authoring-github-workflows SKILL.md skillA
authoring-github-workflows from dotnet/skills is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add dotnet/skills/authoring-github-workflows@git:20260616.01b4875Pins git:20260616.01b4875 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- dotnet/skills
- Path
.agents/skills/authoring-github-workflows/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 1
- Latest version
- git:20260616.01b4875, committed Jun 16, 2026
- Size
- 9,053 bytes
- Repository stars
- 5,788
- License
- MIT
Author and review GitHub Actions workflow YAML safely so syntactically-valid YAML can't ship a workflow that GitHub Actions refuses to run. USE FOR: editing, adding, or reviewing any file under .github/workflows/, writing run-name/name/if/env/run values that contain ${{ }} expressions, diagnosing a run that fails with 'This run likely failed because of a workflow file issue' and no jobs starting, deciding when a workflow scalar must be quoted, validating workflows with actionlint. DO NOT USE…
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Authoring GitHub Actions Workflows Safely GitHub Actions workflow files are YAML, but **valid YAML is not the same as a valid workflow**. A workflow can parse cleanly with `yaml.safe_load` (or a casual review) yet still be rejected by GitHub Actions at load time — producing the opaque failure *"This run likely failed because of a workflow file issue"* with **zero jobs started**. This skill teaches the YAML-vs-Actions traps (the `#`-as-comment trap above all), how to quote expression scalars correctly, and how to validate with `actionlint` before merge. > **Scope: syntactic vs. semantic.** This skill is about the *syntactic and structural* correctness of workflow YAML — quoting, parsing, and `actionlint`-level validity that determines whether GitHub Actions will load and run a file at all. It is **not** about *what* a workflow should do or how an agentic workflow should behave. For *semantic and functional* guidance (designing workflow logic, agentic-workflow patterns, gh-aw authoring), use [`.github/agents/agentic-workflows.agent.md`](../../../.github/agents/agentic-workflows.agent.md). The two are complementary: get the behavior right with the agent, get the YAML right with… …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add dotnet/skills/authoring-github-workflows@sha256:0d3afd20cb0ba60aThe line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260616.01b4875, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_mczkfczgqyffdcwv)
3 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Jun 16, 2026.
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (9053 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
dotnet/skills · 5,788 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-11-01 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_mczkfczgqyffdcwv GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=dotnet/skills/authoring-github-workflows GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/0d3afd20cb0ba60ac36a59c6eeb3b0f92222190685e08a5e72f867876828bba1
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.