[docs] Update glossary - daily scan by github-actions[bot] · Pull Request #19822 · github/gh-aw

github-actions · 2026-03-06T08:18:35Z

Glossary Updates - 2026-03-06

Scan Type

Incremental (daily - last 24 hours)
Full scan (weekly - last 7 days)

Terms Added

GH_AW_AGENT_TOKEN: New "magic" secret name recognized by GitHub Agentic Workflows for automatic PAT fallback in assign-to-agent operations. Added because PR Fix assign-to-agent failing with GitHub App tokens — auto-fallback to GH_AW_AGENT_TOKEN #19796 introduced explicit auto-fallback behavior and updated docs reference this secret prominently.
Label Trigger Shorthand: Compact trigger syntax (on: issue labeled bug) that the compiler expands to full GitHub Actions syntax. Added because PR Fix: wire inputs.item_number fallback for label trigger shorthand workflows #19795 fixed a critical bug in how inputs.item_number is wired for these shorthands, making it a user-facing feature worth defining.

Terms Updated

None.

Changes Analyzed

Reviewed 4 merged PRs from the last 24 hours (2026-03-05 → 2026-03-06)
Internal/infra PRs excluded: fix: update WASM golden file for smoke-copilot after action pin bump #19798 (WASM golden file), Update action pin tests to match updated action_pins.json data #19794 (action pin tests), refactor: eliminate repeated GH_AW_HOME magic strings using existing constants #19793 (GH_AW_HOME constant), chore(deps): bump dompurify from 3.3.0 to 3.3.2 in /docs in the npm_and_yarn group across 1 directory #19791 (dompurify bump)

Related Changes

PR Fix assign-to-agent failing with GitHub App tokens — auto-fallback to GH_AW_AGENT_TOKEN #19796 — Fix assign-to-agent failing with GitHub App tokens — auto-fallback to GH_AW_AGENT_TOKEN
PR Fix: wire inputs.item_number fallback for label trigger shorthand workflows #19795 — Fix: wire inputs.item_number fallback for label trigger shorthand workflows

Generated by Glossary Maintainer · ◷

expires on Mar 8, 2026, 8:18 AM UTC

Add two new glossary terms based on changes merged 2026-03-06: - GH_AW_AGENT_TOKEN: magic secret for assign-to-agent PAT fallback (PR #19796) - Label Trigger Shorthand: compact label trigger syntax with item_number (PR #19795) Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Updates the documentation glossary with new definitions for recently introduced user-facing features around token fallback for Copilot assignment and label-trigger shorthand workflows.

Changes:

Added a glossary entry for GH_AW_AGENT_TOKEN as a magic secret name used for assign-to-agent token fallback.
Added a glossary entry defining “Label Trigger Shorthand” and its expansion behavior (including workflow_dispatch + inputs.item_number).

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Copilot · 2026-03-06T08:25:31Z

docs/src/content/docs/reference/glossary.md


+### 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/).


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 · 2026-03-06T08:25:32Z

docs/src/content/docs/reference/glossary.md


+### 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/).


“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/).

github-actions bot added documentation Improvements or additions to documentation glossary labels Mar 6, 2026

ci: trigger checks

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pelikhan approved these changes Mar 6, 2026

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pelikhan marked this pull request as ready for review March 6, 2026 08:22

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings March 6, 2026 08:22

pelikhan merged commit e81c673 into main Mar 6, 2026
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pelikhan deleted the docs/glossary-daily-update-2026-03-06-7cc02aabb59884f1 branch March 6, 2026 08:22

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github-actions bot mentioned this pull request Mar 6, 2026

[docs] Update glossary - daily scan #19840

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[docs] Update glossary - daily scan#19822

[docs] Update glossary - daily scan#19822
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		### 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/).


		### 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/).

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github-actions bot commented Mar 6, 2026

Glossary Updates - 2026-03-06

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