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ci: run release-please under a PAT so release PRs get CI - #9

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TheHefty merged 1 commit into
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ci/release-please-pat
Aug 3, 2026
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ci: run release-please under a PAT so release PRs get CI#9
TheHefty merged 1 commit into
mainfrom
ci/release-please-pat

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@TheHefty

@TheHefty TheHefty commented Aug 3, 2026

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⚠️ Do not merge until the RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN secret exists. With the secret missing, token: is passed as an empty string and release-please fails on the next push to main.

Workflows are not triggered by events a GITHUB_TOKEN causes, so the release PR the action opens gets no CI run at all. With ci-green required by branch protection, such a PR can never be merged: the required check never reports, and the PR sits BLOCKED with zero failing checks to explain it. Cutting 1.0.2 needed the PR closed and reopened by hand — twice — to produce a run.

Opening the PR under a PAT makes it come from a user, so CI runs on it like on any other PR.

Token: fine-grained, this repo only, Contents: read/write + Pull requests: read/write.

What this costs, documented in docs/OVERVIEW.md rather than left to be rediscovered:

  • the token expires, and releases silently stop being proposed until it is rotated;
  • going back to the GITHUB_TOKEN means deleting the token: line, not just the secret — the action's default is ${{ github.token }}, but a default only applies to an omitted input, and a deleted secret leaves the input present and empty;
  • "Allow GitHub Actions to create and approve pull requests" stops being relevant here, since the PR no longer comes from Actions.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Workflows are not triggered by events a GITHUB_TOKEN causes, so the release PR
the action opened got no CI run at all. With ci-green required by branch
protection, that PR could never be merged: the required check never reported,
and the PR sat BLOCKED with nothing failing to explain it. Cutting 1.0.2 needed
the PR closed and reopened by hand, twice, to produce a run.

Opening the PR under a PAT makes it come from a user, so CI runs on it like on
any other PR. The token needs Contents and Pull requests, both read/write, on
this repo only.

Two things this costs, both documented rather than left to be rediscovered: the
token expires, and releases stop being proposed until it is rotated; and going
back to the GITHUB_TOKEN means deleting the `token:` line, not just the secret,
since a default only applies to an omitted input.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@TheHefty
TheHefty merged commit c9fb9f1 into main Aug 3, 2026
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@TheHefty
TheHefty deleted the ci/release-please-pat branch August 3, 2026 14:50
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