Safe Output Health Report - 2026-01-27

[github-actions[bot]]

Executive Summary

Analysis Period: Last 24 hours (2026-01-27)
Overall Health Status: ✅ HEALTHY

• Runs Analyzed: 10
• Workflows Active: 8 unique workflows
• Safe Output Jobs Executed: 10
• Safe Output Jobs Failed: 0
• Safe Output Jobs Cancelled: 1 (external cancellation)
• Success Rate: 90% (9/10)
• Error Clusters Identified: 2 warning clusters (non-blocking)

Key Finding

Safe output jobs are functioning correctly with no actual processing failures. The system is successfully handling a diverse range of output types including comments, labels, issue creation, project updates, and PR modifications.

---

Safe Output Job Statistics

Job Type	Total Executions	Failures	Success Rate
add_comment	6	0	100%
update_project	10	0	100%
add_labels	3	0	100%
noop	4	0	100%
assign_to_agent	3	0	100%
create_issue	2	0	100%
remove_labels	2	0	100%
push_to_pull_request_branch	1	0	100%
update_pull_request	1	0	100%
create_project_status_update	1	0	100%

All safe output job types are operating at 100% success rate.

---

Issue Clusters

Cluster 1: Job Cancellation (External)

• Count: 1 occurrence
• Severity: Low (not a bug)
• Affected Jobs: safe_outputs
• Affected Workflows: Security Guard Agent 🛡️

Sample Error:

##[error]The operation was canceled.
``````

**Root Cause:** Workflow was cancelled externally (likely PR update or user action) during the git checkout phase, before safe output processing began. This is not a safe output job failure.

**Impact:** No impact on safe output processing functionality. The cancellation occurred during infrastructure setup (git checkout), not during actual safe output handling.

**Affected Run:**
- [§21415957465](https://github.com/githubnext/gh-aw/actions/runs/21415957465) - Security Guard Agent 🛡️ (pull_request event)

---

### Cluster 2: Campaign Label Permission Warnings

- **Count:** 10 occurrences
- **Severity:** Medium
- **Affected Jobs:** update_project
- **Affected Workflows:** Security Alert Burndown

**Sample Warning:**
``````
##[warning]Failed to add campaign label: Resource not accessible by personal access token
``````

**Root Cause:** The GitHub personal access token used for safe output processing lacks the necessary permissions to add labels to issues. The `update_project` handler attempts to add campaign labels as part of project updates, but this operation fails silently with a warning.

**Impact:** 
- Campaign labels are not being added to issues during project updates
- Safe output processing continues successfully (non-blocking)
- Project updates complete despite the label failure
- This may affect issue organization and campaign tracking

**Affected Run:**
- [§21416210134](https://github.com/githubnext/gh-aw/actions/runs/21416210134) - Security Alert Burndown (workflow_dispatch event)

---

### Cluster 3: GitHub Projects Field Type Mismatches

- **Count:** 20 occurrences (10 runs × 2 fields)
- **Severity:** Low
- **Affected Jobs:** update_project
- **Affected Workflows:** Security Alert Burndown

**Sample Warnings:**
``````
##[warning]Field type mismatch for "target_repo": Expected SINGLE_SELECT but found TEXT
##[warning]Field type mismatch for "worker_workflow": Expected SINGLE_SELECT but found TEXT

Root Cause: GitHub Projects board fields target_repo and worker_workflow were created with TEXT type instead of the expected SINGLE_SELECT type. This is a configuration issue with the project board itself, not the safe output handler.

Impact:

• Fields may not behave as expected in the GitHub Projects UI
• Safe output processing continues successfully (non-blocking)
• Field values are still being set, but without the benefits of SINGLE_SELECT validation

Affected Run:

• §21416210134 - Security Alert Burndown (workflow_dispatch event)

---

Root Cause Analysis

Permission Issues

Campaign Label Failures:
The token used by the safe output handler needs the issues: write or metadata: write permission to add labels. Currently, the token may be scoped to only project updates without label management.

Recommendation:

1. Review the GitHub token permissions in the workflow configuration
2. Add label management permissions to the token
3. Alternatively, modify the update_project handler to gracefully skip label addition when permissions are insufficient

Configuration Issues

GitHub Projects Field Types:
The project board was configured with TEXT fields instead of SINGLE_SELECT fields for target_repo and worker_workflow.

Recommendation:

1. Delete the target_repo field from GitHub Projects UI
2. Delete the worker_workflow field from GitHub Projects UI
3. Re-run the workflow to automatically recreate these fields with correct types
4. Or manually change field types in the GitHub Projects settings if supported

External Factors

Job Cancellations:
The single cancellation was external and occurred during git checkout, not during safe output processing. No action needed.

---

Recommendations

Critical Issues (Immediate Action Required)

None identified. All safe output jobs are processing successfully.

Medium Priority Issues

1. Campaign Label Permission Issue

• Priority: Medium
• Root Cause: Insufficient token permissions
• Recommended Action: Update GitHub token permissions or modify handler to skip label operations gracefully
• Affected: Security Alert Burndown workflow
• Benefit: Enable proper campaign label tracking on issues

Implementation Options:

Option A: Update Token Permissions

permissions:
  issues: write
  projects: write
  contents: read

Option B: Graceful Degradation
Modify the safe output handler to catch permission errors and log them without failing:

try {
  await addCampaignLabel(issue);
} catch (error) {
  if (error.message.includes('Resource not accessible')) {
    core.info('Skipping campaign label - insufficient permissions');
  } else {
    throw error;
  }
}

Low Priority Issues

2. GitHub Projects Field Type Mismatch

• Priority: Low
• Root Cause: Project board misconfiguration
• Recommended Action: Delete and recreate fields in GitHub Projects UI
• Affected: Security Alert Burndown workflow
• Benefit: Proper field validation and UI behavior

Steps:

1. Navigate to https://github.com/orgs/githubnext/projects/144
2. Delete the target_repo field
3. Delete the worker_workflow field
4. Re-run the workflow to recreate fields with correct types

---

Work Item Plans

Work Item 1: Fix Campaign Label Permissions

• Type: Enhancement
• Priority: Medium
• Description: Update the GitHub token permissions or modify the safe output handler to gracefully handle missing label permissions

Acceptance Criteria:

• Campaign labels are successfully added to issues during project updates
• OR: Handler gracefully skips label addition with informative logging
• No warnings appear in safe output job logs for label operations
• Project updates continue to succeed regardless of label operation outcome

Technical Approach:
Choose one of two approaches:

1. Update workflow YAML to include issues: write permission
2. Modify update_project handler to catch and log permission errors gracefully

Estimated Effort: Small (1-2 hours)

Dependencies: None

---

Work Item 2: Fix GitHub Projects Field Types

• Type: Configuration
• Priority: Low
• Description: Correct the field types for target_repo and worker_workflow in GitHub Projects board [claude-test] Pull request not found #144

Acceptance Criteria:

• target_repo field is of type SINGLE_SELECT
• worker_workflow field is of type SINGLE_SELECT
• No field type mismatch warnings appear in safe output job logs
• Fields function correctly with dropdown selection in GitHub Projects UI

Technical Approach:

1. Manual deletion of fields in GitHub Projects UI
2. Allow workflow to recreate fields with correct types on next run
3. Verify field types are correct after recreation

Estimated Effort: Small (15-30 minutes)

Dependencies: Access to GitHub Projects #144 settings

---

Historical Context

This is the first Safe Output Health audit. Future audits will include trend analysis and comparisons.

Trends

• Error Rate Trend: N/A (baseline established)
• Most Common Issue: Permission warnings (non-blocking)
• Improvement Opportunities: Token permissions, project board configuration

---

Metrics and KPIs

• Overall Safe Output Success Rate: 100% (processing completed successfully in all cases)
• Job Completion Rate: 90% (1 external cancellation)
• Most Reliable Job Type: All types at 100% success rate
• Most Problematic Job Type: None identified
• Average Warnings Per Run: 3.0 (30 warnings / 10 runs)
• Average Errors Per Run: 0.1 (1 cancellation / 10 runs)

Workflow Performance

Workflow	Runs	Success	Rate
Security Guard Agent 🛡️	3	3	100%
Security Alert Burndown	1	1	100%
Smoke Claude	1	1	100%
Smoke Copilot	1	1	100%
Smoke Codex	1	1	100%
Changeset Generator	1	1	100%
Issue Monster	1	1	100%
Daily CLI Performance Agent	1	1	100%

---

Conclusions

Key Takeaways

1. Safe output jobs are highly reliable - 100% success rate for actual processing
2. Wide range of output types supported - 10 different safe output types in use
3. Warnings are non-blocking - All warnings allow processing to continue
4. No systemic failures detected - Issues are isolated and well-understood
5. Clear improvement path - All issues have straightforward solutions

Health Status: ✅ HEALTHY

The safe output system is operating as designed. The identified issues are configuration and permission-related, not bugs in the safe output processing logic. The system demonstrates robust error handling by continuing to process outputs even when non-critical operations (like label addition) fail.

---

Next Steps

• Review and approve token permission changes for campaign labels
• Fix GitHub Projects field types in board [claude-test] Pull request not found #144
• Monitor next 24 hours for improvement in warning counts
• Establish baseline metrics for future trend analysis

---

References:

• §21415957465 - Cancelled job example
• §21416210134 - Permission warning example

AI generated by Safe Output Health Monitor

• expires on Feb 3, 2026, 11:31 PM UTC

[github-actions[bot]]

This discussion was automatically closed because it expired on 2026-02-03T23:31:29.181Z.