GitHub Agentic Workflows

Automated repository agents, running in GitHub Actions.

What are GitHub Agentic Workflows?

Imagine a world where improvements to your repositories are delivered automatically each morning. Issues are automatically triaged, CI failures analyzed, documentation maintained, test coverage improved and compliance monitored - all defined via simple markdown files.

GitHub Agentic Workflows deliver this: automated repository agents, running in GitHub Actions, with security-first design principles.

Key Features

Automated Markdown Workflows

Write automation in markdown instead of complex YAML

AI-Powered Decision Making

Workflows that understand context and adapt to situations

GitHub Integration

Deep integration with Actions, Issues, PRs, Discussions, and repository management

Safety First

Sandboxed execution with minimal permissions and safe output processing

Multiple AI Engines

Support for Copilot, Claude, Codex, and custom AI processors

Continuous AI

Systematic, automated application of AI to software collaboration

Security Built-In

Workflows run with read-only permissions by default. Write operations require explicit approval through sanitized safe outputs (pre-approved GitHub operations), with sandboxed execution, tool allowlisting, and network isolation ensuring AI agents operate within controlled boundaries.

Example: Daily Issues Report

How they work:

Write - Create a .md file with your automation instructions in natural language
Compile - Run gh aw compile to transform it into a secure GitHub Actions workflow (.lock.yml)
Run - GitHub Actions executes your workflow automatically based on your triggers

Here’s a simple workflow that runs daily to create an upbeat status report:

---
on:
  schedule: daily
permissions:
  contents: read
  issues: read
  pull-requests: read
safe-outputs:
  create-issue:
    title-prefix: "[team-status] "
    labels: [report, daily-status]
    close-older-issues: true
---

## Daily Issues Report

Create an upbeat daily status report for the team as a GitHub issue.

The gh aw cli converts this into a GitHub Actions Workflow (.yml) that runs an AI agent (Copilot, Claude, Codex, …) in a containerized environment on a schedule or manually.

The AI coding agent reads your repository context, analyzes issues, generates visualizations, and creates reports - all defined in natural language rather than complex code.

Workflow Examples

Continuous Improvement

Daily code simplification, refactoring, and style improvements

Continuous Refactoring

Slash commands for on-demand analysis and automation

Continuous Documentation

Continuous documentation maintenance and consistency

Issue & PR Management

Automated triage, labeling, and project coordination

Metrics & Analytics

Daily reports, trend analysis, and workflow health monitoring

Continuous Scanning & Compliance

Scanning, alert triage, and compliance monitoring

Quality & Testing

CI failure diagnosis, test improvements, and quality checks

Multi-Repository

Feature sync and cross-repo tracking workflows

Scheduled Workflows

DailyOps, research, and automated maintenance