GitHub Actions Duplicate Run Audit

Detect duplicate GitHub Actions run bursts by workflow/branch/commit and quantify wasted rerun minutes.

Use this skill to detect accidental duplicate workflow execution bursts (for example trigger overlap, force-push storms, or retried dispatches) and measure wasted CI minutes.

What this skill does

• Reads GitHub Actions run JSON exports
• Groups runs by repository + workflow + branch + event + commit SHA
• Clusters bursts where runs happen inside a configurable time window
• Counts duplicate runs and estimates wasted runtime minutes
• Scores severity (ok, warn, critical) for CI hygiene enforcement
• Emits text or JSON for automation

Inputs

Optional:

• RUN_GLOB (default: artifacts/github-actions/*.json)
• TOP_N (default: 20)
• OUTPUT_FORMAT (text or json, default: text)
• DUPLICATE_WINDOW_MINUTES (default: 30)
• MIN_DUPLICATE_RUNS (default: 2)
• WARN_DUPLICATE_RUNS (default: 3)
• CRITICAL_DUPLICATE_RUNS (default: 6)
• WARN_WASTED_MINUTES (default: 20)
• CRITICAL_WASTED_MINUTES (default: 60)
• WORKFLOW_MATCH (regex, optional)
• WORKFLOW_EXCLUDE (regex, optional)
• BRANCH_MATCH (regex, optional)
• BRANCH_EXCLUDE (regex, optional)
• EVENT_MATCH (regex, optional)
• EVENT_EXCLUDE (regex, optional)
• REPO_MATCH (regex, optional)
• REPO_EXCLUDE (regex, optional)
• HEAD_SHA_MATCH (regex, optional)
• HEAD_SHA_EXCLUDE (regex, optional)
• FAIL_ON_CRITICAL (0 or 1, default: 0)

Collect run JSON

bash

gh run view <run-id> --json databaseId,workflowName,event,conclusion,headBranch,headSha,createdAt,updatedAt,startedAt,url,repository \
  > artifacts/github-actions/run-<run-id>.json

Run

Text report:

bash

RUN_GLOB='artifacts/github-actions/*.json' \
DUPLICATE_WINDOW_MINUTES=20 \
bash skills/github-actions-duplicate-run-audit/scripts/duplicate-run-audit.sh

JSON output + fail gate:

bash

RUN_GLOB='artifacts/github-actions/*.json' \
OUTPUT_FORMAT=json \
FAIL_ON_CRITICAL=1 \
bash skills/github-actions-duplicate-run-audit/scripts/duplicate-run-audit.sh

Run against bundled fixtures:

bash

RUN_GLOB='skills/github-actions-duplicate-run-audit/fixtures/*.json' \
bash skills/github-actions-duplicate-run-audit/scripts/duplicate-run-audit.sh

Output contract

• Exit 0 in report mode (default)
• Exit 1 when FAIL_ON_CRITICAL=1 and one or more groups are critical
• Text mode prints summary + ranked duplicate-run groups
• JSON mode prints summary + ranked groups + critical groups