GitHub Actions Skill

Teach agents how to trigger, monitor, and manage GitHub Actions workflows for the LeanSpec project.

Core Principles

• Use GitHub CLI (gh ) - All workflow interactions use the gh CLI tool

• Check Status Before Acting - Always verify current run status before triggering new ones

• Monitor Until Completion - Background workflows need periodic status checks

• Artifacts Are Ephemeral - Download important artifacts before they expire (default: 30 days)

• Respect Rate Limits - Don't poll too frequently (minimum 30s between checks)

Available Workflows

Workflow File Triggers Purpose

CI ci.yml

push, PR to main Build, test, lint (Node.js + Rust)

Publish publish.yml

release, manual Publish to npm (all platforms)

Desktop Build desktop-build.yml

push, PR, manual Build Tauri desktop apps

Copilot Setup copilot-setup-steps.yml

push, PR, manual Setup environment for Copilot agent

Quick Reference

Check Workflow Status

List recent workflow runs

gh run list --limit 10

View specific workflow runs

gh run list --workflow ci.yml --limit 5 gh run list --workflow publish.yml --limit 5

Get details of a specific run

gh run view <run-id>

Watch a run in progress

gh run watch <run-id>

Trigger Workflows

Trigger CI manually (usually automatic on push/PR)

gh workflow run ci.yml

Trigger publish (dev version)

gh workflow run publish.yml --field dev=true

Trigger publish (dry run - validates without publishing)

gh workflow run publish.yml --field dev=true --field dry_run=true

Trigger desktop build

gh workflow run desktop-build.yml

Debug Failed Runs

View failed run logs

gh run view <run-id> --log-failed

View full logs

gh run view <run-id> --log

Re-run failed jobs only

gh run rerun <run-id> --failed

Re-run entire workflow

gh run rerun <run-id>

Manage Artifacts

List artifacts from a run

gh run view <run-id>

Download all artifacts from a run

gh run download <run-id>

Download specific artifact

gh run download <run-id> --name ui-dist gh run download <run-id> --name binaries-linux-x64

Decision Tree

Need to check if build passing? └─> gh run list --workflow ci.yml --limit 1

Need to publish packages? ├─> Production: Create GitHub Release (recommended) └─> Testing: gh workflow run publish.yml --field dev=true

Workflow failed? ├─> View logs: gh run view <id> --log-failed ├─> Transient: gh run rerun <id> --failed └─> Real issue: Fix locally, push, let CI re-run

Need build artifacts? └─> gh run download <run-id> --name <artifact-name>

Reference Documentation

• references/WORKFLOWS.md - Detailed workflow documentation (jobs, triggers, durations)

• references/COMMANDS.md - Complete gh command reference

• references/TROUBLESHOOTING.md - Common issues and solutions