Skip to content

Standardize safe PR creation instructions across all agentic workflows #592

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Merged
pethers merged 5 commits into from
Feb 27, 2026
Merged

Standardize safe PR creation instructions across all agentic workflows #592

Show file tree
Hide file tree
Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
5 commits
Select commit Hold shift + click to select a range
854a727
Initial plan
Copilot Feb 26, 2026
16a2cb6
Add clear safe PR creation how-to in all 10 agentic workflow files
Copilot Feb 26, 2026
5d1bebd
Address review comments: qualify noop guidance, assert file existence…
Copilot Feb 27, 2026
33b6071
Merge branch 'main' into copilot/improve-agentic-workflow-understanding
pethers Feb 27, 2026
b37fd25
Standardize noop → safeoutputs___noop in all workflow bullet lists an…
Copilot Feb 27, 2026
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
178 changes: 29 additions & 149 deletions .github/workflows/news-article-generator.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -139,17 +139,22 @@ Before generating ANY articles, verify MCP connectivity:

### 2. MANDATORY Pull Request Creation (Final Step)

**CRITICAL: Workflow MUST create a PR with articles or FAIL**

From a reader's perspective: **Where's the article?**
> **🚀 HOW SAFE PR CREATION WORKS — READ THIS FIRST**
>
> The `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` tool handles **everything**: branch creation, pushing commits, and opening the PR. You do NOT create branches or push manually.
>
> **Exact steps:**
> 1. Write article files to `news/` using `bash` or `edit` tools
> 2. Stage and commit locally: `git add news/ && git commit -m "Add news articles"`
> 3. Call `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` with `title`, `body`, and `labels`
>
> **❌ DO NOT** run `git push`, `git checkout -b`, `git branch`, or use GitHub API to create PRs.
> **❌ DO NOT** try alternative approaches if the tool call works — one call is all you need.
> **❌ DO NOT** call `safeoutputs___noop` if articles were generated but PR creation failed — let the workflow FAIL instead.

- ✅ **REQUIRED:** `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` - When articles generated
- ✅ **ONLY USE `noop` if genuinely no new data** (checked riksdag-regering-mcp, found no committee reports, no propositions, no significant updates, AND force_generation=false)
- ❌ **NEVER use `noop` as a fallback for PR creation failures** - If articles were generated but PR fails, the workflow MUST FAIL

**⚠️ If you generated articles but cannot create PR → workflow FAILS (not noop)**

Readers expect articles. No PR = No articles = FAILURE.
- ✅ **ONLY USE `safeoutputs___noop` if genuinely no new data** (checked riksdag-regering-mcp, found no committee reports, no propositions, no significant updates, AND force_generation=false)
- ❌ **NEVER use `safeoutputs___noop` as a fallback for PR creation failures**

## Required Reference Materials & Available Skills

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -1271,153 +1276,28 @@ fi

### Step 10: Create Pull Request

**IMPORTANT: Use MCP Safe-Outputs Tools (NOT git push)**

In the agentic workflow sandbox, you **cannot** use `git push` directly. Instead, you MUST use the **safeoutputs MCP tools** which handle branch creation, pushing, and PR creation automatically.

**Required steps:**
1. Commit your changes locally (`git add` + `git commit`)
2. Call `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` with your changes

The **safeoutputs MCP tools** are available through the MCP gateway:

#### Available Safe-Output MCP Tools

1. **`safeoutputs___create_pull_request`** - Create a PR with your changes
```json
{
"title": "📰 Automated News Generation - 2026-02-14",
"body": "## Automated News Generation\n\nThis PR contains...",
"labels": ["automated-news", "news-generation", "needs-editorial-review"]
}
```

2. **`safeoutputs___add_comment`** - Add a comment to the triggering issue/PR
```json
{
"body": "News generation completed successfully. 4 articles generated.",
"item_number": 123
}
```

3. **`safeoutputs___noop`** - ONLY when genuinely no new data exists
```json
{
"message": "No new articles to generate. Checked riksdag-regering-mcp: no new committee reports, propositions, or motions since last generation. Last: 2026-02-14T13:00:00Z. Use force_generation=true to override."
}
```

**⚠️ CRITICAL: Only use noop if:**
- You checked riksdag-regering-mcp and found NO new data
- No articles were generated
- force_generation=false

**❌ NEVER use noop if:**
- Articles were generated but PR creation failed
- You encountered errors after creating content
- In those cases, let the workflow FAIL

4. **`safeoutputs___missing_tool`** - Report missing capabilities
5. **`safeoutputs___missing_data`** - Report missing data

#### How to Create the PR

After committing your changes locally with `git add` and `git commit`, call the `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` MCP tool:
> **🚀 REMINDER: How safe PR creation works**
>
> 1. Stage and commit: `git add news/ && git commit -m "Add news articles for YYYY-MM-DD"`
> 2. Call `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` — it handles branch creation, push, and PR automatically
> 3. Done. **One call. No retries needed. No alternative approaches.**
>
> **❌ DO NOT** run `git push`, `git checkout -b`, or use GitHub API.

Call `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` with:
```json
{
"title": "📰 Automated News Generation - 2026-02-17",
"body": "## Automated News Generation...",
"labels": ["automated-news", "news-generation"]
"title": "📰 Automated News Generation - {date}",
"body": "## Automated News Generation\n\nArticles: {count}\nTypes: {types}\nLanguages: {list}\nMCP tools used: {tools}",
"labels": ["automated-news", "news-generation", "needs-editorial-review"]
}
```

**If create_pull_request fails with "no-commits-found":**
- ❌ **DO NOT call `safeoutputs___noop`** - this hides the failure
- ✅ **Let the workflow FAIL** by throwing an error or exiting non-zero
- The failure will be visible in GitHub Actions and can be investigated
- From reader's perspective: No PR = No article = FAILURE

**Only use `safeoutputs___noop` if:**
- You checked riksdag-regering-mcp and genuinely found NO new data
- No articles were generated at all
- force_generation=false

**Example of correct failure handling:**
```javascript
// After committing articles
const result = await safeoutputs___create_pull_request({
title: "📰 Automated News - 2026-02-17",
body: prBody,
labels: ["automated-news"]
});

if (!result || result.error) {
// PR creation failed - workflow MUST fail
console.error("PR creation failed:", result);
throw new Error("Failed to create PR after generating articles - workflow must fail");
}
```

Call the `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` MCP tool with:

**Title:** `📰 Automated News Generation - {date}`

**Body:**
```markdown
## Automated News Generation

This PR contains automatically generated news articles from riksdag-regering-mcp data.

### Summary
- **Articles Generated**: {count}
- **Types**: {article_types}
- **Timestamp**: {ISO 8601}
- **MCP Tools Used**: {list of tools}

### Articles Created
- {list of files with descriptions}

### Data Sources
- **riksdag-regering-mcp**: Swedish Parliament and Government data
- **32 specialized tools**: Documents, MPs, votes, speeches, calendar events

### Quality Checks
- [x] HTML validation passed
- [x] Metadata validation passed
- [x] No broken links detected
- [x] SEO metadata complete
- [x] Source attribution included
- [x] Multi-language support (EN/SV)
- [x] News indexes regenerated (at build time)
- [x] Sitemap updated (at build time)
- [ ] Editorial review recommended

### Validation Results
```
HTML Validation: PASSED (0 errors)
Link Check: PASSED (0 broken links)
Metadata: COMPLETE
SEO Score: {score}/100
```

### References
- MCP Server: riksdag-regering-mcp (npm)
- Data: Swedish Riksdag Open Data API
- Style Guide: The Economist
- Workflow: {workflow_run_url}

---
*This PR was automatically created by the News Article Generator agent*

**Next Steps:**
1. Review articles for accuracy and tone
2. Verify source citations and links
3. Check multi-language consistency
4. Approve and merge if quality standards met
```
**If no new data exists** (genuinely no data from riksdag-regering-mcp AND force_generation=false):
- Call `safeoutputs___noop` with message describing what was checked
- ❌ NEVER use `safeoutputs___noop` if articles were generated — let the workflow FAIL instead

**Branch:** `news-generation/automated-{timestamp}`
**Other safe output tools:** `safeoutputs___add_comment`, `safeoutputs___missing_tool`, `safeoutputs___missing_data`

**Labels:** `automated-news`, `news-generation`, `needs-editorial-review`

Expand Down
17 changes: 15 additions & 2 deletions .github/workflows/news-committee-reports.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -139,9 +139,22 @@ Before generating ANY articles, verify MCP connectivity:

## MANDATORY PR Creation

> **🚀 HOW SAFE PR CREATION WORKS — READ THIS FIRST**
>
> The `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` tool handles **everything**: branch creation, pushing commits, and opening the PR. You do NOT create branches or push manually.
>
> **Exact steps:**
> 1. Write article files to `news/` using `bash` or `edit` tools
> 2. Stage and commit locally: `git add news/ && git commit -m "Add committee-reports articles"`
> 3. Call `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` with `title`, `body`, and `labels`
>
> **❌ DO NOT** run `git push`, `git checkout -b`, `git branch`, or use GitHub API to create PRs.
> **❌ DO NOT** try alternative approaches if the tool call works — one call is all you need.
> **❌ DO NOT** call `safeoutputs___noop` if articles were generated but PR creation failed — let the workflow FAIL instead.

- ✅ **REQUIRED:** `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` when articles generated
- ✅ **ONLY USE `noop` if genuinely no new committee reports** from riksdag-regering-mcp
- ❌ **NEVER use `noop` as fallback for PR creation failures**
- ✅ **ONLY USE `safeoutputs___noop` if genuinely no new committee reports** from riksdag-regering-mcp
- ❌ **NEVER use `safeoutputs___noop` as fallback for PR creation failures**

## MCP Tools

Expand Down
116 changes: 38 additions & 78 deletions .github/workflows/news-evening-analysis.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -149,19 +149,24 @@ Before generating ANY articles, verify MCP connectivity:

### 2. MANDATORY Pull Request Creation (Final Step)

**CRITICAL: Workflow MUST create a PR with analysis or FAIL**

From a reader's perspective: **Where's the analysis?**
> **🚀 HOW SAFE PR CREATION WORKS — READ THIS FIRST**
>
> The `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` tool handles **everything**: branch creation, pushing commits, and opening the PR. You do NOT create branches or push manually.
>
> **Exact steps:**
> 1. Write article files to `news/` using `bash` or `edit` tools
> 2. Stage and commit locally: `git add news/ && git commit -m "Add evening-analysis articles"`
> 3. Call `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` with `title`, `body`, and `labels`
>
> **❌ DO NOT** run `git push`, `git checkout -b`, `git branch`, or use GitHub API to create PRs.
> **❌ DO NOT** try alternative approaches if the tool call works — one call is all you need.
> **❌ DO NOT** call `safeoutputs___noop` if articles were generated but PR creation failed — let the workflow FAIL instead.

- ✅ **REQUIRED:** `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` - When analysis articles generated
- ✅ **ONLY USE `noop` if genuinely insufficient data** (checked riksdag-regering-mcp, found no votes, no debates, no documents, no calendar events for the lookback period)
- ❌ **NEVER use `noop` as a fallback for PR creation failures** - If articles were generated but PR fails, the workflow MUST FAIL

**⚠️ If you generated analysis articles but cannot create PR → workflow FAILS (not noop)**

Readers expect analysis. No PR = No analysis = FAILURE.
- ✅ **ONLY USE `safeoutputs___noop` if genuinely insufficient data** (checked riksdag-regering-mcp, found no votes, no debates, no documents, no calendar events for the lookback period)
- ❌ **NEVER use `safeoutputs___noop` as a fallback for PR creation failures**

The workflow will **FAIL** if no safe output is generated. This is by design to ensure all runs produce actionable output.
The workflow will **FAIL** if no safe output is generated. This is by design.

You are the **Evening Analysis Editor** for Riksdagsmonitor. Your mission is to produce a comprehensive wrap-up of Swedish parliamentary and government activity, written in **The Economist style** with deeper analytical depth than breaking coverage.

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -921,77 +926,32 @@ If validation fails, review the error messages, fix the issues, regenerate index

### Step 7: Create Pull Request

**IMPORTANT: Use MCP Safe-Outputs Tools (NOT git push)**

In the agentic workflow sandbox, you **cannot** use `git push` directly. Instead, you MUST use the **safeoutputs MCP tools** available through the MCP gateway. These tools are already registered and available to you:

#### Available Safe-Output MCP Tools

1. **`safeoutputs___create_pull_request`** - Create a PR with your changes
```json
{
"title": "🌆 Evening Analysis: {Lead headline} - {date}",
"body": "## Evening Parliamentary Analysis\n\nThis PR contains...",
"labels": ["automated-news", "evening-analysis", "needs-editorial-review"]
}
```

2. **`safeoutputs___add_comment`** - Add a comment to the triggering issue/PR
```json
{
"body": "Evening analysis completed successfully. {count} articles generated.",
"item_number": 123
}
```

3. **`safeoutputs___noop`** - ONLY when genuinely no data exists
```json
{
"message": "No significant parliamentary activity for evening analysis. Checked riksdag-regering-mcp: no votes, debates, documents, or calendar events in last {lookback_hours} hours. Last analysis: {timestamp}."
}
```

**⚠️ CRITICAL: Only use noop if:**
- You checked riksdag-regering-mcp and found NO parliamentary activity
- No analysis articles were generated
- The day was genuinely quiet (no votes, no debates, no documents)

**❌ NEVER use noop if:**
- Articles were generated but PR creation failed
- You encountered errors after creating content
- In those cases, let the workflow FAIL

4. **`safeoutputs___missing_tool`** - Report missing capabilities
5. **`safeoutputs___missing_data`** - Report missing data

#### How to Create the PR

**CRITICAL: Understanding the Container Isolation Bug**

Due to a known bug in safe-outputs, `create_pull_request` may fail with "no-commits-found" even though you've committed changes. If this happens:
- ❌ **DO NOT call `safeoutputs___noop`** - this hides the failure
- ✅ **Let the workflow FAIL** by throwing an error
- From reader's perspective: No PR = No analysis = FAILURE

After committing your changes locally with `git add` and `git commit`, call the `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` MCP tool with:

**Title:** `🌆 Evening Analysis: {Lead headline} - {date}`
**Branch:** `news-evening/{date}`
**Labels:** `automated-news`, `evening-analysis`, `needs-editorial-review`

**Example failure handling:**
```javascript
const result = await safeoutputs___create_pull_request({
title: "🌆 Evening Analysis: Coalition Tensions - 2026-02-17",
body: prBody,
labels: ["automated-news", "evening-analysis"]
});

if (!result || result.error) {
throw new Error("Failed to create PR after generating analysis - workflow must fail");
> **🚀 REMINDER: How safe PR creation works**
>
> 1. Stage and commit: `git add news/ && git commit -m "Add evening-analysis articles for YYYY-MM-DD"`
> 2. Call `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` — it handles branch creation, push, and PR automatically
> 3. Done. **One call. No retries needed. No alternative approaches.**
>
> **❌ DO NOT** run `git push`, `git checkout -b`, or use GitHub API.

Call `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` with:
```json
{
"title": "🌆 Evening Analysis: {Lead headline} - {date}",
"body": "## Evening Parliamentary Analysis\n\nArticles: {count}\nLanguages: {list}\nMCP tools used: {tools}\nValidation: passed",
"labels": ["automated-news", "evening-analysis", "needs-editorial-review"]
}
```

**If no parliamentary activity was found** (genuinely no data from riksdag-regering-mcp):
- Call `safeoutputs___noop` with message describing what was checked
- ❌ NEVER use `safeoutputs___noop` if articles were generated — let the workflow FAIL instead

**Other safe output tools available:**
- `safeoutputs___add_comment` — comment on triggering issue/PR
- `safeoutputs___missing_tool` — report missing capabilities
- `safeoutputs___missing_data` — report missing data

**PR Body should include:**
- Summary of articles generated
- Key findings and significance rating
Expand Down
17 changes: 15 additions & 2 deletions .github/workflows/news-month-ahead.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -135,9 +135,22 @@ Before generating ANY articles, verify MCP connectivity:

## MANDATORY PR Creation

> **🚀 HOW SAFE PR CREATION WORKS — READ THIS FIRST**
>
> The `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` tool handles **everything**: branch creation, pushing commits, and opening the PR. You do NOT create branches or push manually.
>
> **Exact steps:**
> 1. Write article files to `news/` using `bash` or `edit` tools
> 2. Stage and commit locally: `git add news/ && git commit -m "Add month-ahead articles"`
> 3. Call `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` with `title`, `body`, and `labels`
>
> **❌ DO NOT** run `git push`, `git checkout -b`, `git branch`, or use GitHub API to create PRs.
> **❌ DO NOT** try alternative approaches if the tool call works — one call is all you need.
> **❌ DO NOT** call `safeoutputs___noop` if articles were generated but PR creation failed — let the workflow FAIL instead.

- ✅ `safeoutputs___create_pull_request` when articles generated
- ✅ `noop` ONLY if genuinely no upcoming events in next 30 days
- ❌ NEVER use `noop` as fallback for PR creation failures
- ✅ `safeoutputs___noop` ONLY if genuinely no upcoming events in next 30 days
- ❌ NEVER use `safeoutputs___noop` as fallback for PR creation failures

## MCP Tools

Expand Down
Loading
Loading