Agent skill

work-avoidance-in-github-actions

Skip unnecessary CI/CD operations before execution. Detect unchanged content, cached builds, and irrelevant paths to reduce workflow costs and execution time.

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Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/adaptive-enforcement-lab/claude-skills/tree/main/plugins/patterns/skills/work-avoidance-in-github-actions

SKILL.md

Work Avoidance in GitHub Actions

When to Use This Skill

Apply work avoidance patterns to skip unnecessary CI/CD operations.

Skip Before Execute

Detect unchanged content, cached builds, and irrelevant paths before running expensive operations.

When to Apply

Work avoidance is valuable in GitHub Actions when:

  • Distribution workflows push files to many repositories
  • Release automation bumps versions without content changes
  • Scheduled jobs run regardless of whether work exists
  • Monorepo builds trigger on any change but only need subset builds

Implementation

Pattern Operator Manual Engineering Pattern
Skip version-only changes Content Comparison Volatile Field Exclusion
Skip unchanged paths Path Filtering N/A (native GitHub feature)
Skip cached builds Cache-Based Skip Cache-Based Skip

Techniques

Implementation Patterns

Pattern Operator Manual Engineering Pattern
Skip version-only changes Content Comparison Volatile Field Exclusion
Skip unchanged paths Path Filtering N/A (native GitHub feature)
Skip cached builds Cache-Based Skip Cache-Based Skip

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

Apply work avoidance patterns to skip unnecessary CI/CD operations.

Skip Before Execute

Detect unchanged content, cached builds, and irrelevant paths before running expensive operations.

When to Apply

Work avoidance is valuable in GitHub Actions when:

  • Distribution workflows push files to many repositories
  • Release automation bumps versions without content changes
  • Scheduled jobs run regardless of whether work exists
  • Monorepo builds trigger on any change but only need subset builds

Implementation Patterns

Pattern Operator Manual Engineering Pattern
Skip version-only changes Content Comparison Volatile Field Exclusion
Skip unchanged paths Path Filtering N/A (native GitHub feature)
Skip cached builds Cache-Based Skip Cache-Based Skip

Quick Reference

Check for Meaningful Changes

See examples.md for detailed code examples.

Path-Based Filtering

yaml
on:
  push:
    paths:
      - 'src/**'
      - 'package.json'
    paths-ignore:
      - '**.md'
      - 'docs/**'

Cache-Based Skip

See examples.md for detailed code examples.

Related

  • Work Avoidance Pattern - Conceptual pattern and techniques
  • File Distribution - Applies these patterns at scale
  • Idempotency - Complementary pattern for safe reruns

When to Apply

Work avoidance is valuable in GitHub Actions when:

  • Distribution workflows push files to many repositories
  • Release automation bumps versions without content changes
  • Scheduled jobs run regardless of whether work exists
  • Monorepo builds trigger on any change but only need subset builds

Implementation Patterns

Pattern Operator Manual Engineering Pattern
Skip version-only changes Content Comparison Volatile Field Exclusion
Skip unchanged paths Path Filtering N/A (native GitHub feature)
Skip cached builds Cache-Based Skip Cache-Based Skip

Quick Reference

Check for Meaningful Changes

See examples.md for detailed code examples.

Path-Based Filtering

yaml
on:
  push:
    paths:
      - 'src/**'
      - 'package.json'
    paths-ignore:
      - '**.md'
      - 'docs/**'

Cache-Based Skip

See examples.md for detailed code examples.

Related

  • Work Avoidance Pattern - Conceptual pattern and techniques
  • File Distribution - Applies these patterns at scale
  • Idempotency - Complementary pattern for safe reruns

Examples

See examples.md for code examples.

Related Patterns

  • Work Avoidance Pattern
  • File Distribution
  • Idempotency

References

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