The Repo Assist workflow is a GitHub Agentic Workflow for a friendly repository assistant that runs regularly to support contributors and maintainers. It can also be triggered on-demand via /repo-assist <instructions> to perform specific tasks. Each run it selects three tasks via a weighted random draw based - favouring issue labelling, investigation and fixing when the backlog is large, then shifting to engineering, testing, and forward progress as the backlog clears. It maintains a monthly activity summary for maintainer visibility.
# Install the 'gh aw' extension
gh extension install github/gh-aw
# Add the workflow to your repository
gh aw add-wizard githubnext/agentics/repo-assistThis walks you through adding the workflow to your repository.
graph LR
P[Fetch repo data] --> W[Compute task weights]
W --> S[Select 2 tasks]
S --> A[Read Memory]
A --> T1[Task 1: Issue Labelling]
A --> T2[Task 2: Issue Investigation + Comment]
A --> T3[Task 3: Issue Investigation + Fix]
A --> T4[Task 4: Engineering Investments]
A --> T5[Task 5: Coding Improvements]
A --> T6[Task 6: Maintain Repo Assist PRs]
A --> T7[Task 7: Stale PR Nudges]
A --> T8[Task 8: Performance Improvements]
A --> T9[Task 9: Testing Improvements]
A --> T10[Task 10: Take Repo Forward]
T1 & T2 & T3 & T4 & T5 & T6 & T7 & T8 & T9 & T10 --> T11[Task 11: Monthly Activity Summary]
T11 --> M[Save Memory]
Each run a deterministic pre-step fetches live repo data (open issues, unlabelled issues, open PRs) and computes a weighted probability for each task. Two tasks are selected and printed in the workflow logs, then communicated to the agent via prompting. The weights adapt naturally: when unlabelled issues are high, labelling dominates; when there are many open issues, commenting and fixing dominate; as the backlog clears, engineering and forward-progress tasks draw more evenly.
Default weighting: dominates when the label backlog is large.
Applies appropriate labels to unlabelled issues and PRs based on content analysis. Removes misapplied labels. Conservative and confident — only applies labels it is sure about.
Default weighting: scales with backlog size.
Repo Assist reviews open issues and comments only when it has something genuinely valuable to add. It processes issues oldest-first using a memory-backed cursor, prioritising issues that have never received a Repo Assist comment. It also re-engages when new human comments appear.
Default weighting: scales with backlog size.
When it finds a fixable bug or clearly actionable issue, Repo Assist implements a minimal, surgical fix, runs build and tests, and creates a draft PR. Can work on issues it has previously commented on. All PRs include a Test Status section.
Default weighting: steady baseline with issue-count bias.
Dependency updates, CI improvements, tooling upgrades, SDK version bumps, and build system improvements. Bundles multiple Dependabot PRs into a single consolidated update where possible.
Default weighting: steady baseline.
Studies the codebase and proposes clearly beneficial, low-risk improvements: code clarity, dead code removal, API usability, documentation gaps, duplication reduction.
Default weighting: only meaningful when open PRs exist.
Keeps its own PRs healthy by fixing CI failures and resolving merge conflicts. Uses push_to_pull_request_branch to update PR branches directly.
Default weighting: scales with non-Repo-Assist PR count.
Politely nudges PR authors when their PRs have been waiting 14+ days for a response. Maximum 3 nudges per run, never nags the same PR twice.
Default weighting: steady baseline.
Identifies and implements meaningful performance improvements: algorithmic efficiency, unnecessary work, caching, memory usage, startup time.
Default weighting: steady baseline.
Improves test quality and coverage: missing tests for existing functionality, flaky tests, slow tests, test infrastructure. Avoids low-value tests that just inflate coverage numbers.
Default weighting: steady baseline.
Proactively moves the repository forward — considers the goals and aims of the repo, implements backlog features, investigates difficult bugs, drafts plans and proposals, or charts out future work. Work may span multiple runs; Repo Assist checks memory for anything in progress and continues before starting something new.
Every run, Repo Assist updates a rolling monthly activity issue that gives maintainers a single place to see all activity and suggested actions.
- Quality over quantity: Silence is preferable to noise on any individual action
- Systematic backlog coverage: Works through all open issues across runs using a memory-backed cursor
- No breaking changes: Never changes public APIs without explicit approval
- No new dependencies: Discusses in an issue first
- Small, focused PRs: One concern per PR
- Read AGENTS.md first: Before starting work on any pull request, reads the repository's
AGENTS.mdfile (if present) to understand project-specific conventions, coding standards, and contribution requirements - AI transparency: Every output includes robot emoji disclosure
- Anti-spam: Never posts repeated or follow-up comments to itself; re-engages only when new human comments appear
- Build, format, lint, and test verification: Runs any code formatting, linting, and testing checks configured in the repository before creating PRs; never creates PRs with failing builds or lint errors caused by its changes
- Release preparation: Uses judgement each run to assess whether a release is warranted — no dedicated release task; proposes release PRs on its own initiative when appropriate
- Good contributor etiquette: Warmly welcomes first-time contributors and points them to README and CONTRIBUTING as a normal part of good behaviour
The main way to use Repo Assist is to let it run regularly and perform its tasks autonomously. You will see its activity summarized in the monthly activity issue it maintains, and you can review its PRs and comments as they come in.
This workflow requires no configuration and works out of the box. It uses repo-memory to track work across runs and avoid duplicate actions.
After editing run gh aw compile to update the workflow and commit all changes to the default branch.
You can start a run of this workflow immediately by running:
gh aw run repo-assistYou can run Repo Assist in "blast mode" by repeatedly triggering:
gh aw run repo-assist --repeat 30You can also trigger Repo Assist on-demand by commenting on any issue or PR:
/repo-assist <instructions>
When triggered this way, Repo Assist starts a new coding agent session immediately and focuses exclusively on your instructions instead of running its normal scheduled tasks. For example:
/repo-assist investigate this bug and suggest a fix/repo-assist add documentation for the new API endpoints/repo-assist review this PR and suggest improvements
All the same guidelines apply (AI disclosure, running formatters/linters/tests, being polite and constructive).
NOTE: There are a few glitches with "/repo-assist" direct commands (which are meant to start a contextualised agent coding run directly)
- It doesn't work from code review comments
- "/repo-assist" has to be first thing in comment
- No link to the run is given
To automatically trigger CI checks on PRs created by this workflow, configure an additional repository secret GH_AW_CI_TRIGGER_TOKEN. See the triggering CI documentation for setup instructions.
Automatically triggering CI should not be used in public repositories, as it can lead to abuse.