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workflow_dispatch Note should be amended regarding default branch #43081
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@mcummings128 I'll double check this with the Actions team and let you know.
A stale label has been added to this issue, because it has been open for 30 days with no activity. If you think this issue should remain open, please add a new comment.
Added a new comment so this does not become stale. Thanks!
A stale label has been added to this issue, because it has been open for 30 days with no activity. If you think this issue should remain open, please add a new comment.
Added a new comment so this does not become stale. Thanks!
Hi @mcummings128, and thanks for raising an issue... please accept our apologies also for the late reply.
There has been some confusion around this particular feature, and getting the wording right in the docs to make it understandable universally has been a challenge. For example, here's a previous issue: #35318
My ability to help here is likely to be limited. If you can expand on the workaround you (presumably?) used, I'm happy to discuss this further, or else I'll close this issue out. If your plan includes it, I'd highly recommend reaching out contacting GitHub Support.
I am in any case going to close out your PR, as it wouldn't be the correct fix for a reusable that affects multiple files, regardless. Thank you 🙇
Thanks for opening an issue! We've triaged this issue for technical review by a subject matter expert 👀
@mcummings128 I've just pushed a fix internally that you'll see automatically close this issue shortly. The repo sync should happen later today, and I added you as a co-committer so you'll receive the attribution. Thank you for your interest in the GitHub docs 🙇
Reacted by Matt C
Code of Conduct
What article on docs.github.com is affected?
https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/workflows-and-actions/events-that-trigger-workflows#workflow_dispatch
What part(s) of the article would you like to see updated?
The workflow_dispatch section, specifically the first Note section.
The Note states "This event will only trigger a workflow run if the workflow file exists on the default branch."
This is false--workflow_dispatch is absolutely able to be triggered when the workflow file is not in the default branch. The issue lies in HOW it can be triggered: when it is in the default branch, the Github UI can be used. When it is not, then the Github UI cannot be used. The "Note" regarding this should be updated, as it misleads the reader into thinking that workflow_dispatch is more limited than it is.
This should be changed to be more accurate. There are scenarios where a developer may not be able to merge to the repository default branch for whatever reason, yet they still need to be able to trigger/test a workflow. This change makes it clear that only the Github UI is unavailable to activate workflow_dispatch, not that the trigger itself cannot be activated.
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