Skip to content

Document firewall sandbox exclusion for custom steps, jobs, and hybrid workflows#13808

Merged
pelikhan merged 2 commits intomainfrom
copilot/update-documentation-hybrid-computations
Feb 4, 2026
Merged

Document firewall sandbox exclusion for custom steps, jobs, and hybrid workflows#13808
pelikhan merged 2 commits intomainfrom
copilot/update-documentation-hybrid-computations

Conversation

Copy link
Contributor

Copilot AI commented Feb 4, 2026

Custom steps, post-steps, and custom jobs execute outside the firewall sandbox with standard GitHub Actions security only. Users may mistakenly run agentic compute in these contexts, bypassing network egress controls.

Changes

  • reference/frontmatter.md: Added [!CAUTION] alerts to Custom Steps, Post-Execution Steps, and Custom Jobs sections
  • guides/deterministic-agentic-patterns.md: Added [!CAUTION] alert at document start, [!WARNING] in Architecture section with diagram context, and security note in Best Practices

Security Boundary

> [!CAUTION]
> Security Notice: Custom steps run OUTSIDE the firewall sandbox. These steps 
> execute with standard GitHub Actions security but do NOT have the network 
> egress controls that protect the agent job. Do not run agentic compute or 
> untrusted AI execution in custom steps—use them only for deterministic data 
> preparation, preprocessing, or filtering.

All warnings specify:

  • Run location (OUTSIDE firewall)
  • Security model (standard GitHub Actions, not enhanced)
  • Appropriate use (deterministic operations only)
  • Prohibited use (no agentic compute)

Warning

Firewall rules blocked me from connecting to one or more addresses (expand for details)

I tried to connect to the following addresses, but was blocked by firewall rules:

  • telemetry.astro.build
    • Triggering command: /opt/hostedtoolcache/node/24.13.0/x64/bin/node node /home/REDACTED/work/gh-aw/gh-aw/docs/node_modules/.bin/astro build (dns block)

If you need me to access, download, or install something from one of these locations, you can either:

Original prompt

In the documentation about steps and jobs and hybrid computations, make it clear that these do NOT run under the firewall. It is not recommend to run any agentic compute in these steps.

Custom agent used: technical-doc-writer
AI technical documentation writer for GitHub Actions library using GitHub Docs voice


💡 You can make Copilot smarter by setting up custom instructions, customizing its development environment and configuring Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. Learn more Copilot coding agent tips in the docs.

…s docs

Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>
Copilot AI changed the title [WIP] Clarify steps and jobs do not run under firewall Document firewall sandbox exclusion for custom steps, jobs, and hybrid workflows Feb 4, 2026
Copilot AI requested a review from pelikhan February 4, 2026 23:05
@pelikhan pelikhan marked this pull request as ready for review February 4, 2026 23:09
Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings February 4, 2026 23:09
@pelikhan pelikhan merged commit 1f19af0 into main Feb 4, 2026
1 check passed
@pelikhan pelikhan deleted the copilot/update-documentation-hybrid-computations branch February 4, 2026 23:09
Copy link
Contributor

Copilot AI left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Pull request overview

This PR adds critical security documentation clarifying that custom steps, post-execution steps, and custom jobs execute outside the firewall sandbox with only standard GitHub Actions security. This is important because users could mistakenly run agentic compute in these contexts, bypassing network egress controls.

Changes:

  • Added CAUTION alerts to Custom Steps, Post-Execution Steps, and Custom Jobs sections in the frontmatter reference documentation
  • Added comprehensive security warnings in the Deterministic & Agentic Patterns guide at the document start, in the Architecture section, and in Best Practices
  • Fixed incorrect CLI command link reference

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated no comments.

File Description
docs/src/content/docs/setup/creating-workflows.mdx Fixed broken link to CLI run command documentation
docs/src/content/docs/reference/frontmatter.md Added CAUTION alerts to Custom Steps, Post-Execution Steps, and Custom Jobs sections warning they run outside firewall sandbox
docs/src/content/docs/guides/deterministic-agentic-patterns.md Added CAUTION at document start, WARNING in Architecture section with diagram context, and security note in Best Practices

💡 Add Copilot custom instructions for smarter, more guided reviews. Learn how to get started.

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Labels

None yet

Projects

None yet

Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

2 participants