Agent skill · data analytics · github
github-actions-efficiency
Audit GitHub Actions workflow efficiency and recommend fixes to reduce CI minutes and costs.
Why this skill is useful
Provides specific commands and patterns for optimizing GitHub Actions workflows that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
Requires gh installed locally. About 3k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-07. 37,534 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
GitHub Actions Efficiency Use this skill as a lean entrypoint for GitHub Actions efficiency work. Inspect the repo, identify the waste source, and load only the reference material needed for the current task. If no workflows exist yet, load references/actions.md and define a baseline before proceeding with the steps below. If shell or gh CLI access is unavailable: ask the user to paste .github/workflows/ contents and gh run list --limit 10 output. If only partial files are provided, note it: "Audit based on provided files only; some insights may be incomplete." Begin responses from files alone with: "Static-only analysis (not confirmed with live runs)." Use This Skill When The user wants to reduce GitHub Actions runtime, CI cost, or wasted workflow runs. The repo has existing workflows in .github/workflows/ or explicit GitHub Actions configuration questions. The user asks for caching, concurrency, path filters, matrix reduction, job optimization, or workflow-specific fixes. The user needs help creating a new GitHub Actions workflow or CI baseline from scratch. Load Only What You Need references/actions.md — audits, job gating, matrix reduction, live validation, and workflow-specific fixes. references/reporting.md — when the user asks for a before/after efficiency report. references/patterns.md — full YAML examples when inline audit commands are not enough. Core Workflow 1. Measure first Look for: missing dependency caches, missing concurrency cancellation, over-broad triggers, duplicate workflow coverage, and expensive jobs that run on every change regardless of scope. 2. Apply guardrails Check each proposed fix against these rules before recommending it: 1. Does not hide required validation — drop any fix that removes release, schema, migration, or shared-library checks. 2. Does not reduce parallelism without justification — drop unless the user prioritised cost over latency and the new critical path stays within 1.25× the original. 3. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills github/github-actions-efficiency