overview-github-actions

name	overview-github-actions
description	Use when reviewing or modifying GitHub Actions workflows, composite actions, CI gates, release pipelines, Docker publishing, package publishing, or security scanning.
last-updated	"2026-06-14T00:00:00.000Z"
difficulty	intermediate
tokens	~1.4K

GitHub Actions And Deployment

Portable CI/CD guidance. Load the repository profile for exact workflow names, branches, tags, registries, and publish targets.

Workflow Strategy

Common workflow families:

Family	Purpose
Pull request	Secretless validation for untrusted changes
Development branch	Baseline build, test, and quality gate
Protected branch	Deeper analysis, scheduled scans, or release readiness
Release tag	Build once, scan, publish packages/images, attest artifacts
Preview tag	Publish prerelease packages/images with fixed-width preview ordering

Security Rules

• Use pull_request, not pull_request_target, when PR code executes.
• Keep PR workflows secretless unless the workflow is carefully split between trusted and untrusted code.
• For split-checkout PR workflows, checkout trusted CI/control-plane code at the immutable event base SHA and checkout PR-controlled source into a separate path.
• Set explicit timeout-minutes on jobs that run untrusted or expensive code, and keep aggregate gatekeeper jobs short.
• Pin third-party actions according to repository policy. When the profile requires full commit SHAs with version comments, verify both the SHA and the explanatory version comment from the official upstream repository; annotated tags require the dereferenced tag commit.
• Protect .github/workflows/**, .github/actions/**, and CODEOWNERS with code-owner review.
• Gate publishing credentials behind build/test/security-scan success.
• Upload SARIF or code-scanning results when the repository uses supported scanners. If a custom SARIF verifier is used, missing, empty, malformed, or unparsable SARIF is a failed security gate; if platform code-scanning merge protection replaces it, require that protection in branch rulesets.
• Feed global project guidelines to review tools through their guideline-file mechanism instead of duplicating portable rules into long path instructions.

Composite Actions

Composite actions reduce duplication, but they are part of the CI control plane. Review them like production code:

• Inputs are validated and quoted.
• Secrets are passed only to steps that need them.
• Working directories are explicit.
• Tool versions come from profile, lockfiles, or setup actions.
• Outputs are documented and consumed by downstream jobs deliberately.
• Dependency restore steps should not execute third-party lifecycle scripts unless a documented exception is required for production build correctness.

Release Pipeline Checks

• Version is derived from the repository's tag or package metadata.
• Tag filters, version extraction guards, and package/image metadata rules agree on the same stable and preview tag shapes.
• Branch ancestry checks resolve exact refs and use git merge-base --is-ancestor; do not rely on branch list output or substring matching.
• Build artifacts used for packaging are the same artifacts that were scanned or tested.
• Parallelize only when generated-file boundaries are explicit. If package build output, frontend assets, or Docker context files cross job boundaries, add artifact upload/download or keep dependent steps in one job.
• Docker images are built with SBOM/provenance when supported.
• Package publishing and Docker tag promotion happen after security gates and staged-image CVE scans, not before.
• Registry and package publishing secrets are scoped to the steps or composite actions that need them.
• Dependency-only upgrades are not listed in release notes unless they are breaking, security-relevant, user-facing, or alter published package artifacts.

Docker Standards

When Docker publishing is in scope, verify:

• Dockerfile paths and image names come from the repository profile or workflow files.
• Multi-arch settings match the supported runtime targets.
• Base images are pinned or governed by a documented update policy.
• CVE gates match the repository's risk tolerance.
• Promotion reuses scanned image digests when the pipeline supports it.
• Scanner inputs identify the exact image under review, preferably by repository plus staged digest, not runner-local defaults.
• CVE severity filters are explicit; include unspecified only when unknown-severity findings are intentionally release-blocking.
• Preview metadata must not overwrite stable tags such as latest or major.minor; derive Docker tags from the already-extracted release version.

Required Secrets

Document required secrets in the repository profile or deployment docs, not generic skills. Keep names, scopes, and consuming workflows synchronized.

Related Skills

• basic-git-conventions - Branching, tagging, and release-note conventions.
• basic-security-checklist - Security review triggers.