GitHub Actions integration¶

steer ships a few kinds of GitHub Actions integration. Two are installed by default — claude.yml (keeps CI Claude consistent with local sessions) and Dependabot (keeps dependencies patched, and manages the resulting PRs). Two more are opt-in: steer-loop.yml, the scheduled autonomous loop /steer:loop scaffolds on demand, and a gh aw recipe for unattended automation.

claude.yml — the @claude mention workflow (default)¶

/steer:init and /steer:adopt install .github/workflows/claude.yml (source: plugins/steer/templates/github/workflows/claude.yml). It runs anthropics/claude-code-action@v1 when someone mentions @claude on an issue or PR.

Why it loads the steer plugin¶

steer's whole premise is "org standards in every session" — injected by a SessionStart hook the moment the plugin loads. Without extra wiring, the in-CI agent would run as a stock, standards-less Claude: no stack defaults, no Definition of Done, no spec/drift discipline. The shipped workflow closes that gap by loading the plugin in CI through the action's purpose-built inputs:

plugin_marketplaces: |
  https://github.com/element22llc/e22-plugins.git
plugins: |
  steer@e22-plugins

Once the plugin installs, its SessionStart hook injects rules/* exactly as it does locally — the in-CI agent and the local agent are governed by the same rules, with no duplicated system prompt.

Credentials¶

No marketplace credential is required: element22llc/e22-plugins is a public repo, so the plugin_marketplaces fetch clones it anonymously over HTTPS — ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is the only secret claude.yml needs. (While the marketplace was private, a shared read-only GitHub App — STEER_APP_ID / STEER_APP_PRIVATE_KEY — minted a short-lived clone token. That App and those org variables/secrets are no longer needed and the workflow no longer references them; org owners can retire them at their convenience.)

Verify by mentioning @claude and confirming the reply reflects steer standards (e.g. it cites the Definition of Done) — that proves the plugin loaded, not just that the action ran. The workflow log's system/init event also lists loaded plugins. See the scaffold README.md → "GitHub Actions secrets" for the product-repo-facing version of this.

Dependabot — dependency updates + scoped auto-merge (default)¶

/steer:init and /steer:adopt install two files (sources under plugins/steer/templates/github/):

• .github/dependabot.yml — the github-actions ecosystem is enabled live (every scaffolded repo ships workflows); the npm / pip / docker / terraform blocks are commented out for init/adopt to uncomment per detected stack (terraform is the one an infra repo needs) (mirroring how ci.yml gates stack steps). Updates are grouped, and major bumps are ignored — they're deferred to a deliberate policy/versions.yml decision.
• .github/workflows/dependabot-auto-merge.yml — auto-approves Dependabot patch/minor PRs, waits for the required ci check, then merges that single PR. Major bumps are never auto-merged; they get a "left for a human" comment.

The review-gate exception¶

steer normally requires a human-approved PR before anything lands on main. The auto-merge workflow is a deliberate, documented exception: dependency bumps don't touch application logic, so the human review is waived. It is not a waiver of the tests — the workflow waits for the required ci check to go green before it merges, so a bump that breaks tests, lint, or the version-pin scan never lands. CI, not a human, is what guarantees the bump is safe. The exception is declared in policy/branch-protection.yml and the scaffold README.md branch-protection section.

/steer:protect enables the repo settings the exception relies on — Dependabot alerts and security updates (so security PRs get opened) — alongside secret scanning. It configures settings only; the merge itself is enacted by the workflow. /steer:sync keeps both files wired (the dependency-automation capability).

Production promotion gate¶

Branch protection covers more than the default branch. policy/branch-protection.yml also describes a long-lived prod branch, and /steer:protect applies protection to every entry in its protected_branches list, not just main.

This is how the deployment standard enforces its production gate without GitHub Enterprise. Promotion to production is a reviewed PR from main into prod; the required-review approval on that PR is the production approval — it stands in for the deployment-environment approvals that only GitHub Enterprise provides. Merging the prod PR auto-deploys production, and nothing is ever pushed to prod directly.

/steer:protect reads protected_branches and configures each branch's rules (required PR, required ci check, no direct pushes); /steer:sync keeps the policy file and the protection in step as the plugin evolves.

Because ci is a required check on prod, the shipped ci.yml must trigger on PRs targeting prod as well as main — its pull_request.branches is [main, prod]. A repo whose ci.yml predates that (or was forked from it) sees the promotion PR wait forever on a check that never reports; add prod to the trigger to clear it. See Deployment & environments for the full promotion model.

steer-loop.yml — the scheduled autonomous loop (on demand)¶

/steer:loop instantiates .github/workflows/steer-loop.yml from plugins/steer/templates/github/workflows/steer-loop.yml. It is not bootstrapped by /steer:init or /steer:adopt and is deliberately absent from MANIFEST.md's install map — a repo runs a loop only when someone asks for one (rule 53-autonomous-loops).

It is steer's own unattended path: the template ships a schedule: trigger defaulting to weekday mornings (cron: "0 13 * * 1-5", 13:00 UTC), which /steer:loop confirms or adjusts with the dev at scaffold time, plus a workflow_dispatch so the loop can be tested before its first scheduled run. Keep the cadence modest — an hourly loop burns API budget and opens draft-PR noise. /steer:loop verify checks an installed loop; /steer:loop remove takes it back out.

Agentic workflows (gh aw) — optional, opt-in¶

GitHub Agentic Workflows (gh aw) is a GitHub Next tool for authoring CI automation as natural-language Markdown that compiles to a standard Actions .lock.yml. It can run unattended — on repository events or a schedule, with no @claude mention — which claude.yml cannot do, since it only reacts to @claude. (steer's own unattended path is steer-loop.yml, above; gh-aw differs in authoring CI automation as natural-language Markdown rather than a fixed loop.)

steer ships one example workflow, plugins/steer/templates/github/agentic/triage.md (unattended issue triage that runs when an issue is opened/reopened and classifies it against the steer label taxonomy and Issue Types). It is not installed by /steer:init or /steer:adopt and is not in MANIFEST.md — you opt in deliberately.

That label taxonomy is bootstrapped by the local /steer:issues lifecycle, which runs gh label create --force inline for repo-level label setup — the one sanctioned exception to routing all tracker I/O through the issue-scoped /steer:tracker-sync gateway, which has no op for repo-level label creation.

Why it is not in the default scaffold¶

• gh-aw is a self-described research demonstrator — "not a product, not even a technical preview." Committing it into every product repo would couple steer's deterministic, SHA-pinned, human-gated posture to a preview tool.
• It overlaps with steer's own issue lifecycle. /steer:issues triage (via /steer:tracker-sync) already triages interactively. Run one of the two, not both, or you double-triage every issue.
• It introduces a second agent engine and a manual compile step (.lock.yml) that the team owns and must keep current (gh aw update).

The recipe¶

1. Install the CLI: gh extension install github/gh-aw.
2. Copy plugins/steer/templates/github/agentic/triage.md into your repo's .github/workflows/ and adapt it.
3. Compile: gh aw compile triage.md → produces triage.lock.yml.
4. Review the generated lock file before trusting it — confirm the only write-backs are the declared safe-outputs (the example is advisory-only: it relabels, sets the Issue Type, and comments, but never closes issues or resolves product/technical questions — those stay human-gated) and confirm every action it references is SHA-pinned (gh-aw pins by default; keep it).
5. Set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY (the example uses the Claude engine, consistent with local sessions) and commit both files.

See the authorization model for why the human gate on merge/close/deploy is preserved here.