Changing "Workflow permissions" to "Read and write"

[stefanpems]

Hello.
In my personal account I could successfully change the "Workflow permissions" from "Read" to "Read and write" (under Repo -> Settings -> Actions/General).
I just created a trial Enterprise. There, at organization or repo level, I cannot make the same change: the option "Read and write" is disabled with the message "Repository administrators will only be able to change the default permissions to a more restrictive setting".
How can I ensure to assign also write permissions to the workflows in my organizational repos?
Thank you
Stefano

[santoshD93]

I am facing the same issue.

[Ahhj93]

You have to change this in your organization.

[neuquen]

How?

[Ahhj93]

In the organisation page

Go to Settings → Actions → General
At the bottom change to Read and write permissions and Save

[difhel]

this setting is locked

[joshjohanning]

@difhel If this is a screenshot from the organization page it looks like there's a policy in your enterprise to set it this way. See https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-cloud@latest/admin/policies/enforcing-policies-for-your-enterprise/enforcing-policies-for-github-actions-in-your-enterprise#enforcing-a-policy-for-workflow-permissions-in-your-enterprise

[techClick]

If this setting is locked in a repository. Its because it's locked in 'organization' level. If it's then locked in 'organization' level, its because it's locked in 'enterprise' level.

[1aziz]

I'm having the same issue, and strangely enough, even on organisation level.

[jamieweavis]

We're running into the same issue, the Read and write permissions option in Settings > Actions > General is disabled for our organisation (and individual repos too)... We also just started an Enterprise trial, could be related?

[jamieweavis]

We figured it out, when upgrading to enterprise an additional layer of hierarchy is added to your GitHub, the setting is located in the top level which is now enterprises instead of organisations

• https://github.com/organizations/your-org-name-here/settings/actions 🚫
• https://github.com/enterprises/your-enterprise-name-here/settings/actions ✅

[joshjohanning]

Correct! It should be an enterprise policy now. Enterprise policies apply to all orgs in the enterprise.

[Solelands]

i get same issue as well ... is there any solution for this..?

[chrispat]

You shouldn't globally change this permission. You should set the specific permissions for each workflow https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#permissions.

[RKeertishKumar]

Thank you so much.

[theoturner]

This doesn't work for pull requests as of October 2025. The per-workflow permission in yaml worked prior to upgrading to GitHub Enterprise. After upgrading, you get error:

GraphQL: GitHub Actions is not permitted to create or approve pull requests (createPullRequest)

This occurs even with the per-workflow yaml configured. Enabling the enterprise-level setting fixes the issue:
https://github.com/enterprises/insert-your-enterprise-name-here/settings/actions

[JasonGross]

workflows is not listed as a valid permissions target for permissions on the doc:

[joshjohanning]

@JasonGross right you'll have to use a GitHub app if you want to make modifications to workflows from another action, or trigger/chain workflows together. See : https://docs.github.com/en/actions/how-tos/write-workflows/choose-when-workflows-run/trigger-a-workflow#triggering-a-workflow-from-a-workflow

[PabloAndres33]

Thanks you very much, it helped me