GitHub Actions Cancel Waste Audit

Audit cancelled and timed-out GitHub Actions runs from JSON exports to surface wasted CI minutes and noisy workflows.

Use this skill to quantify wasted GitHub Actions runtime from cancelled or timed-out runs so flaky workflow churn gets fixed before it burns CI budget.

What this skill does

• Reads one or more GitHub Actions run JSON exports (gh api output)
• Estimates wasted runtime minutes per run (run_started_at/created_at -> updated_at)
• Groups waste by repository + workflow + conclusion for fast triage
• Flags warn/critical waste levels using configurable minute thresholds
• Supports text and JSON output for terminal checks or dashboards

Inputs

Optional:

• RUN_GLOB (default: artifacts/github-actions-runs/*.json)
• TOP_N (default: 20)
• OUTPUT_FORMAT (text or json, default: text)
• WARN_WASTED_MINUTES (default: 15)
• CRITICAL_WASTED_MINUTES (default: 45)
• FAIL_ON_CRITICAL (0 or 1, default: 0)
• REPO_MATCH (regex, optional)
• REPO_EXCLUDE (regex, optional)
• WORKFLOW_MATCH (regex, optional)
• WORKFLOW_EXCLUDE (regex, optional)
• BRANCH_MATCH (regex, optional)
• BRANCH_EXCLUDE (regex, optional)
• ACTOR_MATCH (regex, optional)
• ACTOR_EXCLUDE (regex, optional)
• CONCLUSION_MATCH (regex, optional, default behavior already includes only cancelled/timed_out)
• CONCLUSION_EXCLUDE (regex, optional)

Collect run JSON

Single repository:

bash

gh api repos/<owner>/<repo>/actions/runs --paginate \
  > artifacts/github-actions-runs/<owner>-<repo>.json

Run

Text report:

bash

RUN_GLOB='artifacts/github-actions-runs/*.json' \
WARN_WASTED_MINUTES=20 \
CRITICAL_WASTED_MINUTES=60 \
bash skills/github-actions-cancel-waste-audit/scripts/cancel-waste-audit.sh

JSON output for automation:

bash

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

Filter to one repo/workflow family:

bash

RUN_GLOB='artifacts/github-actions-runs/*.json' \
REPO_MATCH='^flowcreatebot/' \
WORKFLOW_MATCH='(test|build)' \
BRANCH_MATCH='^(main|release)' \
bash skills/github-actions-cancel-waste-audit/scripts/cancel-waste-audit.sh

Run with bundled fixtures:

bash

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

Output contract

• Exit 0 in reporting mode (default)
• Exit 1 if FAIL_ON_CRITICAL=1 and at least one run has waste at/above CRITICAL_WASTED_MINUTES
• In text mode: prints summary and top waste hotspots
• In json mode: prints summary, grouped stats, and critical run instances