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Creating Agentic Workflows and Other Actions

This prompt guides you, a coding agent, to create, debug, update or do other actions related to GitHub Agentic Workflows (gh-aw) in a repository.

Step 1: Install GitHub Agentic Workflows CLI Extension

Check if gh aw is installed by running

gh aw version

If it is installed, run:

gh extension upgrade aw

to upgrade to latest. If it is not installed, run the installation script from the main branch of the gh-aw repository:

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/github/gh-aw/main/install-gh-aw.sh | bash

What this does: Downloads and installs the gh-aw binary to ~/.local/share/gh/extensions/gh-aw/

Verify installation:

gh aw version

You should see version information displayed. If you encounter an error, check that:

  • GitHub CLI (gh) is installed and authenticated
  • The installation script completed without errors
  • ~/.local/share/gh/extensions is in your PATH

Step 2: Create the Workflow or do Other Actions

Follow carefully the instructions in the appropriate prompt file based on the user's request. Read ALL the instructions in the prompt file before taking any action.

Below, ROOT is the location where you found this file. For example,

  • if this file is at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/github/gh-aw/main/create.md then the ROOT is https://raw.githubusercontent.com/github/gh-aw/main
  • if this file is at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/github/gh-aw/v0.35.1/create.md then the ROOT is https://github.com/github/gh-aw/v0.35.1/main

Here are the common actions you may be asked to do, with links to the appropriate prompt files:

Create New Workflow

Load when: User wants to create a new workflow from scratch, add automation, or design a workflow that doesn't exist yet

Prompt file: ROOT/.github/aw/create-agentic-workflow.md

Use cases:

  • "Create a workflow that triages issues"
  • "I need a workflow to label pull requests"
  • "Design a weekly research automation"

Update Existing Workflow

Load when: User wants to modify, improve, or refactor an existing workflow

Prompt file: ROOT/.github/aw/update-agentic-workflow.md

Use cases:

  • "Add web-fetch tool to the issue-classifier workflow"
  • "Update the PR reviewer to use discussions instead of issues"
  • "Improve the prompt for the weekly-research workflow"

Debug Workflow

Load when: User needs to investigate, audit, debug, or understand a workflow, troubleshoot issues, analyze logs, or fix errors

Prompt file: ROOT/.github/aw/debug-agentic-workflow.md

Use cases:

  • "Why is this workflow failing?"
  • "Analyze the logs for workflow X"
  • "Investigate missing tool calls in run #12345"

Upgrade Agentic Workflows

Load when: User wants to upgrade workflows to a new gh-aw version or fix deprecations

Prompt file: ROOT/.github/aw/upgrade-agentic-workflows.md

Use cases:

  • "Upgrade all workflows to the latest version"
  • "Fix deprecated fields in workflows"
  • "Apply breaking changes from the new release"

Create Shared Agentic Workflow

Load when: User wants to create a reusable workflow component or wrap an MCP server

Prompt file: ROOT/.github/aw/create-shared-agentic-workflow.md

Use cases:

  • "Create a shared component for Notion integration"
  • "Wrap the Slack MCP server as a reusable component"
  • "Design a shared workflow for database queries"

If you need to clarify requirements or discuss options, and you are working in an interactive agent chat system, do so interactively with the user. If running non-interactively, make reasonable assumptions based on the repository context.

Step 3: Review Changes

Check what files were changed or created:

git status

If creating a workflow, the actual files you created will be under .github/workflows/. There should be at least one workflow file and one lock file.

  • .github/workflows/<workflow-name>.md
  • .github/workflows/<workflow-name>.lock.yml

If creating a workflow, check the .gitattributes file and make sure it exists and contains at least the following line:

.github/workflows/*.lock.yml linguist-generated=true merge=ours

You do not need to run gh aw init as part of your workflow creation. However if you did run this you may also see:

  • .github/agents/agentic-workflows.agent.md
  • .vscode/settings.json
  • .vscode/mcp.json
  • And several other configuration files

Don't remove these but don't add them if not already present in the repo. Unless instructed otherwise do NOT commit the changes to ANY files except the gitattributes file and workflow files.

  • .gitattributes
  • .github/workflows/<workflow-name>.md
  • .github/workflows/<workflow-name>.lock.yml

Step 4: Commit and Push Changes

Commit the changes, e.g.

git add .gitattributes .github/workflows/<workflow-name>.md .github/workflows/<workflow-name>.lock.yml
git commit -m "Initialize repository for GitHub Agentic Workflows"
git push

If there is branch protection on the default branch, create a pull request instead and report the link to the pull request.

Troubleshooting

See the separate guides on troubleshooting common issues.

Instructions

When a user interacts with you:

  1. Identify the task type from the user's request
  2. Fetch and read the appropriate prompt
  3. Follow the loaded prompt's instructions exactly
  4. If uncertain, ask clarifying questions to determine the right prompt

Quick Reference

# Create a new workflow
gh aw new <workflow-name>

# Compile workflows
gh aw compile [workflow-name]

# Debug workflow runs
gh aw logs [workflow-name]
gh aw audit <run-id>

# Upgrade workflows
gh aw fix --write
gh aw compile --validate

Key Features of gh-aw

  • Natural Language Workflows: Write workflows in markdown with YAML frontmatter
  • AI Engine Support: Copilot, Claude, Codex, or custom engines
  • MCP Server Integration: Connect to Model Context Protocol servers for tools
  • Safe Outputs: Structured communication between AI and GitHub API
  • Strict Mode: Security-first validation and sandboxing
  • Shared Components: Reusable workflow building blocks
  • Repo Memory: Persistent git-backed storage for agents

Important Notes

  • Workflows must be compiled to .lock.yml files before running in GitHub Actions
  • Follow security best practices: minimal permissions, explicit network access, no template injection