Lab: Automatically Comment and Label Issues

Introduction

In this lab, you will create a workflow to automatically comment on new issues and add a label. This demonstrates how to use the github-script action for interacting with GitHub’s REST API to enhance automation.

Estimated Duration: 20-30 minutes

Instructions

Step 1: Create the Workflow File

  1. Create a new workflow file in your repository under .github/workflows/ named auto-comment-on-issues.yml.

  2. Copy the following content into the workflow file:

    name: Misc - Auto Comment on New Issue

on:
  issues:
    types: opened
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  thanks:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      issues: write # Required to create comments
    steps:
      - uses: actions/github-script@v7
        id: issue_script
        with:
          github-token: $
          script: |
            const issue_number = context.issue.number;
            console.log(`issue_number: ${issue_number}`);

            const owner = context.repo.owner;
            const repo = context.repo.repo;

            // Lookup issue info
            const issue = await github.rest.issues.get({
              repo, owner, issue_number
            });
            console.log(`issue: ${issue}`);

            // Create comment thanking contributor
            const comment = await github.rest.issues.createComment({
              repo, owner, issue_number,
              body: "Thanks for your contribution!"
            });
            console.log(`comment id: ${comment.data.id}`);
            console.log(comment.data);

            // Auto-label the issue
            github.rest.issues.addLabels({
              repo, owner, issue_number,
              labels: ['todo-review']
            });

            // Make comment id available to subsequent steps
            return comment.data.id;

      - run: echo 'comment id=$'
  3. Commit the file to the main branch.

Step 2: Trigger the Workflow

  1. Open the Issues tab in your repository.
  2. Create a new issue.
  3. Wait a few moments for the workflow to run.
  4. Navigate to the Actions tab and view the details of the workflow run.

Step 3: Review the Workflow Functionality

  1. Comment: The workflow should automatically add a comment to the newly created issue, thanking the contributor.
  2. Label: The workflow should label the issue with todo-review.
  3. Logs: Review the workflow logs to see the GitHub API interactions. Look for the issue number, comment ID, and other information logged by the script.

Step 4: Understanding the Workflow

Triggers (on)

Jobs (jobs)

Steps

  1. Add Comment:
    • The script fetches the issue number from the context.issue object.
    • It uses the GitHub REST API to create a comment on the issue, thanking the contributor.
  2. Add Label:
    • The script adds a label (todo-review) to the issue using the GitHub REST API.
  3. Expose Comment ID:
    • The script outputs the comment ID for potential use in subsequent steps.

Step 5: Optional Enhancements

  1. Change the Comment Text:

    • Modify the body field in the script to customize the comment text.
    body: 'We appreciate your input! Stay tuned for a response.';

  2. Add Multiple Labels:

    • Add additional labels by updating the labels array.
    labels: ['todo-review', 'needs-feedback'];

  3. Trigger on Additional Events:

    • Update the on section to include other issue-related events, such as reopened.
    on:
  issues:
    types: [opened, reopened]

Step 6: Run the Workflow Manually

If you want to test the workflow manually without creating a new issue:

  1. Go to the Actions tab.
  2. Select the workflow named Misc - Auto Comment on New Issue.
  3. Click the Run workflow button.
  4. Provide an issue number for testing if needed.

Summary

In this lab, you:

  1. Created a workflow that listens for new issue events.
  2. Used the github-script action to comment on and label new issues.
  3. Learned how to interact with the GitHub REST API through the GitHub Actions context.

This workflow is a practical example of automating repository management tasks with GitHub Actions.

Additional Resources