GitHub Actions Conclusion Volatility Audit

Use this skill to detect unstable workflows that frequently flip between success and failure-like outcomes.

What this skill does

• Reads one or more workflow run JSON exports
• Groups runs by repository + workflow + branch
• Calculates volatility using conclusion transitions across run history
• Flags groups by warn/critical instability thresholds
• Emits text or JSON output for CI reporting and quality gates

Inputs

Optional:

• RUN_GLOB (default: artifacts/github-actions/*.json)
• TOP_N (default: 20)
• OUTPUT_FORMAT (text or json, default: text)
• MIN_RUNS (default: 5) — minimum runs before severity is applied
• WARN_INSTABILITY_PCT (default: 35)
• CRITICAL_INSTABILITY_PCT (default: 60)
• FAIL_ON_CRITICAL (0 or 1, default: 0)
• WORKFLOW_MATCH, WORKFLOW_EXCLUDE (regex, optional)
• BRANCH_MATCH, BRANCH_EXCLUDE (regex, optional)
• REPO_MATCH, REPO_EXCLUDE (regex, optional)

Failure-like conclusions are: failure, cancelled, timed_out, action_required, startup_failure.

Collect run JSON

gh run view <run-id> --json databaseId,workflowName,headBranch,conclusion,createdAt,updatedAt,url,repository \
  > artifacts/github-actions/run-<run-id>.json

Run

Text report:

RUN_GLOB='artifacts/github-actions/*.json' \
WARN_INSTABILITY_PCT=35 \
CRITICAL_INSTABILITY_PCT=60 \
bash skills/github-actions-conclusion-volatility-audit/scripts/conclusion-volatility-audit.sh

JSON output + fail gate:

RUN_GLOB='artifacts/github-actions/*.json' \
OUTPUT_FORMAT=json \
FAIL_ON_CRITICAL=1 \
bash skills/github-actions-conclusion-volatility-audit/scripts/conclusion-volatility-audit.sh

Output contract

• Exit 0 in reporting mode
• Exit 1 when FAIL_ON_CRITICAL=1 and one or more critical groups are found
• Text output includes summary and top unstable workflow groups
• JSON output includes summary, ranked groups, and critical_groups