{"id":1156384,"date":"2025-11-21T14:54:27","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T22:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/?post_type=msr-project&p=1156384"},"modified":"2026-03-13T14:55:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T21:55:36","slug":"agentic-workflows","status":"publish","type":"msr-project","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/project\/agentic-workflows\/","title":{"rendered":"GitHub Agentic Workflows"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Safe Agentic Automation<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Write natural language workflows (AI-powered automation that can make decisions) that understand context, make decisions, and take meaningful actions across your repositories.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n\n\n

GitHub agentic workflows<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Write agentic workflows in natural language markdown, and run them safely in GitHub Actions. From GitHub Next (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> and Microsoft Research<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quick start<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ready to get your first agentic workflow running? Follow our step-by-step Quick Start Guide (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> to install the extension, add a sample workflow, and see it in action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Learn about the concepts behind agentic workflows, explore available workflow types, and understand how AI can automate your repository tasks. See How It Works (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How it works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

GitHub Agentic Workflows transforms natural language markdown files into GitHub Actions that are executed by AI agents. Here’s a simple example:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n---\non:\n  issues:\n    types: [opened]\n\npermissions: read-all \n\nsafe-outputs:\n  add-comment:\n---\n\n# Issue Clarifier\n\nAnalyze the current issue and ask for additional details if the issue is unclear.\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
The gh aw<\/code> cli converts this into a GitHub Actions Workflow (.yml) that runs an AI agent (Copilot, Claude, Codex, \u2026) in a containerized environment whenever a new issue is opened in the repository.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AI agent reads your repository context, understands the issue content, and takes appropriate actions – all defined in natural language rather than complex code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Security Benefits:<\/strong> Workflows use read-only permissions by default, with write operations only allowed through sanitized safe-outputs<\/code>. Access can be gated to team members only, ensuring AI agents operate within controlled boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Documentation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
For complete documentation, examples, and guides, see the Documentation (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Write natural language workflows (AI-powered automation that can make decisions) that understand context, make decisions, and take meaningful actions across your repositories. Write agentic workflows in natural language markdown, and run them safely in GitHub Actions. From GitHub Next (opens in new tab) and Microsoft Research. Ready to get your first agentic workflow running? Follow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","footnotes":""},"research-area":[13560],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-impact-theme":[],"msr-pillar":[],"class_list":["post-1156384","msr-project","type-msr-project","status-publish","hentry","msr-research-area-programming-languages-software-engineering","msr-locale-en_us","msr-archive-status-active"],"msr_project_start":"","related-publications":[],"related-downloads":[],"related-videos":[],"related-groups":[],"related-events":[],"related-opportunities":[],"related-posts":[],"related-articles":[],"tab-content":[],"slides":[],"related-researchers":[{"type":"user_nicename","display_name":"Peli de Halleux","user_id":32253,"people_section":"Related people","alias":"jhalleux"},{"type":"user_nicename","display_name":"Landon Cox","user_id":37527,"people_section":"Related people","alias":"lacox"}],"msr_research_lab":[],"msr_impact_theme":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-project\/1156384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/msr-project"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-project\/1156384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1163795,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-project\/1156384\/revisions\/1163795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1156384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"msr-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-area?post=1156384"},{"taxonomy":"msr-locale","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-locale?post=1156384"},{"taxonomy":"msr-impact-theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-impact-theme?post=1156384"},{"taxonomy":"msr-pillar","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-pillar?post=1156384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}