🏥 Safe Output Health Report - November 28, 2025

[github-actions[bot]]

Executive Summary

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of safe output job health for the last 24 hours. The audit analyzed 38 workflow runs containing 50 safe output jobs with an overall success rate of 96.0%.

Key findings:

• 2 failures identified across 2 error clusters
• Most failures are due to permission and configuration issues rather than code bugs
• No critical system-wide failures detected
• All safe output job types are functioning with success rates above 85%

Full Report Details

Safe Output Job Statistics

Job Type	Total Executions	Failures	Success Rate
create_issue	14	1	92.9%
create_discussion	4	0	100.0%
add_comment	13	0	100.0%
create_pull_request	7	1	85.7%
add_labels	12	0	100.0%
TOTAL	50	2	96.0%

Most Reliable Job Types

• create_discussion: 100% success rate (4/4)
• add_comment: 100% success rate (13/13)
• add_labels: 100% success rate (12/12)

Least Reliable Job Type

• create_pull_request: 85.7% success rate (6/7) - 1 failure due to API permissions

Error Clusters

Cluster 1: Agent Assignment Failure

Count: 1 occurrence
Severity: Medium
Affected Jobs: create_issue
Affected Workflows: Duplicate Code Detector

Description:
Attempts to assign issues to the Copilot coding agent fail because the agent is not available as an assignee in this repository.

Sample Error:

copilot coding agent (copilot-swe-agent) is not available as an assignee for this repository

Root Cause:
The Copilot coding agent (copilot-swe-agent) is either:

• Not enabled for this repository
• Not available in the current GitHub organization
• Requires additional configuration or permissions

Impact:
Issues are created successfully, but they cannot be automatically assigned to the Copilot coding agent for processing. This requires manual assignment or prevents automated agent workflow triggering.

Affected Run:

• §19747726267 - Duplicate Code Detector workflow

Cluster 2: API Permission Error - Review Request

Count: 1 occurrence
Severity: High
Affected Jobs: create_pull_request
Affected Workflows: Tidy

Description:
GitHub API calls to request reviewers for pull requests fail with a 403 Forbidden error, indicating insufficient token permissions.

Sample Error:

Resource not accessible by personal access token (HTTP 403)

Root Cause:
The personal access token (PAT) used in the workflow lacks the necessary permissions to request reviewers for pull requests. This API endpoint requires either:

• Classic PAT with repo scope
• Fine-grained PAT with pull_requests:write permission

Impact:
Pull requests may be created successfully, but the workflow cannot automatically request reviewers. This breaks the intended automation flow and requires manual reviewer assignment.

Affected Run:

• §19745741800 - Tidy workflow

Root Cause Analysis

Permission-Related Issues

Both failures in this audit period are related to permissions and configuration rather than code bugs:

1. Agent Assignment (Medium Priority):

   • Issue Type: Configuration/Access Control
   • Location: Agent assignment logic in create_issue job
   • Required Action: Repository or organization configuration

2. API Token Permissions (High Priority):

   • Issue Type: Insufficient token scope
   • Location: PR reviewer request in create_pull_request job
   • Required Action: Update token configuration

Pattern Analysis

Common Thread: All failures stem from external dependencies (agent availability, API permissions) rather than internal job logic errors. This indicates:

• ✅ Safe output job code is stable and working correctly
• ⚠️ Configuration and permission setup requires attention
• ℹ️ No urgent bug fixes needed in the safe output job scripts

Recommendations

Critical Issues (Immediate Action Required)

1. Update Token Permissions for PR Operations

Priority: High
Affected Workflow: Tidy

Root Cause: Personal access token lacks permission to request PR reviewers

Recommended Actions:

1. Update the GH_TOKEN secret with a token that has:
   • Classic PAT: repo scope
   • Fine-grained PAT: pull_requests:write permission
2. Consider using GitHub App installation tokens for better permission granularity
3. Document required token scopes in workflow configuration
4. Test PR creation with reviewer requests after token update

Benefits: Enables full automation of PR creation and reviewer assignment

---

Configuration Changes

1. Enable Copilot Coding Agent Assignment

Priority: Medium
Affected Workflow: Duplicate Code Detector

Current State: Copilot coding agent is not available for assignment
Desired State: Issues can be automatically assigned to copilot-swe-agent

Recommended Actions:

1. Verify Copilot is enabled for the githubnext/gh-aw repository
2. Check organization settings for bot assignment restrictions
3. Ensure the token used has proper permissions for agent assignment:
   • actions: write
   • contents: write
   • issues: write
   • pull-requests: write
4. Consider using GitHub App tokens instead of PAT for better permission control
5. Test assignment by manually assigning an issue to @copilot first

Benefits: Enables automated issue-to-agent workflow triggering

---

Process Improvements

1. Token Permission Validation

Priority: Low
Description: Add pre-flight checks to validate token permissions before attempting operations

Current State: Jobs fail at runtime when permissions are insufficient
Proposed State: Jobs detect permission issues early and provide clear guidance

Implementation Approach:

• Add a validation step that tests token scopes before creating PRs
• Provide clear error messages with remediation steps
• Log required vs. actual permissions for troubleshooting

Benefits: Faster debugging, clearer error messages, reduced failed job runs

---

2. Graceful Degradation for Agent Assignment

Priority: Low
Description: Allow jobs to succeed even if agent assignment fails

Current State: create_issue job fails when agent assignment is not possible
Proposed State: Job succeeds with a warning, issue is created without assignment

Implementation Approach:

• Treat agent assignment as optional rather than required
• Log warnings instead of errors when assignment fails
• Create issue successfully and skip assignment step
• Add comment to issue explaining manual assignment is needed

Benefits: Higher job success rates, better user experience, graceful handling of configuration gaps

Work Item Plans

Work Item 1: Fix PR Reviewer Permission Issue

Type: Bug Fix
Priority: High

Description:
The create_pull_request job fails when attempting to request reviewers due to insufficient token permissions. This affects the Tidy workflow and potentially other workflows that create PRs with reviewer requests.

Acceptance Criteria:

• GH_TOKEN secret updated with appropriate permissions (repo scope or pull_requests:write)
• Tidy workflow successfully creates PRs and requests reviewers
• Token scope requirements documented in workflow configuration
• No 403 errors in create_pull_request jobs for 7 days

Technical Approach:

1. Identify current token source and type (PAT, GitHub App, etc.)
2. Create or update token with required scopes:
   • Classic PAT: Add repo scope
   • Fine-grained PAT: Add Pull requests: Read and write permission
3. Update GH_TOKEN secret in repository settings
4. Test with a manual workflow run
5. Monitor subsequent runs for success

Estimated Effort: Small (1-2 hours)
Dependencies: Repository admin access to update secrets

---

Work Item 2: Enable Copilot Agent Assignment

Type: Configuration
Priority: Medium

Description:
Enable the Copilot coding agent (copilot-swe-agent) as an assignable resource in the repository so that automated workflows can assign issues to it for processing.

Acceptance Criteria:

• copilot-swe-agent appears in repository assignable actors list
• create_issue job successfully assigns issues to @copilot
• No "agent not available" errors in create_issue jobs for 7 days
• Documentation updated with agent configuration requirements

Technical Approach:

1. Verify repository has Copilot enabled
2. Check organization-level bot assignment policies
3. Review and update workflow token permissions:
   • actions: write
   • contents: write
   • issues: write
   • pull-requests: write
4. Test manual assignment of an issue to @copilot via UI
5. If manual assignment works, investigate token scope issues in workflow
6. If manual assignment fails, escalate to GitHub support or organization admins
7. Run Duplicate Code Detector workflow and verify assignment succeeds

Estimated Effort: Medium (2-4 hours)
Dependencies: Organization settings access, possible GitHub support engagement

---

Work Item 3: Add Token Permission Pre-flight Checks

Type: Enhancement
Priority: Low

Description:
Add validation steps to safe output jobs that check token permissions before attempting operations. This provides early, clear feedback about permission issues rather than cryptic API errors.

Acceptance Criteria:

• create_pull_request job validates PR permissions before creating PR
• create_issue job validates issue write permissions before creating issue
• Clear, actionable error messages when permissions are insufficient
• Job summary includes detected vs. required permissions
• No degradation in job performance (validation completes in <5 seconds)

Technical Approach:

1. Create a reusable permission validation script
2. Add GraphQL queries to detect current token capabilities
3. Compare detected permissions against required permissions
4. Provide clear error messages with remediation steps
5. Integrate validation into existing safe output job scripts
6. Add validation results to job summary output

Estimated Effort: Medium (4-6 hours)
Dependencies: None

Historical Context

This is the first audit conducted using this safe output health monitoring system. No historical trends are available yet.

Baseline Metrics Established

• Overall safe output success rate: 96.0%
• Most common failure type: Permission/configuration errors
• Zero code-level bugs detected in safe output jobs

Next Steps for Trend Analysis

• Compare next audit against these baseline metrics
• Track whether permission issues are resolved
• Monitor for new failure patterns
• Identify workflows with recurring issues

Metrics and KPIs

Overall Performance

• Overall Safe Output Success Rate: 96.0%
• Total Safe Output Jobs Executed: 50
• Failed Jobs: 2
• Zero-Failure Job Types: 3 (create_discussion, add_comment, add_labels)

Reliability Rankings

1. Most Reliable Job Type: create_discussion, add_comment, add_labels (100% success)
2. Least Reliable Job Type: create_pull_request (85.7% success)

Failure Characteristics

• Average Time to Failure: N/A (failures occur early in job execution)
• Most Common Error Type: Permission errors (100% of failures)
• Code Bugs Detected: 0

Next Steps

Immediate Actions (Next 24 Hours)

• Update GH_TOKEN with PR reviewer permissions
• Test Tidy workflow PR creation with new token
• Investigate Copilot agent availability for the repository

Short-Term Actions (Next Week)

• Enable Copilot agent assignment if possible
• Document token permission requirements
• Verify all safe output jobs have appropriate permissions

Long-Term Improvements

• Implement token permission pre-flight checks
• Add graceful degradation for optional features like agent assignment
• Create alerting for sustained safe output job failures
• Build dashboard for safe output health metrics

---

References:

• §19747726267
• §19745741800

AI generated by Safe Output Health Monitor