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Developing and Testing GitHub Actions

GitHub Actions workflow testing depends on the event type:

  • push runs workflow files from the pushed branch.
  • pull_request runs workflow files from the base branch for sensitive cases.
  • issue_comment runs workflow files from the default branch.
  • workflow_dispatch --ref <branch> runs the workflow file from that ref.

This matters for review-app automation because comment-triggered commands such as +review-app-deploy use default-branch workflow code. A PR that changes workflow files or action wiring is not fully proven by commenting on that same PR until the trusted default-branch code has those changes.

For cpflow review-app, staging, and promotion workflows, use the cpflow-specific guide:

Testing cpflow GitHub Actions Changes

Practical Pattern

  1. Validate generated files locally with bin/test-cpflow-github-flow.
  2. Open a PR and let regular CI prove GitHub can parse the workflow YAML.
  3. For top-level workflow-file experiments, run workflow_dispatch --ref.
  4. For comment-triggered review-app commands, test a real +review-app-deploy after the trusted default-branch wrapper points at the code under test.
  5. When testing unreleased upstream control-plane-flow changes downstream, pin both the reusable workflow uses: ref and control_plane_flow_ref to the same upstream commit SHA.

Avoid testing production automation against moving branch refs such as main or a feature branch. Use release tags for normal operation and full commit SHAs for temporary pre-release validation. bin/pin-cpflow-github-ref enforces that default and requires --allow-moving-ref for one-off local branch experiments.