new-action

name	new-action
description	Scaffold a new GitHub Action with all required files
disable-model-invocation	true

Scaffold a New GitHub Action

1. Gather information

Ask the user for:

• Action name (kebab-case, e.g. my-new-action)
• Description (one line)
• Category (setup, linting, testing, build, publishing, repository, utility)
• Inputs (name, description, required, default for each)
• What it does (shell commands, composite steps, etc.)

2. Create directory and action.yml

Create <action-name>/action.yml following the existing action patterns:

• Use composite runs type
• Include set -eu in shell scripts (POSIX sh, not bash)
• Use ${{ github.token }} for token defaults
• Pin all external action references to SHA commits
• Pin internal action references using ivuorinen/actions/action-name@<SHA>
• Add id: to steps whose outputs are referenced

3. Generate the input validator

Add the new action to _validation/spec.py — list its required inputs and map each input to a check type from _validation/kit.py (add a new check to kit.py if none fits). Then:

make update-validators

This generates <action-name>/validate.py (self-contained pure-stdlib validator) from _validation/spec.py + _validation/kit.py. Never hand-edit the generated validate.py. Add a shell: sh step that runs python3 validate.py as the action's first real step.

4. Generate test scaffolding

make generate-tests

5. Generate README

make docs

6. Run validation

make all

Fix any issues before considering the action complete.

7. Update repository overview

Remind the user to update the Serena memory repository_overview if they use Serena.