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Document skills: frontmatter with pinned refs, per-skill auth, and Matt Pocock example#42747

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pelikhan merged 1 commit into
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Jul 1, 2026
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Document skills: frontmatter with pinned refs, per-skill auth, and Matt Pocock example#42747
pelikhan merged 1 commit into
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copilot/add-documentation-skills-front-matter

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Copilot AI commented Jul 1, 2026

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This PR adds first-class reference documentation for the skills: frontmatter field so users can configure skill installation correctly in workflows. It also adds a concrete, complex example covering mixed authentication patterns and links to the Matt Pocock workflow as a real-world reference.

  • What was added

    • New Frontmatter Skills (skills:) section in docs/src/content/docs/reference/frontmatter.md.
    • Documents supported entry shapes:
      • string entries (owner/repo@SHA, owner/repo/path@SHA)
      • object entries with skill, optional github-token, optional github-app
    • Clarifies validation constraints:
      • refs must be pinned to a 40-char lowercase SHA
      • github-token and github-app are mutually exclusive per entry
      • github-token must be a GitHub expression
  • Example and cross-references

    • Added a mixed-auth example showing:
      • shared token usage
      • per-skill token override
      • per-skill GitHub App credentials
    • Added links to:
      • glossary term for frontmatter skills
      • .github/workflows/mattpocock-skills-reviewer.md as a full production example
skills:
  - mattpocock/skills/tdd@801dca688564c529fa84f247f64472520d9ebe28
  - skill: mattpocock/skills/diagnosing-bugs@801dca688564c529fa84f247f64472520d9ebe28
    github-token: ${{ secrets.MATT_SKILLS_PAT || secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
  - skill: mattpocock/skills/domain-modeling@801dca688564c529fa84f247f64472520d9ebe28
    github-app:
      client-id: ${{ vars.MATT_SKILLS_APP_CLIENT_ID }}
      private-key: ${{ secrets.MATT_SKILLS_APP_PRIVATE_KEY }}

Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>
Copilot AI changed the title Add skills: frontmatter documentation with complex auth examples Document skills: frontmatter with pinned refs, per-skill auth, and Matt Pocock example Jul 1, 2026
Copilot AI requested a review from pelikhan July 1, 2026 12:37
@pelikhan pelikhan marked this pull request as ready for review July 1, 2026 12:38
Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings July 1, 2026 12:38
@pelikhan pelikhan merged commit c3eb76c into main Jul 1, 2026
@pelikhan pelikhan deleted the copilot/add-documentation-skills-front-matter branch July 1, 2026 12:38

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Pull request overview

Adds first-class reference documentation for the skills: frontmatter field so workflow authors can declare external skill repositories (with optional per-skill auth) that are installed during the activation job before the agent runs.

Changes:

  • Documents skills: and its supported entry shapes (string vs object).
  • Specifies validation constraints (40-char lowercase SHA pinning; per-entry auth field rules).
  • Adds a mixed-auth YAML example plus cross-references to the glossary and a real workflow example.
Show a summary per file
File Description
docs/src/content/docs/reference/frontmatter.md Adds a new “Frontmatter Skills (skills:)” reference section with formats, constraints, example config, and links.

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  • Files reviewed: 1/1 changed files
  • Comments generated: 2
  • Review effort level: Low

Comment on lines +214 to +217
See [Glossary: Frontmatter Skills](/gh-aw/reference/glossary/#frontmatter-skills-skills)
for terminology, and
[`mattpocock-skills-reviewer.md`](https://github.com/github/gh-aw/blob/main/.github/workflows/mattpocock-skills-reviewer.md)
for a full workflow example using `skills:`.

```yaml wrap
skills:
# Shared auth via workflow-level activation token
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3 participants