFLOW_STARTED_AT];
    if (workflowStartedAt === undefined) {
      workflowStartedAt = actionStartedAt.toISOString();
-      core.exportVariable(EnvVar.WORKFLOW_STARTED_AT, workflowStartedAt);
+      exportEnvVar(EnvVar.WORKFLOW_STARTED_AT, workflowStartedAt);
    }
    const runnerOs = getRequiredEnvParam("RUNNER_OS");
    const codeQlCliVersion = getCachedCodeQlVersion(
@@ -388,7 +400,7 @@ export async function createStatusReportBase(
    // re-export the testing environment variable so that it is available to subsequent steps,
    // even if it was only set for this step
    if (testingEnvironment) {
-      core.exportVariable(EnvVar.TESTING_ENVIRONMENT, testingEnvironment);
+      exportEnvVar(EnvVar.TESTING_ENVIRONMENT, testingEnvironment);
    }
    const isSteadyStateDefaultSetupRun =
      process.env["CODE_SCANNING_IS_STEADY_STATE_DEFAULT_SETUP"] === "true";
--- a/src/testing-utils.ts
+++ b/src/testing-utils.ts
@@ -202,10 +202,6 @@ class TestActionsEnv implements ActionsEnv {
  public getOptionalInput(_name: string): string | undefined {
    return undefined;
  }
-
-  public exportVariable(name: string, value: string): void {
-    this.env.set(name, value);
-  }
 }

 /**
--- a/src/tools-features.ts
+++ b/src/tools-features.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-import * as semver from "semver";
-
 import type { VersionInfo } from "./cli/types";

 export enum ToolsFeature {
@@ -23,21 +21,3 @@ export function isSupportedToolsFeature(
 ): boolean {
  return !!versionInfo.features && versionInfo.features[feature];
 }
-
-export const SafeArtifactUploadVersion = "2.20.3";
-
-/**
- * The first version of the CodeQL CLI where artifact upload is safe to use
- * for failed runs. This is not really a feature flag, but it is easiest to
- * model the behavior as a feature flag.
- *
- * This was not captured in a tools feature, so we need to use semver.
- *
- * @param codeQlVersion The version of the CodeQL CLI to check. If not provided, it is assumed to be safe.
- * @returns True if artifact upload is safe to use for failed runs or false otherwise.
- */
-export function isSafeArtifactUpload(codeQlVersion?: string): boolean {
-  return !codeQlVersion
-    ? true
-    : semver.gte(codeQlVersion, SafeArtifactUploadVersion);
-}
--- a/src/upload-lib.ts
+++ b/src/upload-lib.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import { getGitHubVersion, wrapApiConfigurationError } from "./api-client";
 import { CodeQL, getCodeQL } from "./codeql";
 import { getConfig } from "./config-utils";
 import { readDiffRangesJsonFile } from "./diff-informed-analysis-utils";
-import { EnvVar } from "./environment";
+import { EnvVar, exportEnvVar } from "./environment";
 import { FeatureEnablement } from "./feature-flags";
 import * as fingerprints from "./fingerprints";
 import * as gitUtils from "./git-utils";
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ async function combineSarifFilesUsingCLI(
      logger.warning(
        `Uploading multiple SARIF runs with the same category is deprecated ${deprecationWarningMessage}. Please update your workflow to upload a single run per category. ${deprecationMoreInformationMessage}`,
      );
-      core.exportVariable("CODEQL_MERGE_SARIF_DEPRECATION_WARNING", "true");
+      exportEnvVar("CODEQL_MERGE_SARIF_DEPRECATION_WARNING", "true");
    }

    // If not, use the naive method of combining the files.
@@ -1032,7 +1032,7 @@ export function validateUniqueCategory(
          `Category: (${id ? id : "none"}) Tool: (${tool ? tool : "none"})`,
      );
    }
-    core.exportVariable(sentinelEnvVar, sentinelEnvVar);
+    exportEnvVar(sentinelEnvVar, sentinelEnvVar);
  }
 }

--- a/src/upload-sarif-action-post.ts
+++ b/src/upload-sarif-action-post.ts
@@ -34,13 +34,7 @@ export async function runWrapper() {
        return;
      }
      await withGroup("Uploading combined SARIF debug artifact", () =>
-        debugArtifacts.uploadCombinedSarifArtifacts(
-          logger,
-          gitHubVersion.type,
-          // The codeqlVersion is not applicable for uploading non-codeql sarif.
-          // We can assume all versions are safe to upload.
-          undefined,
-        ),
+        debugArtifacts.uploadCombinedSarifArtifacts(logger, gitHubVersion.type),
      );
    }
  } catch (error) {
--- a/src/util.ts
+++ b/src/util.ts
@@ -12,15 +12,26 @@ import * as semver from "semver";

 import * as apiCompatibility from "./api-compatibility.json";
 import type { CodeQL } from "./codeql";
+import type { ActionConfig } from "./config/action-config";
 import type { Pack } from "./config/db-config";
 import type { Config } from "./config-utils";
-import { EnvVar, getRequiredEnvParam } from "./environment";
+import {
+  EnvVar,
+  getRequiredEnvParam,
+  isInTestMode,
+  exportEnvVar,
+} from "./environment";
 import * as json from "./json";
 import { Language } from "./languages";
 import { Logger } from "./logging";

 // Re-export for backwards compatibility to avoid updating a lot of imports elsewhere.
-export { getRequiredEnvParam, getOptionalEnvVar, getEnv } from "./environment";
+export {
+  getRequiredEnvParam,
+  getOptionalEnvVar,
+  getEnv,
+  isInTestMode,
+} from "./environment";

 /**
 * The name of the file containing the base database OIDs, as stored in the
@@ -435,7 +446,10 @@ export function getThreadsFlag(
 /**
 * Get the path where the CodeQL database for the given language lives.
 */
-export function getCodeQLDatabasePath(config: Config, language: Language) {
+export function getCodeQLDatabasePath(
+  config: ActionConfig<"dbLocation">,
+  language: Language,
+) {
  return path.resolve(config.dbLocation, language);
 }

@@ -542,7 +556,7 @@ export function checkGitHubVersionInRange(
    );
  }
  hasBeenWarnedAboutVersion = true;
-  core.exportVariable(CODEQL_ACTION_WARNED_ABOUT_VERSION_ENV_VAR, true);
+  exportEnvVar(CODEQL_ACTION_WARNED_ABOUT_VERSION_ENV_VAR, true);
 }

 export enum DisallowedAPIVersionReason {
@@ -586,11 +600,11 @@ export function assertNever(value: never): never {
 * knowing what version of CodeQL we're running.
 */
 export function initializeEnvironment(version: string) {
-  core.exportVariable(EnvVar.FEATURE_MULTI_LANGUAGE, "false");
-  core.exportVariable(EnvVar.FEATURE_SANDWICH, "false");
-  core.exportVariable(EnvVar.FEATURE_SARIF_COMBINE, "true");
-  core.exportVariable(EnvVar.FEATURE_WILL_UPLOAD, "true");
-  core.exportVariable(EnvVar.VERSION, version);
+  exportEnvVar(EnvVar.FEATURE_MULTI_LANGUAGE, "false");
+  exportEnvVar(EnvVar.FEATURE_SANDWICH, "false");
+  exportEnvVar(EnvVar.FEATURE_SARIF_COMBINE, "true");
+  exportEnvVar(EnvVar.FEATURE_WILL_UPLOAD, "true");
+  exportEnvVar(EnvVar.VERSION, version);
 }

 export class HTTPError extends Error {
@@ -629,7 +643,9 @@ export async function codeQlVersionAtLeast(
  return semver.gte((await codeql.getVersion()).version, requiredVersion);
 }

-export function getBaseDatabaseOidsFilePath(config: Config): string {
+export function getBaseDatabaseOidsFilePath(
+  config: ActionConfig<"dbLocation">,
+): string {
  return path.join(config.dbLocation, BASE_DATABASE_OIDS_FILE_NAME);
 }

@@ -641,7 +657,7 @@ export function getBaseDatabaseOidsFilePath(config: Config): string {
 * given `includeDiagnostics` value.
 */
 export async function bundleDb(
-  config: Config,
+  config: ActionConfig<"dbLocation">,
  language: Language,
  codeql: CodeQL,
  dbName: string,
@@ -711,15 +727,6 @@ export function isGoodVersion(versionSpec: string) {
  return !BROKEN_VERSIONS.includes(versionSpec);
 }

-/**
- * Returns whether we are in test mode. This is used by CodeQL Action PR checks.
- *
- * In test mode, we skip several uploads (SARIF results, status reports, DBs, ...).
- */
-export function isInTestMode(): boolean {
-  return process.env[EnvVar.TEST_MODE] === "true";
-}
-
 /**
 * Returns whether we specifically want to skip uploading SARIF files.
 */
@@ -948,7 +955,7 @@ export async function checkDiskUsage(
      } else {
        logger.debug(message);
      }
-      core.exportVariable(EnvVar.HAS_WARNED_ABOUT_DISK_SPACE, "true");
+      exportEnvVar(EnvVar.HAS_WARNED_ABOUT_DISK_SPACE, "true");
    }
    return {
      numAvailableBytes: diskUsage.bavail * blockSizeInBytes,
@@ -997,7 +1004,7 @@ export function checkActionVersion(
          "https://github.blog/changelog/2025-10-28-upcoming-deprecation-of-codeql-action-v3/",
      );
      // set LOG_VERSION_DEPRECATION env var to prevent the warning from being logged multiple times
-      core.exportVariable(EnvVar.LOG_VERSION_DEPRECATION, "true");
+      exportEnvVar(EnvVar.LOG_VERSION_DEPRECATION, "true");
    }
  }
 }
--- a/unreleased-change-notes/README.md
+++ b/unreleased-change-notes/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+## Change notes
+
+Change-notes are Markdown files used to document user-facing changes. When making a change that affects users, create a Markdown file here that describes the change. During the next release, the change-note files in `unreleased-change-notes/` will automatically be added to `CHANGELOG.md`.
+
+### Change-note file format
+
+Change-note files must follow a certain format so that they can be automatically validated and processed. Failure to follow the format will result in a failed PR check.
+
+You may validate your change-note file locally by running `npx tsx pr-checks/changenotes.ts validate`. This command will scan all change-note files in `unreleased-change-notes/` and report any errors.
+
+
+#### Body
+
+The body of the change-note file must:
+
+- Be written in valid [GitHub-Flavored Markdown](https://github.github.com/gfm/).
+- Be structured as a single unordered Markdown list with hyphen (`-`) bullets. Each list item should describe a single change. If there are multiple changes, use multiple list items.
+
+### Example change-note file
+
+```
+- Fixed a bug where a network error while streaming the download of the CodeQL bundle could terminate the `init` Action instead of falling back to downloading the bundle before extracting it. [#4061](https://github.com/github/codeql-action/pull/4061)
+- Fix incorrect minimum required Git version for [improved incremental analysis](https://github.com/github/roadmap/issues/1158): it should have been 2.36.0, not 2.11.0. [#3781](https://github.com/github/codeql-action/pull/3781)
+```
Author	SHA1	Message	Date
Michael B. Gale	eb94de7c5c	Merge pull request #4225 from github/mbg/reduce-config-requirements Store and restore "failed" configuration if `init` step aborts	2026-10-13 09:34:24 +00:00
Michael B. Gale	9645acc2ff	Revert `config === undefined` condition	2026-10-12 22:54:47 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	6a9f7e7fc3	Log if returning early from `recordOverlayStatus` due to no languages	2026-10-12 22:50:11 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	67f44bc916	Use `Logger` for `printDebugLogs` and log when returning early	2026-10-12 22:48:21 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	26c6f91e6b	Throw if aborted config functions are called incorrectly	2026-10-12 22:42:38 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	e3aeabd8f1	Fix example in comment	2026-10-12 22:40:25 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	be78e02f2d	Fix comment	2026-10-12 22:39:34 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	bed4cc0475	Add log message for `!config.dbLocation` case	2026-10-12 22:39:08 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	ac8654a8f2	Add `printDebugLogs` tests	2026-10-12 13:08:08 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	ecfc96e0a9	Add `getDisplayActionName` tests	2026-10-12 13:08:01 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	409be01136	Replace deprecated functions in `init-action.post.ts`	2026-10-12 13:07:55 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	f4a15a13fd	Try to load failed config if normal config is unavailable Adapt relevant functions by narrowing their types or skipping steps that would otherwise have been skipped as well	2026-10-12 13:07:48 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	4fdbb71b54	Use `runInActions` for `init-post`	2026-10-12 13:07:38 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	5136039854	Store partial configuration when `init` is aborted	2026-10-12 13:07:36 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	19445ddfed	Reduce `Config` requirements for `tryUploadSarifIfRunFailed`	2026-10-12 13:07:13 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	317f264e1f	Change `diagnosticsExport` to not require full `Config`	2026-10-12 13:07:06 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	309f6af89b	Change `getGeneratedCodeScanningConfigPath` to not require full `Config`	2026-10-12 13:06:59 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	cf8f7b9787	Add `ActionConfig` type	2026-10-12 13:06:43 +01:00
Henry Mercer	0db2f2b4a5	Merge pull request #4205 from github/henrymercer/require-codeql-2-20-7 Bump minimum CodeQL CLI version to 2.20.7	2026-10-12 10:04:43 +00:00
Henry Mercer	ae96eed5bb	Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into henrymercer/require-codeql-2-20-7 Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>	2026-10-12 10:11:02 +01:00
Mario Campos	e4e9b269fe	Merge pull request #4211 from github/mario-campos/document-changenotes Document change-notes process	2026-10-09 23:05:41 +00:00
Michael B. Gale	6e7fe2e990	Merge pull request #4220 from github/mbg/fix-action-state-type-inference Fix type inference for `ActionState`	2026-10-09 22:31:18 +00:00
Mario Campos	fa56eef12f	Delete unnecessary filename/frontmatter validation instructions	2026-10-09 16:48:00 -05:00
Michael B. Gale	71f2680f85	Merge pull request #4209 from github/dependabot/npm_and_yarn/eslint-plugin-jsdoc-65.0.1 Bump eslint-plugin-jsdoc from 64.5.4 to 65.0.1	2026-10-09 17:59:37 +00:00
Michael B. Gale	3b399fec34	Merge branch 'main' into dependabot/npm_and_yarn/eslint-plugin-jsdoc-65.0.1	2026-10-09 18:47:49 +01:00
Mario Campos	5532d8e11e	Merge pull request #4218 from github/mario-campos/loosen-changenote-validation Do not validate change-note file names or frontmatter	2026-10-09 17:45:19 +00:00
Michael B. Gale	68f5b579fa	Merge pull request #4212 from github/mbg/tests/fix-export-variable-2 Do not use `core.exportVariable` in unit tests (2nd attempt)	2026-10-09 17:38:52 +00:00
Mario Campos	45cda5b577	Delete unused `path` import	2026-10-09 08:57:09 -05:00
Michael B. Gale	e57c0e65dd	Fix type inference for `ActionState`	2026-10-09 14:21:47 +01:00
Mario Campos	1ced68ed2f	Do not validate change-note file names or frontmatter Presently, the strict filename or frontmatter are not being used; so we're validating them unnecessarily. So, for now, remove these checks until we decide to either do something with them, or delete the code entirely.	2026-10-08 15:11:43 -05:00
Mario Campos	13b1321685	Refine misc. wording of `unreleased-change-notes/README.md` Co-authored-by: Michael B. Gale <mbg@github.com>	2026-10-08 15:01:05 -05:00
Mario Campos	cc826bb8e3	Delete unnecessary guidance for change-note body	2026-10-08 14:57:03 -05:00
Mario Campos	40d76bc727	Use actual CHANGELOG.md entries for example change-note	2026-10-08 14:55:23 -05:00
Michael B. Gale	bd97dda6bf	Add and use `__CODEQL_ACTION_TEST_ENV__` in tests	2026-10-08 20:23:37 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	d6196d8703	Rename `exportVariable` wrapper to `exportEnvVar`	2026-10-08 20:06:51 +01:00
Mario Campos	3acc10a2ce	Exclude `README.md` from change-note validation and assembly	2026-10-08 12:53:37 -05:00
Mario Campos	2a935ca93d	Move change-note documentation to `unreleased-change-notes/README.md`	2026-10-08 12:48:24 -05:00
Mads Navntoft	5aa5056e2d	Merge pull request #4215 from github/mergeback/v4.38.3-to-main-24c54180 Mergeback v4.38.3 refs/heads/releases/v4 into main	2026-10-08 13:58:42 +00:00
Henry Mercer	768784f193	Merge branch 'main' into henrymercer/require-codeql-2-20-7	2026-10-08 14:29:21 +01:00
github-actions[bot]	ea60dc6408	Rebuild	2026-10-08 13:01:10 +00:00
github-actions[bot]	ce3f825b1d	Update changelog and version after v4.38.3	2026-10-08 13:01:02 +00:00
Mario Campos	38fee79b02	Specify allowed characters in change-note filename	2026-10-07 15:21:38 -05:00
Michael B. Gale	ebd711ff66	Deprecate `isInTestMode` in favour of a more clearly named method	2026-10-07 20:12:01 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	75ea4cb2e4	Add `NODE_ENV` as safe environment variable	2026-10-07 20:12:01 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	59ff83ecef	Add basic eslint enforcement	2026-10-07 20:12:01 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	1728f0c676	Add wrapper around `core.exportVariable`	2026-10-07 20:12:00 +01:00
Michael B. Gale	63c5299790	Move `isInTestMode` to `environment.ts`	2026-10-07 20:12:00 +01:00
Mario Campos	39f1b3fa8d	Document change-notes process	2026-10-07 13:11:34 -05:00
dependabot[bot]	d5b1e793ce	Bump eslint-plugin-jsdoc from 64.5.4 to 65.0.1 Bumps [eslint-plugin-jsdoc](https://github.com/gajus/eslint-plugin-jsdoc) from 64.5.4 to 65.0.1. - [Release notes](https://github.com/gajus/eslint-plugin-jsdoc/releases) - [Commits](https://github.com/gajus/eslint-plugin-jsdoc/compare/v64.5.4...v65.0.1) --- updated-dependencies: - dependency-name: eslint-plugin-jsdoc dependency-version: 65.0.1 dependency-type: direct:development update-type: version-update:semver-major ... Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <support@github.com>	2026-10-07 17:55:31 +00:00
Henry Mercer	5d90bea8a6	Add PR number to changelog entry and list it first Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>	2026-10-07 14:44:12 +01:00
Henry Mercer	8e7104f197	Clarify the oldest-version comment in the Rust PR check Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>	2026-10-07 14:41:20 +01:00
Henry Mercer	0b5c1fb069	Remove redundant CLI version requirement from `CppDependencyInstallation` Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>	2026-10-07 14:41:15 +01:00
Henry Mercer	a8c7110b26	Remove unreachable minimum version check for Rust analysis Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>	2026-10-07 14:41:09 +01:00
Henry Mercer	3c1b1b65a3	Remove CodeQL version check from debug artifact upload Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>	2026-10-07 14:41:03 +01:00
Henry Mercer	10e415aae1	Remove Kotlin version limit workaround for CodeQL CLI 2.20.3 Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>	2026-10-07 14:40:58 +01:00
Henry Mercer	b97fbb3711	Remove `CODEQL_PROXY_*` workaround for CLIs older than 2.20.7 Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>	2026-10-07 14:40:52 +01:00
Henry Mercer	17e7897d6c	Add CodeQL 2.25.6 to the PR check matrix Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>	2026-10-07 14:40:49 +01:00
Henry Mercer	74aeac99e7	Stop testing CodeQL versions older than 2.20.7 in PR checks Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>	2026-10-07 14:40:46 +01:00
Henry Mercer	05d28f2f71	Bump version to 4.39.0 Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>	2026-10-07 14:40:38 +01:00
Henry Mercer	772ffcd999	Bump minimum CodeQL CLI version to 2.20.7 Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>	2026-10-07 14:40:35 +01:00