GitHub Actions Branch Drift Audit

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name: github-actions-branch-drift-audit description: Detect branch-level GitHub Actions reliability drift by comparing failure and runtime deltas against a mainline baseline. version: 1.0.0 metadata: {"openclaw":{"requires":{"bins":["bash","python3"]}}}

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GitHub Actions Branch Drift Audit

Use this skill to catch branch-specific CI reliability regressions before they spread into your mainline release flow.

What this skill does

Reads GitHub Actions run JSON exports

Groups runs by repository + workflow + branch

Selects a baseline branch per repository/workflow (defaults to main|master)

Compares each non-baseline branch against that baseline on:

- failure-rate drift (percentage points) - average runtime drift (ratio)

Flags warning/critical drift severity and supports CI fail gates

Emits text or JSON output for pipeline checks and triage dashboards

Inputs

Optional:

RUN_GLOB (default: artifacts/github-actions/*.json)

TOP_N (default: 20)

OUTPUT_FORMAT (text or json, default: text)

MIN_RUNS_PER_BRANCH (default: 2)

MIN_BRANCHES (default: 2)

BASELINE_BRANCH_MATCH (default: ^(main|master)$)

WORKFLOW_MATCH (regex, optional)

WORKFLOW_EXCLUDE (regex, optional)

REPO_MATCH (regex, optional)

REPO_EXCLUDE (regex, optional)

FAILURE_DRIFT_WARN_PP (default: 10)

FAILURE_DRIFT_CRITICAL_PP (default: 25)

RUNTIME_DRIFT_WARN_RATIO (default: 1.25)

RUNTIME_DRIFT_CRITICAL_RATIO (default: 1.6)

FAIL_ON_CRITICAL (0 or 1, default: 0)

Collect run JSON

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

Run

Text report:

RUN_GLOB='artifacts/github-actions/*.json' \
BASELINE_BRANCH_MATCH='^(main|release/.*)$' \
MIN_RUNS_PER_BRANCH=3 \
bash skills/github-actions-branch-drift-audit/scripts/branch-drift-audit.sh

JSON output with fail gate:

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

Run with bundled fixtures:

RUN_GLOB='skills/github-actions-branch-drift-audit/fixtures/*.json' \
bash skills/github-actions-branch-drift-audit/scripts/branch-drift-audit.sh

Output contract

Exit 0 in report mode (default)

Exit 1 when FAIL_ON_CRITICAL=1 and one or more drift rows are critical

Text mode prints summary + ranked branch drift rows

JSON mode prints summary + drift rows + critical-only slice