GitHub Actions Version Updater

Update GitHub Actions in workflow files to their latest released versions. This replaces Dependabot's package-ecosystem: "github-actions" functionality.

Process

Step 1: Check for Updates

Run the bundled script to parse all uses: lines and query each action's latest release:

uv run actions-updater/scripts/check_updates.py

With no arguments, the script scans .github/workflows/*.yml and *.yaml. To check specific files:

uv run actions-updater/scripts/check_updates.py path/to/workflow.yaml

The script parses workflow YAML, recursively extracts all uses: owner/repo@version entries, queries gh release view --repo owner/repo for each, and outputs a comparison table showing the current and latest major versions. It skips local actions (./...) and Docker actions (docker://...).

Step 2: Update Workflow Files

For each action with an available update, edit the workflow file using the Edit tool.

Version format rules:

• If the current pin is a major version tag (e.g., @v3), extract the major version from the latest release tag and update to that (e.g., v4.2.1 becomes @v4)
• If the current pin is an exact version (e.g., @v3.1.0), update to the full latest release tag
• If the current pin is a SHA, flag it for the user but do not auto-update

Step 3: Summarize

Present a table of all updates applied, showing the action, old version, and new version.

Scripts

scripts/check_updates.py

Check all workflow actions for available updates. Requires authenticated gh CLI.

uv run scripts/check_updates.py                      # scans .github/workflows/
uv run scripts/check_updates.py path/to/ci.yaml      # specific file(s)