GitHub Agentic Workflows
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ChatOps

ChatOps brings automation into GitHub conversations through command triggers that respond to slash commands in issues, pull requests, and comments. Team members can trigger workflows by typing commands like /review or /deploy directly in discussions.

flowchart LR
    user(["/command"]) --> auth[Auth check]
    auth --> agent[AI agent]
    agent --> output[Safe outputs]

By default, only users with write permissions can trigger ChatOps commands. Narrow or widen that with on.roles: — see Repository Access Roles.

Example: Code Reviewer

Section titled “Example: Code Reviewer”

In the following example, when someone types /review, the AI analyzes code changes and posts review comments. The agent runs with read-only permissions while safe-outputs (validated GitHub operations) handle write operations securely.

The example uses events: to restrict which comment contexts activate a command — in this case [pull_request_comment] to respond only in PR threads. See Filtering Command Events.

The example also references the triggering content via steps.sanitized.outputs.text, which strips injection attempts, excessive content, and untrusted mentions — see Context Text.

---
on:
  slash_command:
    name: review
    events: [pull_request_comment]  # Only respond to /review in PR comments


permissions:
  contents: read
  pull-requests: read


safe-outputs:
  create-pull-request-review-comment:
    max: 5
  add-comment:
---


# Code Review Assistant


When someone types /review in a pull request comment, perform a thorough analysis of the changes.


Triggering comment (sanitized): "${{ steps.sanitized.outputs.text }}"


Examine the diff for potential bugs, security vulnerabilities, performance implications, code style issues, and missing tests or documentation.


Create specific review comments on relevant lines of code and add a summary comment with overall observations and recommendations.

Learn More

Section titled “Learn More”