Git Sync and Commit Action

A GitHub Action that safely syncs, commits, and pushes changes with automatic rebase and retry logic to handle concurrent modifications.

Why This Action?

1. Race condition handling: Automatically retries push operations when concurrent changes occur
2. Rebase-first workflow: Always rebases before pushing to maintain linear history
3. Safe stashing: Preserves uncommitted changes during sync operations
4. Smart commit detection: Only commits when there are actual changes to push
5. Configurable retry logic: Handles concurrent GitOps workflows gracefully
6. Clear outputs: Returns commit status and SHA for downstream steps

Use Cases

• GitOps deployments: Automatically commit manifest updates and handle concurrent deployments
• Automated updates: Commit dependency updates, generated files, or version bumps
• Configuration management: Sync configuration changes across environments
• Release automation: Update version files and changelogs during releases

Usage

Basic Example

- uses: skyhook-io/git-sync-commit@v1
  with:
    commit_message: 'Update deployment manifests [skip ci]'
    file_pattern: 'manifests/**/*'

GitOps Deployment Example

- name: Update kustomize manifests
  uses: skyhook-io/kustomize-edit@v1
  with:
    overlay_dir: overlays/production
    image: myapp
    tag: v1.2.3

- name: Commit and push changes
  uses: skyhook-io/git-sync-commit@v1
  with:
    commit_message: |
      Deploy myapp v1.2.3 to production [skip ci]

      Automated deployment triggered by ${{ github.actor }}
    file_pattern: 'overlays/production/*'
    max_retries: 5

Using Commit SHA in Downstream Steps

- id: commit
  uses: skyhook-io/git-sync-commit@v1
  with:
    commit_message: 'Update version to ${{ github.ref_name }}'
    file_pattern: 'VERSION package.json'

- name: Create deployment
  if: steps.commit.outputs.committed == 'true'
  run: |
    echo "Deploying commit ${{ steps.commit.outputs.commit_sha }}"
    kubectl set image deployment/app app=myapp:${{ steps.commit.outputs.commit_sha }}

Conditional Commit Based on Changes

- name: Generate documentation
  run: npm run docs:generate

- id: commit
  uses: skyhook-io/git-sync-commit@v1
  with:
    commit_message: 'Update generated documentation [skip ci]'
    file_pattern: 'docs/**/*'

- name: Notify on changes
  if: steps.commit.outputs.committed == 'true'
  run: |
    echo "Documentation updated in commit ${{ steps.commit.outputs.commit_sha }}"

Inputs

Input	Description	Required	Default
commit_message	Commit message	Yes	-
file_pattern	Files to stage for commit (e.g., ".", ".yml", "path/to/files/")	No	.
path	Working directory for git operations	No	.
commit_user_name	Git committer name	No	github-actions[bot]
commit_user_email	Git committer email	No	41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com
max_retries	Maximum number of push retry attempts (handles concurrent pushes)	No	3

Outputs

Output	Description
committed	Whether a commit was created (true/false)
commit_sha	SHA of the created commit (empty if no commit)

How It Works

The action follows this workflow:

1. Validate inputs - Ensures working directory exists and inputs are valid
2. Stash changes - Safely stashes any uncommitted changes (including untracked files)
3. Sync with upstream - Pulls latest changes using rebase to maintain linear history
4. Restore changes - Pops the stash to restore your changes
5. Stage files - Adds files matching the specified pattern
6. Commit - Creates a commit if there are staged changes
7. Push with retry - Attempts to push with automatic retry on failure:
   • On push failure, rebases again and retries
   • Continues up to max_retries attempts
   • Handles race conditions from concurrent workflows

Examples

Multi-Environment GitOps

name: Deploy to Environments

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - 'v*'

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        environment: [dev, staging, production]

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Update manifests
        uses: skyhook-io/kustomize-edit@v1
        with:
          overlay_dir: overlays/${{ matrix.environment }}
          image: myapp
          tag: ${{ github.ref_name }}

      - name: Commit changes
        uses: skyhook-io/git-sync-commit@v1
        with:
          commit_message: Deploy ${{ github.ref_name }} to ${{ matrix.environment }} [skip ci]
          file_pattern: overlays/${{ matrix.environment }}/*
          max_retries: 10  # Higher retries for parallel deployments

Automated Dependency Updates

name: Update Dependencies

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 2 * * 1'  # Weekly on Monday

jobs:
  update:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Update dependencies
        run: npm update

      - id: commit
        uses: skyhook-io/git-sync-commit@v1
        with:
          commit_message: |
            chore: update npm dependencies [skip ci]

            Automated weekly dependency update
          file_pattern: 'package.json package-lock.json'

      - name: Create PR
        if: steps.commit.outputs.committed == 'true'
        run: |
          gh pr create \
            --title "Weekly dependency update" \
            --body "Automated dependency update from commit ${{ steps.commit.outputs.commit_sha }}"

Custom Working Directory

- name: Clone deployment repo
  uses: actions/checkout@v4
  with:
    repository: my-org/deployment-configs
    path: deployment

- name: Update configs
  run: |
    cd deployment
    ./scripts/update-config.sh ${{ github.ref_name }}

- uses: skyhook-io/git-sync-commit@v1
  with:
    path: deployment
    commit_message: Update configuration for ${{ github.ref_name }}
    file_pattern: 'configs/**/*.yaml'

Skip CI in Commit Message

To prevent infinite loops in CI/CD pipelines, add [skip ci] to your commit message:

- uses: skyhook-io/git-sync-commit@v1
  with:
    commit_message: |
      Deploy version ${{ github.ref_name }} [skip ci]

      This prevents the push from triggering the workflow again
    file_pattern: 'deployment/*'

Migration from hisco/safe-rebase-commit

This action is a direct replacement for hisco/safe-rebase-commit with enhanced features and Skyhook standards.

Key Improvements

1. Composite action: Embedded logic (no external script dependencies)
2. Better validation: Input validation before operations
3. Enhanced outputs: Returns commit status and SHA
4. GitHub summaries: Visual summaries in Actions UI
5. Skyhook branding: Consistent with other Skyhook actions
6. Better error handling: Clear error messages and validation

Migration Guide

Simply update your action reference:

# Before (hisco/safe-rebase-commit)
- uses: hisco/safe-rebase-commit@v1.0.1
  with:
    path: deployment
    commit_message: Update env 'production' to version 'v1.2.3' [skip ci]
    file_pattern: overlays/production/*

# After (skyhook-io/git-sync-commit)
- uses: skyhook-io/git-sync-commit@v1
  with:
    path: deployment
    commit_message: Update env 'production' to version 'v1.2.3' [skip ci]
    file_pattern: overlays/production/*

All inputs are compatible, no changes needed!

Notes

• Authentication: Ensure your workflow has write permissions to the repository

  permissions:
    contents: write

• Branch protection: The action respects branch protection rules
• Concurrent workflows: Use higher max_retries values when multiple workflows may push simultaneously
• Linear history: Uses rebase instead of merge to maintain clean history
• Stash safety: Uncommitted changes are preserved during sync operations
• No changes = no commit: The action skips commit creation when there are no staged changes

Permissions

This action requires the following permissions:

permissions:
  contents: write  # Required to push commits

Troubleshooting

Push fails with "non-fast-forward" error

This usually means concurrent changes occurred. The action automatically handles this with retries. If you see this repeatedly, increase max_retries:

- uses: skyhook-io/git-sync-commit@v1
  with:
    commit_message: My commit
    max_retries: 10  # Increase for high-concurrency scenarios

No commit created but expected changes

Check that:

1. Your file_pattern matches the changed files
2. The files are actually modified
3. The action has the right path if using a subdirectory

"Permission denied" errors

Ensure your workflow has write permissions:

permissions:
  contents: write

For organization repositories, also check:

• Repository settings allow GitHub Actions to create and approve pull requests
• Branch protection rules allow the github-actions bot to push