Run afk in GitHub Actions

The run-afk composite action installs AFK and runs one afk chat prompt inside a GitHub Actions job. Use it for repository summaries, checks, or other bounded automation, then pass the assistant's text to another step or save it as a file. It is a step-level action, not a reusable workflow called at the job level.

Run a repository summaryCopy Anchor Link

name: AFK repository summary

on:
  workflow_dispatch:

permissions:
  contents: read

jobs:
  summarize:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    timeout-minutes: 15
    steps:
      - name: Check out the repository
        uses: actions/checkout@11d5960a326750d5838078e36cf38b85af677262
        with:
          persist-credentials: false

      - name: Summarize with AFK
        id: afk
        uses: griffinwork40/agent-afk/.github/actions/run-afk@e00643d70df29d053ce0f893725201e1afe4ea7e
        with:
          anthropic-api-key: ${{ secrets.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY }}
          afk-version: '5.322.12'
          node-version: '22'
          model: sonnet
          prompt: |
            Read the repository and summarize its purpose, main components,
            and documented test commands. Do not modify files, run repository
            scripts, commit, push, or publish anything.
          output-file: afk-summary.md

      - name: Add the response to the job summary
        env:
          AFK_RESPONSE: ${{ steps.afk.outputs.response }}
        run: printf '%s\n' "$AFK_RESPONSE" >> "$GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY"

InputsCopy Anchor Link

These are the inputs declared by .github/actions/run-afk/action.yml. Only prompt is marked required, but the run also requires at least one effective provider API key.

For this documented release, Node must satisfy ^22.22.2 || ^24.15.0 || >=26.0.0. The 22 input selects the current release in that major, rather than pinning an older incompatible patch.

The action does not expose inputs for arbitrary CLI flags, a cost budget, permission mode, or posting comments. Set supported AFK environment variables or project configuration where appropriate, and consult headless runs when you need a custom invocation.

Credential precedenceCopy Anchor Link

A nonempty provider-key input overrides the corresponding inherited environment variable. An empty input preserves a key already present in job or workflow env. After applying that precedence, the action fails if all three provider keys are empty; keys that remain empty are unset before AFK starts.

Pass keys with GitHub secrets, never literal YAML values. Supplying an OpenAI or xAI key does not by itself select that provider's model, so set model accordingly. Provider calls may incur charges.

Outputs and failuresCopy Anchor Link

Internally, the action runs afk chat --format json, captures stdout, and leaves stderr visible in the job log. It extracts the text rather than returning the entire JSON payload, so the output does not contain AFK's cost or trace metadata. The same text is printed to the log and optionally written to output-file.

A nonzero chat exit code fails the step and is reported in a workflow error annotation. Missing or malformed JSON, or a missing string message field, also fails the step. Successful execution is not a guarantee that generated code is correct; run your own tests and checks before accepting changes.

The output file is overwritten if it exists. Its parent directory must already exist; the action does not create directories. Saving a file in the workspace does not upload it as an artifact, commit it, or publish it.

Permissions and safetyCopy Anchor Link

For a repository-reading task, start with contents: read and disable checkout credential persistence. The action itself does not require write permission to your repository and does not automatically create commits, PRs, or comments. If your task intentionally publishes changes, grant only the specific additional permissions it requires and review that workflow separately.

The composite action routes prompt and other shell-consumed inputs through environment variables and quoted arguments instead of embedding expressions directly in shell source. Provider keys are exported as environment variables, not CLI arguments. Its internal third-party actions are pinned to full commit SHAs. Its multiline GitHub output delimiter is randomly generated to reduce output-injection risk.

These protections do not make repository scripts, model instructions, or agent-generated output safe to execute. The assistant response is logged, so do not ask the agent to print secrets. Prefer disposable hosted runners over a persistent self-hosted machine containing unrelated credentials.

Build AFK from a source checkoutCopy Anchor Link

Use afk-version: local when testing AFK itself. In this mode the action skips npm installation and its pnpm setup step, resolves the AFK source root from the action's own location, runs pnpm run build:dist, and invokes node dist/cli.mjs directly.

You must first check out AFK's source, install a compatible Node version and pnpm 11, and run pnpm install --frozen-lockfile in that source checkout. Then invoke ./.github/actions/run-afk with afk-version: local. This mode does not build an arbitrary consumer repository just because it is the working-directory.

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