Support requesting latest nightly with tools: nightly

.github/actions/prepare-test/action.yml

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ name: "Prepare test"
 description: Performs some preparation to run tests
 inputs:
   version:
-    description: "The version of the CodeQL CLI to use. Can be 'linked', 'default', 'nightly-latest', 'nightly-YYYYMMDD', or 'stable-vX.Y.Z"
+    description: "The version of the CodeQL CLI to use. Can be 'linked', 'default', 'nightly', 'nightly-latest', 'nightly-YYYYMMDD', or 'stable-vX.Y.Z"
     required: true
   use-all-platform-bundle:
     description: "If true, we output a tools URL with codeql-bundle.tar.gz file rather than platform-specific URL"
@@ -35,37 +35,31 @@ runs:
       run: |
         set -e # Fail this Action if `gh release list` fails.
 
-        if [[ "$VERSION" == "linked" ]]; then
+        if [[ "$VERSION" == "nightly" || "$VERSION" == "nightly-latest" ]]; then
+          echo "tools-url=nightly" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          exit 0
+        elif [[ "$VERSION" == "linked" ]]; then
           echo "tools-url=linked" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
           exit 0
         elif [[ "$VERSION" == "default" ]]; then
           echo "tools-url=" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
           exit 0
         fi
 
-        if [[ "$VERSION" == "nightly-latest" && "$RUNNER_OS" != "Windows" ]]; then
-          extension="tar.zst"
-        else
-          extension="tar.gz"
-        fi
-
         if [[ "$USE_ALL_PLATFORM_BUNDLE" == "true" ]]; then
-          artifact_name="codeql-bundle.$extension"
+          artifact_name="codeql-bundle.tar.gz"
         elif [[ "$RUNNER_OS" == "Linux" ]]; then
-          artifact_name="codeql-bundle-linux64.$extension"
+          artifact_name="codeql-bundle-linux64.tar.gz"
         elif [[ "$RUNNER_OS" == "macOS" ]]; then
-          artifact_name="codeql-bundle-osx64.$extension"
+          artifact_name="codeql-bundle-osx64.tar.gz"
         elif [[ "$RUNNER_OS" == "Windows" ]]; then
-          artifact_name="codeql-bundle-win64.$extension"
+          artifact_name="codeql-bundle-win64.tar.gz"
         else
           echo "::error::Unrecognized OS $RUNNER_OS"
           exit 1
         fi
 
-        if [[ "$VERSION" == "nightly-latest" ]]; then
-          tag=`gh release list --repo dsp-testing/codeql-cli-nightlies -L 1 | cut -f 3`
-          echo "tools-url=https://github.com/dsp-testing/codeql-cli-nightlies/releases/download/$tag/$artifact_name" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-        elif [[ "$VERSION" == *"nightly"* ]]; then
+        if [[ "$VERSION" == *"nightly"* ]]; then
           version=`echo "$VERSION" | sed -e 's/^.*\-//'`
           echo "tools-url=https://github.com/dsp-testing/codeql-cli-nightlies/releases/download/codeql-bundle-$version/$artifact_name" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
         elif [[ "$VERSION" == *"stable"* ]]; then

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ See the [releases page](https://github.com/github/codeql-action/releases) for th
 
 - We have improved the CodeQL Action's ability to validate that the workflow it is used in does not use different versions of the CodeQL Action for different workflow steps. Mixing different versions of the CodeQL Action in the same workflow is unsupported and can lead to unpredictable results. A warning will now be emitted from the `codeql-action/init` step if different versions of the CodeQL Action are detected in the workflow file. Additionally, an error will now be thrown by the other CodeQL Action steps if they load a configuration file that was generated by a different version of the `codeql-action/init` step. [#3099](https://github.com/github/codeql-action/pull/3099) and [#3100](https://github.com/github/codeql-action/pull/3100)
 - We added support for reducing the size of dependency caches for Java analyses, which will reduce cache usage and speed up workflows. This will be enabled automatically at a later time. [#3107](https://github.com/github/codeql-action/pull/3107)
+- You can now run the latest CodeQL nightly bundle by passing `tools: nightly` to the `init` action. In general, the nightly bundle is unstable and we only recommend running it when directed by GitHub staff. [#3130](https://github.com/github/codeql-action/pull/3130)
 
 ## 3.30.3 - 10 Sep 2025
 

init/action.yml

@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ inputs:
       - The URL of a CodeQL Bundle tarball GitHub release asset, or
       - A special value `linked` which uses the version of the CodeQL tools
         that the Action has been bundled with.
+      - A special value `nightly` which uses the latest nightly version of the
+        CodeQL tools. Note that this is unstable and not recommended for
+        production use.
 
       If not specified, the Action will check in several places until it finds
       the CodeQL tools.