Agent skill · software engineering · thebushidocollective
act-workflow-syntax
Use when creating or modifying GitHub Actions workflow files. Provides guidance on workflow syntax, triggers, jobs, steps, and expressions for creating valid GitHub Actions workflows that can be tested locally with act.
Why this skill is useful
Provides detailed guidance on GitHub Actions workflow syntax and best practices that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
About 4k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-07-19. 187 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Act - GitHub Actions Workflow Syntax Use this skill when creating or modifying GitHub Actions workflow files (.github/workflows/.yml). This covers workflow structure, triggers, jobs, steps, and best practices for workflows that work both on GitHub and locally with act. Workflow File Structure Every GitHub Actions workflow follows this basic structure: Top-Level Fields name: Human-readable workflow name (optional but recommended) on: Trigger events (push, pullrequest, workflowdispatch, etc.) env: Environment variables available to all jobs jobs: Map of job definitions permissions: Token permissions for the workflow Workflow Triggers Event Triggers Manual Triggers Schedule Triggers Job Configuration Basic Job Job with Environment Variables Job Dependencies Matrix Builds Steps Using Actions Running Commands Conditional Steps Expressions and Contexts Common Contexts Using Secrets Functions Act-Specific Considerations Testing Locally with Act Environment Variables for Act Secrets with Act Create .secrets file for local testing: Then run: Or pass secrets individually: Best Practices DO ✅ Use semantic job and step names ✅ Pin action versions (actions/checkout@v4) ✅ Use fail-fast: false for matrix builds to see all results ✅ Set appropriate timeout-minutes for jobs ✅ Use working-directory instead of cd commands ✅ Test workflows locally with act --dryrun before pushing ✅ Use caching for dependencies ✅ Use environments for deployment jobs DON'T ❌ Hardcode secrets in workflow files ❌ Use latest tags for actions ❌ Run workflows on every file change (use path filters) ❌ Create overly complex workflows (split into multiple files) ❌ Ignore act compatibility when using GitHub-specific features ❌ Forget to validate YAML syntax Common Patterns Build and Test Deploy on Tag Monorepo with Changed Files Related Skills act-local-testing: Testing workflows locally before pushing act-docker-setup: Configuring Docker environments for act act-secrets-management: Managing secrets for local tes …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills thebushidocollective/act-workflow-syntax