ci: auto-update-prs must use RELEASE_PAT, not GITHUB_TOKEN - #676
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The workflow shipped in #675 worked on its first live run — it found three PRs behind main and updated all three, reporting `updated: 3, conflicted: 0`. The PRs then sat unmergeable for an hour. A branch update made with GITHUB_TOKEN raises its `pull_request` event with `actor = github-actions[bot]`, and GitHub gates bot-actored runs at `action_required`, waiting for a human approval nobody is watching for. The failure mode is worse than "it didn't work". The branch really is brought up to date and the workflow really does report success, but the PR's checks never run — so it can never go green, auto-merge never fires, and the PR sits looking healthy and current while being permanently stuck. Every signal says fine. Measured directly on `fix/hub-authorization`: 15:12 action_required actor=github-actions[bot] <- the auto-update 14:37 failure actor=cuttlefisch 11:36 success actor=cuttlefisch Same branch, same workflow; only the actor differs. Fixed by using RELEASE_PAT, which `version-bump.yml` and `release.yml` already use for the same underlying reason — a token whose writes must trigger downstream workflows. Plus a preflight that fails loudly if the secret is absent: without it the job would fall back to unauthenticated `gh`, report "0 updated" and exit green, which is indistinguishable from "nothing needed updating" — the one outcome this workflow must never fake. The three runs stranded by the original version were approved by hand. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Follow-up to #675, which shipped a real defect.
What happened
The workflow's first live run worked exactly as designed — it found three PRs
behind main and updated all three, reporting
updated: 3, skipped: 0, conflicted: 0. The three PRs then sat unmergeable for an hour.A branch update made with
GITHUB_TOKENraises itspull_requestevent withactor = github-actions[bot], and GitHub gates bot-actored runs ataction_required— awaiting a human approval nobody is watching for.Why this was worse than a plain failure
The branch really is brought up to date. The workflow really does report
success. But the PR's checks never run, so it can never go green, auto-merge
never fires, and the PR sits looking healthy and current while being
permanently stuck. Every signal available says everything is fine.
Measured directly on
fix/hub-authorization— same branch, same workflow, onlythe actor differs:
The fix
Use
RELEASE_PAT, whichversion-bump.ymlandrelease.ymlalready use for thesame underlying reason: a token whose writes must trigger downstream workflows.
Plus a preflight that fails loudly if the secret is missing. Without it the job
would fall back to unauthenticated
gh, report0 updated, and exit green —indistinguishable from "nothing needed updating", which is the one outcome this
workflow must never fake.
The three runs stranded by the original version have been approved by hand, so
the queue is moving again.
🤖 Generated with Claude Code