In a nutshell
Agentic Workflow is a mechanism where AI agents automate work on top of GitHub Actions.
Triggered by cron, issue, or PR events, agents read context, make decisions, and take action.
How it works
Overview
- AI agents automate work on top of GitHub Actions
- Currently in technical preview (announced February 13, 2026)
Components
- โก Trigger โ same as Actions:
schedule (cron)/issue/PR/comment/@mention, etc. - ๐ Description โ write โwhat you want doneโ in natural-language Markdown in
.github/workflows/NAME.md - ๐ค Agent โ Copilot / Claude / Codex and others launched on a runner
- ๐ MCP / tools โ agents call GitHub API and external services to do real work
- ๐ก๏ธ safe-outputs โ read-only by default. Writes go only through verified boundaries like PRs, comments, and labels
What can it do?
| Use case | What it does |
|---|---|
| ๐ท๏ธ Issue Triage | Reads new issues and automates labeling, priority assessment, and assignee suggestions. Requests clarification if ambiguous |
| ๐ Wiki Generator | Periodically scans the codebase and auto-generates / updates Wiki / README |
| ๐ CI Failure Analyst | Analyzes failed CI runs, identifies root causes, and comments on the PR |
| ๐ Docs Maintainer | Detects stale links, examples, and API descriptions, then opens a fix PR aligned with the latest implementation |
๐งช The sample collection githubnext/agentics has ready-to-run templates. Copy-paste to get started.
๐ Reading the developer blog Peliโs Agent Factory first gives you a good feel for how it all works.
Getting started (4 steps)
- Step 1 โ Install the CLI extension โ
gh extension install github/gh-aw - Step 2 โ Write Markdown โ Add trigger and instructions to
.github/workflows/NAME.md - Step 3 โ Compile โ Run
gh aw compileto generateNAME.lock.yml - Step 4 โ Commit & push โ Push including the lock file; Actions will trigger automatically from then on
---
on:
issues:
types: [opened]
permissions: read-all
safe-outputs:
add-comment:
---
# Issue Clarifier
Read newly opened issues. If the requirements are ambiguous,
post a comment requesting clarification on these 3 points:
- What is happening / reproduction steps / expected behavior
Do nothing if the issue is already clear.โ ๏ธ Commit the lock file to Git. It is the actual running Actions workflow and the target of audit and review.