Adding new actions to this repo

This repo holds composite GitHub Actions reused across MCP-family repos. Before adding a new action, confirm the logic is (or will be) needed in more than one caller repo — single-repo logic should stay in that repo's workflow.

Directory layout

Each action lives in its own directory. If a feature has multiple related entry points (e.g. deploy + cleanup), group them under a common parent:

<action-name>/
  README.md              # usage docs, inputs/outputs, caller requirements
  action.yml             # the composite action

or for multi-action groups:

<group-name>/
  README.md              # covers all actions in the group
  <sub-action>/
    action.yml
  <sub-action>/
    action.yml

Caller references:

• modelcontextprotocol/actions/<action-name>@main
• modelcontextprotocol/actions/<group-name>/<sub-action>@main

Composite action conventions

Required fields

Every action.yml must include:

• name — human-readable name
• description — one or two sentences on what it does
• inputs — with description and required for each; use default for optional inputs
• runs.using: composite

Every run: step needs an explicit shell:

Composite actions do not inherit a default shell. Omitting shell: fails at runtime, not validation time.

- name: Do something
  shell: bash
  run: |
    echo "..."

Pass inputs to scripts via env:, not interpolation

Direct interpolation of ${{ inputs.* }} into run: or script: bodies is an injection vector. Pass values through env: and read them as environment variables or process.env.*:

- shell: bash
  env:
    MY_INPUT: ${{ inputs.my-input }}
  run: |
    echo "${MY_INPUT}"

- uses: actions/github-script@v8
  env:
    MY_INPUT: ${{ inputs.my-input }}
  with:
    script: |
      const val = process.env.MY_INPUT;

Do not actions/checkout inside a composite action

The caller has already checked out; the composite runs in that workspace. Document in the README if a checkout is required on the caller side.

Secrets are always caller-provided

Composite actions cannot access secrets.* directly. Define inputs for any credentials and document in the README which secrets the caller must configure and pass through.

github-token input

If the action posts comments, creates issues, or otherwise calls the GitHub API, accept a github-token input with default ${{ github.token }}. This lets callers override with a PAT if needed:

github-token:
  description: GitHub token for API calls
  required: false
  default: ${{ github.token }}

Outputs

Expose anything a caller might want to reference downstream. Wire outputs from steps to the action's outputs: block:

outputs:
  url:
    description: Deployment URL
    value: ${{ steps.deploy.outputs.url }}

README requirements

Each action (or group) must have a README.md covering:

1. What it does — one paragraph per action
2. Prerequisites — external resources that must exist (CF project, etc.)

3. Required secrets — a dedicated section starting with a table with concrete secret names and wiring. Prescribe exact names so callers can copy-paste without deciding:

   | Repo secret name | Action input | Value |
   |---|---|---|
   | `FOO_API_TOKEN` | `api-token` | ... |

   Follow the table with a subsection per secret documenting:

   • Where to get it — exact navigation path in the external dashboard/UI (e.g. "Cloudflare → My Profile → API Tokens → Create Token")
   • Minimum permission scope — the least privilege that makes the action work

   The usage example must reference the same concrete secret names.

   If no secrets are needed, state that explicitly.

4. Caller requirements — permissions:, fork-PR guards, concurrency
5. Usage — a minimal but complete caller workflow example
6. Inputs/outputs — tables with name, required, default, description

Registering the action

Add a row to the root README.md table with the action path and a one-line description.

Validation

• Parse check: python3 -c "import yaml; yaml.safe_load(open('path/action.yml'))"
• Structure: verify every run: step has shell:
• Full verification requires a live caller workflow — open a PR in a consuming repo that references @<your-branch> and confirm end-to-end behavior before merging