🔧 GitHub Workflow Automation

Patterns for automating GitHub workflows with AI assistance, inspired by Gemini CLI and modern DevOps practices.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Automating PR reviews with AI
• Setting up issue triage automation
• Creating GitHub Actions workflows
• Integrating AI into CI/CD pipelines
• Automating Git operations (rebases, cherry-picks)

1. Automated PR Review

1.1 PR Review Action

# .github/workflows/ai-review.yml
name: AI Code Review

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize]

jobs:
  review:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
      pull-requests: write

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Get changed files
        id: changed
        run: |
          files=$(git diff --name-only origin/${{ github.base_ref }}...HEAD)
          echo "files<<EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
          echo "$files" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
          echo "EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

      - name: Get diff
        id: diff
        run: |
          diff=$(git diff origin/${{ github.base_ref }}...HEAD)
          echo "diff<<EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
          echo "$diff" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
          echo "EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

      - name: AI Review
        uses: actions/github-script@v7
        with:
          script: |
            const { Anthropic } = require('@anthropic-ai/sdk');
            const client = new Anthropic({ apiKey: process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY });

            const response = await client.messages.create({
              model: "claude-3-sonnet-20240229",
              max_tokens: 4096,
              messages: [{
                role: "user",
                content: `Review this PR diff and provide feedback:
                
                Changed files: ${{ steps.changed.outputs.files }}
                
                Diff:
                ${{ steps.diff.outputs.diff }}
                
                Provide:
                1. Summary of changes
                2. Potential issues or bugs
                3. Suggestions for improvement
                4. Security concerns if any
                
                Format as GitHub markdown.`
              }]
            });

            await github.rest.pulls.createReview({
              owner: context.repo.owner,
              repo: context.repo.repo,
              pull_number: context.issue.number,
              body: response.content[0].text,
              event: 'COMMENT'
            });
        env:
          ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY }}

1.2 Review Comment Patterns

# AI Review Structure

## 📋 Summary

Brief description of what this PR does.

## ✅ What looks good

- Well-structured code
- Good test coverage
- Clear naming conventions

## ⚠️ Potential Issues

1. **Line 42**: Possible null pointer exception

// Current user.profile.name; // Suggested user?.profile?.name ?? "Unknown";

1. Line 78: Consider error handling

   // Add try-catch or .catch()

💡 Suggestions

• Consider extracting the validation logic into a separate function
• Add JSDoc comments for public methods

🔒 Security Notes

• No sensitive data exposure detected
• API key handling looks correct

### 1.3 Focused Reviews

Review only specific file types

• name: Filter code files

run: | files=$(git diff --name-only origin/${{ github.base_ref }}...HEAD | \ grep -E '\.(ts|tsx|js|jsx|py|go)$' || true) echo "code_files=$files" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

Review with context

• name: AI Review with context

run: |

Include relevant context files

context="" for file in ${{ steps.changed.outputs.files }}; do if [[ -f "$file" ]]; then context+="=== $file ===\n$(cat $file)\n\n" fi done

Send to AI with full file context

---

## 2. Issue Triage Automation

### 2.1 Auto-label Issues

.github/workflows/issue-triage.yml

name: Issue Triage

on: issues: types: [opened]

jobs: triage: runs-on: ubuntu-latest permissions: issues: write

steps:

• name: Analyze issue

uses: actions/github-script@v7 with: script: | const issue = context.payload.issue;

// Call AI to analyze const analysis = await analyzeIssue(issue.title, issue.body);

// Apply labels const labels = [];

if (analysis.type === 'bug') { labels.push('bug'); if (analysis.severity === 'high') labels.push('priority: high'); } else if (analysis.type === 'feature') { labels.push('enhancement'); } else if (analysis.type === 'question') { labels.push('question'); }

if (analysis.area) { labels.push(area: ${analysis.area}); }

await github.rest.issues.addLabels({ owner: context.repo.owner, repo: context.repo.repo, issue_number: issue.number, labels: labels });

// Add initial response if (analysis.type === 'bug' && !analysis.hasReproSteps) { await github.rest.issues.createComment({ owner: context.repo.owner, repo: context.repo.repo, issue_number: issue.number, body: `Thanks for reporting this issue!

To help us investigate, could you please provide:

• Steps to reproduce the issue
• Expected behavior
• Actual behavior
• Environment (OS, version, etc.)

This will help us resolve your issue faster. 🙏` }); }

### 2.2 Issue Analysis Prompt

const TRIAGE_PROMPT = ` Analyze this GitHub issue and classify it:

Title: {title} Body: {body}

Return JSON with: { "type": "bug" | "feature" | "question" | "docs" | "other", "severity": "low" | "medium" | "high" | "critical", "area": "frontend" | "backend" | "api" | "docs" | "ci" | "other", "summary": "one-line summary", "hasReproSteps": boolean, "isFirstContribution": boolean, "suggestedLabels": ["label1", "label2"], "suggestedAssignees": ["username"] // based on area expertise } `;

### 2.3 Stale Issue Management

.github/workflows/stale.yml

name: Manage Stale Issues

on: schedule:

• cron: "0 0 *" # Daily

jobs: stale: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps:

• uses: actions/stale@v9

with: stale-issue-message: | This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed in 14 days if no further activity occurs.

If this issue is still relevant:

• Add a comment with an update
• Remove the stale label

Thank you for your contributions! 🙏

stale-pr-message: | This PR has been automatically marked as stale. Please update it or it will be closed in 14 days.

days-before-stale: 60 days-before-close: 14 stale-issue-label: "stale" stale-pr-label: "stale" exempt-issue-labels: "pinned,security,in-progress" exempt-pr-labels: "pinned,security"

---

## 3. CI/CD Integration

### 3.1 Smart Test Selection

.github/workflows/smart-tests.yml

name: Smart Test Selection

on: pull_request:

jobs: analyze: runs-on: ubuntu-latest outputs: test_suites: ${{ steps.analyze.outputs.suites }}

steps:

• uses: actions/checkout@v4

with: fetch-depth: 0

• name: Analyze changes

id: analyze run: |

Get changed files

changed=$(git diff --name-only origin/${{ github.base_ref }}...HEAD)

Determine which test suites to run

suites="[]"

if echo "$changed" | grep -q "^src/api/"; then suites=$(echo $suites | jq '. + ["api"]') fi

if echo "$changed" | grep -q "^src/frontend/"; then suites=$(echo $suites | jq '. + ["frontend"]') fi

if echo "$changed" | grep -q "^src/database/"; then suites=$(echo $suites | jq '. + ["database", "api"]') fi

If nothing specific, run all

if [ "$suites" = "[]" ]; then suites='["all"]' fi

echo "suites=$suites" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

test: needs: analyze runs-on: ubuntu-latest strategy: matrix: suite: ${{ fromJson(needs.analyze.outputs.test_suites) }}

steps:

• uses: actions/checkout@v4

• name: Run tests

run: | if [ "${{ matrix.suite }}" = "all" ]; then npm test else npm test -- --suite ${{ matrix.suite }} fi

### 3.2 Deployment with AI Validation

.github/workflows/deploy.yml

name: Deploy with AI Validation

on: push: branches: [main]

jobs: validate: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps:

• uses: actions/checkout@v4

• name: Get deployment changes

id: changes run: |

Get commits since last deployment

last_deploy=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null || echo "") if [ -n "$last_deploy" ]; then changes=$(git log --oneline $last_deploy..HEAD) else changes=$(git log --oneline -10) fi echo "changes<<EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT echo "$changes" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT echo "EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

• name: AI Risk Assessment

id: assess uses: actions/github-script@v7 with: script: | // Analyze changes for deployment risk const prompt = ` Analyze these changes for deployment risk:

${process.env.CHANGES}

Return JSON: { "riskLevel": "low" | "medium" | "high", "concerns": ["concern1", "concern2"], "recommendations": ["rec1", "rec2"], "requiresManualApproval": boolean } `;

// Call AI and parse response const analysis = await callAI(prompt);

if (analysis.riskLevel === 'high') { core.setFailed('High-risk deployment detected. Manual review required.'); }

return analysis; env: CHANGES: ${{ steps.changes.outputs.changes }}

deploy: needs: validate runs-on: ubuntu-latest environment: production steps:

• name: Deploy

run: | echo "Deploying to production..."

Deployment commands here

### 3.3 Rollback Automation

.github/workflows/rollback.yml

name: Automated Rollback

on: workflow_dispatch: inputs: reason: description: "Reason for rollback" required: true

jobs: rollback: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps:

• uses: actions/checkout@v4

with: fetch-depth: 0

• name: Find last stable version

id: stable run: |

Find last successful deployment

stable=$(git tag -l 'v*' --sort=-version:refname | head -1) echo "version=$stable" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

• name: Rollback

run: | git checkout ${{ steps.stable.outputs.version }}

Deploy stable version

npm run deploy

• name: Notify team

uses: slackapi/slack-github-action@v1 with: payload: | { "text": "🔄 Production rolled back to ${{ steps.stable.outputs.version }}", "blocks": [ { "type": "section", "text": { "type": "mrkdwn", "text": "Rollback executed\n• Version: ${{ steps.stable.outputs.version }}\n• Reason: ${{ inputs.reason }}\n• Triggered by: ${{ github.actor }}" } } ] }

---

## 4. Git Operations

### 4.1 Automated Rebasing

.github/workflows/auto-rebase.yml

name: Auto Rebase

on: issue_comment: types: [created]

jobs: rebase: if: github.event.issue.pull_request && contains(github.event.comment.body, '/rebase') runs-on: ubuntu-latest

steps:

• uses: actions/checkout@v4

with: fetch-depth: 0 token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

• name: Setup Git

run: | git config user.name "github-actions[bot]" git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"

• name: Rebase PR

run: |

Fetch PR branch

gh pr checkout ${{ github.event.issue.number }}

Rebase onto main

git fetch origin main git rebase origin/main

Force push

git push --force-with-lease env: GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

• name: Comment result

uses: actions/github-script@v7 with: script: | github.rest.issues.createComment({ owner: context.repo.owner, repo: context.repo.repo, issue_number: context.issue.number, body: '✅ Successfully rebased onto main!' })

### 4.2 Smart Cherry-Pick

// AI-assisted cherry-pick that handles conflicts async function smartCherryPick(commitHash: string, targetBranch: string) { // Get commit info const commitInfo = await exec(git show ${commitHash} --stat);

// Check for potential conflicts const targetDiff = await exec( git diff ${targetBranch}...HEAD -- ${affectedFiles} );

// AI analysis const analysis = await ai.analyze(` I need to cherry-pick this commit to ${targetBranch}:

${commitInfo}

Current state of affected files on ${targetBranch}: ${targetDiff}

Will there be conflicts? If so, suggest resolution strategy. `);

if (analysis.willConflict) { // Create branch for manual resolution await exec( git checkout -b cherry-pick-${commitHash.slice(0, 7)} ${targetBranch} ); const result = await exec(git cherry-pick ${commitHash}, { allowFail: true, });

if (result.failed) { // AI-assisted conflict resolution const conflicts = await getConflicts(); for (const conflict of conflicts) { const resolution = await ai.resolveConflict(conflict); await applyResolution(conflict.file, resolution); } } } else { await exec(git checkout ${targetBranch}); await exec(git cherry-pick ${commitHash}); } }

### 4.3 Branch Cleanup

.github/workflows/branch-cleanup.yml

name: Branch Cleanup

on: schedule:

• cron: '0 0 0' # Weekly

workflow_dispatch:

jobs: cleanup: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps:

• uses: actions/checkout@v4

with: fetch-depth: 0

• name: Find stale branches

id: stale run: |

Branches not updated in 30 days

stale=$(git for-each-ref --sort=-committerdate refs/remotes/origin \ --format='%(refname:short) %(committerdate:relative)' | \ grep -E '[3-9][0-9]+ days|[0-9]+ months|[0-9]+ years' | \ grep -v 'origin/main\|origin/develop' | \ cut -d' ' -f1 | sed 's|origin/||')

echo "branches<<EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT echo "$stale" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT echo "EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

• name: Create cleanup PR

if: steps.stale.outputs.branches != '' uses: actions/github-script@v7 with: script: | const branches = ${{ steps.stale.outputs.branches }}.split('\n').filter(Boolean);

const body = `## 🧹 Stale Branch Cleanup

The following branches haven't been updated in over 30 days:

${branches.map(b => - \${b}\``).join('\n')}

Actions:

• [ ] Review each branch
• [ ] Delete branches that are no longer needed
• Comment \/keep branch-name\ to preserve specific branches

`;

await github.rest.issues.create({ owner: context.repo.owner, repo: context.repo.repo, title: 'Stale Branch Cleanup', body: body, labels: ['housekeeping'] });

---

## 5. On-Demand Assistance

### 5.1 @mention Bot

.github/workflows/mention-bot.yml

name: AI Mention Bot

on: issue_comment: types: [created] pull_request_review_comment: types: [created]

jobs: respond: if: contains(github.event.comment.body, '@ai-helper') runs-on: ubuntu-latest

steps:

• uses: actions/checkout@v4

• name: Extract question

id: question run: |

Extract text after @ai-helper

question=$(echo "${{ github.event.comment.body }}" | sed 's/.*@ai-helper//') echo "question=$question" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

• name: Get context

id: context run: | if [ "${{ github.event.issue.pull_request }}" != "" ]; then

It's a PR - get diff

gh pr diff ${{ github.event.issue.number }} > context.txt else

It's an issue - get description

gh issue view ${{ github.event.issue.number }} --json body -q .body > context.txt fi echo "context=$(cat context.txt)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT env: GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

• name: AI Response

uses: actions/github-script@v7 with: script: | const response = await ai.chat(` Context: ${process.env.CONTEXT}

Question: ${process.env.QUESTION}

Provide a helpful, specific answer. Include code examples if relevant. `);

await github.rest.issues.createComment({ owner: context.repo.owner, repo: context.repo.repo, issue_number: context.issue.number, body: response }); env: CONTEXT: ${{ steps.context.outputs.context }} QUESTION: ${{ steps.question.outputs.question }}

### 5.2 Command Patterns

Available Commands

---

## 6. Repository Configuration

### 6.1 CODEOWNERS

.github/CODEOWNERS

Global owners

• @org/core-team

Frontend

/src/frontend/ @org/frontend-team .tsx @org/frontend-team .css @org/frontend-team

Backend

/src/api/ @org/backend-team /src/database/ @org/backend-team

Infrastructure

/.github/ @org/devops-team /terraform/ @org/devops-team Dockerfile @org/devops-team

Docs

/docs/ @org/docs-team *.md @org/docs-team

Security-sensitive

/src/auth/ @org/security-team /src/crypto/ @org/security-team

### 6.2 Branch Protection

Set up via GitHub API

• name: Configure branch protection

uses: actions/github-script@v7 with: script: | await github.rest.repos.updateBranchProtection({ owner: context.repo.owner, repo: context.repo.repo, branch: 'main', required_status_checks: { strict: true, contexts: ['test', 'lint', 'ai-review'] }, enforce_admins: true, required_pull_request_reviews: { required_approving_review_count: 1, require_code_owner_reviews: true, dismiss_stale_reviews: true }, restrictions: null, required_linear_history: true, allow_force_pushes: false, allow_deletions: false });

---

## Best Practices

### Security

- [ ] Store API keys in GitHub Secrets
- [ ] Use minimal permissions in workflows
- [ ] Validate all inputs
- [ ] Don't expose sensitive data in logs

### Performance

- [ ] Cache dependencies
- [ ] Use matrix builds for parallel testing
- [ ] Skip unnecessary jobs with path filters
- [ ] Use self-hosted runners for heavy workloads

### Reliability

- [ ] Add timeouts to jobs
- [ ] Handle rate limits gracefully
- [ ] Implement retry logic
- [ ] Have rollback procedures

---

## Resources

- [Gemini CLI GitHub Action](https://github.com/google-github-actions/run-gemini-cli)
- [GitHub Actions Documentation](https://docs.github.com/en/actions)
- [GitHub REST API](https://docs.github.com/en/rest)
- [CODEOWNERS Syntax](https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/managing-your-repositorys-settings-and-features/customizing-your-repository/about-code-owners)