You have a GitHub Actions workflow that runs two jobs named agent-plan and agent-implement on...

Correct selection

Agent output capture method

Write plan=... to $GITHUB_OUTPUT.

Downstream reference expression

${{ needs.agent-plan.outputs.plan }}

GitHub Actions distinguishes console logs, environment variables, step outputs, and job outputs. Writing the implementation plan to the console makes it visible in logs but does not create an output that another job can reference. The producing step must write a named value to the file identified by GITHUB_OUTPUT.

The workflow must also expose that step output as a job output. For example, a step with the identifier generate can publish plan, and the agent-plan job can map its outputs.plan property to ${{ steps.generate.outputs.plan }}. The consuming job declares needs: agent-plan and reads ${{ needs.agent-plan.outputs.plan }}. Both the output mapping and the dependency declaration are necessary for the intended cross-job contract.

The screenshot’s displayed GITHUB_ENV selection is incorrect. That mechanism makes environment variables available to subsequent steps in the same job; it does not publish a downstream job output. A multiline plan additionally requires the supported multiline output syntax.

The relevant curriculum topics are sharing agent state, maintaining execution continuity, and preserving decisions across workflow stages.