Skip to content

[docs] Update glossary - daily scan #19822

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Merged
pelikhan merged 2 commits into from
Mar 6, 2026
Merged

[docs] Update glossary - daily scan #19822

Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
2 commits
Select commit Hold shift + click to select a range
ae6b281
docs: update glossary with GH_AW_AGENT_TOKEN and Label Trigger Shorthand
Copilot Mar 6, 2026
53e5408
ci: trigger checks
github-actions[bot] Mar 6, 2026
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
8 changes: 8 additions & 0 deletions docs/src/content/docs/reference/glossary.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -137,6 +137,10 @@ A safe output capability for hiding or minimizing GitHub comments without requir

A safe output capability (`assign-to-agent:`) that programmatically assigns the GitHub Copilot coding agent to existing issues or pull requests. Automates the standard GitHub workflow for delegating implementation tasks to Copilot. Supports cross-repository PR creation via `pull-request-repo` and agent model selection via `model`. See [Assign to Copilot](/gh-aw/reference/assign-to-copilot/).

### GH_AW_AGENT_TOKEN

A recognized "magic" repository secret name that GitHub Agentic Workflows automatically uses as a fallback Personal Access Token for `assign-to-agent` operations. When set, no explicit `github-token:` reference is needed in workflow frontmatter — the token is injected automatically. Required because GitHub App installation tokens are rejected by the Copilot assignment API. The token fallback chain is: `assign-to-agent.github-token` → `safe-outputs.github-token` → `GH_AW_AGENT_TOKEN` → `GH_AW_GITHUB_TOKEN` → `GITHUB_TOKEN`. See [Assign to Copilot](/gh-aw/reference/assign-to-copilot/).
Copy link

Copilot AI Mar 6, 2026

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

The glossary entry says this is a fallback “Personal Access Token”, but assign-to-agent requires a fine-grained PAT (the page it links to explicitly states GITHUB_TOKEN is insufficient). Consider updating the wording to “fine-grained PAT” and clarifying that the fallback chain only works if the referenced secrets resolve to a suitable PAT.

Suggested change
A recognized "magic" repository secret name that GitHub Agentic Workflows automatically uses as a fallback Personal Access Token for `assign-to-agent` operations. When set, no explicit `github-token:` reference is needed in workflow frontmatter — the token is injected automatically. Required because GitHub App installation tokens are rejected by the Copilot assignment API. The token fallback chain is: `assign-to-agent.github-token` → `safe-outputs.github-token` → `GH_AW_AGENT_TOKEN` → `GH_AW_GITHUB_TOKEN` → `GITHUB_TOKEN`. See [Assign to Copilot](/gh-aw/reference/assign-to-copilot/).
A recognized "magic" repository secret name that GitHub Agentic Workflows automatically uses as a fallback fine-grained Personal Access Token (PAT) for `assign-to-agent` operations. When set, no explicit `github-token:` reference is needed in workflow frontmatter — the token is injected automatically. The value of `GH_AW_AGENT_TOKEN` (and any token resolved via the fallback chain) must be a fine-grained PAT with the scopes required by `assign-to-agent`; GitHub App installation tokens and the default `GITHUB_TOKEN` are rejected by the Copilot assignment API. The token fallback chain is a lookup order only and succeeds **only if** the resolved secret is a suitable fine-grained PAT: `assign-to-agent.github-token` → `safe-outputs.github-token` → `GH_AW_AGENT_TOKEN` → `GH_AW_GITHUB_TOKEN` → `GITHUB_TOKEN`. See [Assign to Copilot](/gh-aw/reference/assign-to-copilot/).

Copilot uses AI. Check for mistakes.

### Custom Safe Outputs

An extension mechanism for safe outputs that enables integration with third-party services beyond built-in GitHub operations. Defined under `safe-outputs.jobs:`, custom safe outputs separate read and write operations: agents use read-only MCP tools for queries, while custom jobs execute write operations with secret access after agent completion. Supports services like Slack, Notion, Jira, or any external API. See [Custom Safe Outputs](/gh-aw/reference/custom-safe-outputs/).
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -171,6 +175,10 @@ Natural language schedule syntax that automatically distributes workflow executi

Reusable workflow components shared across multiple workflows. Specified in the `imports:` field, can include tool configurations, common instructions, or security guidelines.

### Label Trigger Shorthand

A compact syntax for label-based triggers: `on: issue labeled bug` or `on: pull_request labeled needs-review`. The compiler expands the shorthand to standard GitHub Actions trigger syntax and automatically includes a `workflow_dispatch` trigger with an `inputs.item_number` parameter, enabling manual dispatch for a specific issue or pull request. Supported for `issue`, `pull_request`, and `discussion` events. See [LabelOps patterns](/gh-aw/patterns/label-ops/).
Copy link

Copilot AI Mar 6, 2026

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

“Supported for issue, pull_request, and discussion events” is a bit imprecise: the shorthand keyword issue expands to the GitHub Actions issues event (see pkg/workflow/label_trigger_parser.go where issue maps to issues). Consider adjusting the wording to avoid implying issue is an actual GitHub Actions event name.

Suggested change
A compact syntax for label-based triggers: `on: issue labeled bug` or `on: pull_request labeled needs-review`. The compiler expands the shorthand to standard GitHub Actions trigger syntax and automatically includes a `workflow_dispatch` trigger with an `inputs.item_number` parameter, enabling manual dispatch for a specific issue or pull request. Supported for `issue`, `pull_request`, and `discussion` events. See [LabelOps patterns](/gh-aw/patterns/label-ops/).
A compact syntax for label-based triggers: `on: issue labeled bug` or `on: pull_request labeled needs-review`. The compiler expands the shorthand to standard GitHub Actions trigger syntax and automatically includes a `workflow_dispatch` trigger with an `inputs.item_number` parameter, enabling manual dispatch for a specific issue or pull request. Supported for the GitHub Actions `issues` event (via the `issue` shorthand), as well as `pull_request` and `discussion` events. See [LabelOps patterns](/gh-aw/patterns/label-ops/).

Copilot uses AI. Check for mistakes.

### Labels

Optional workflow metadata for categorization and organization. Enables filtering workflows in the CLI using the `--label` flag.
Expand Down