local-action-verification

SKILL.md

Local Action Verification with act

You are setting up a repository so that Jules (or any agent) can run GitHub Actions workflows locally using act to verify code changes pass CI before pushing.

What You're Setting Up

Two scripts and an agents.md section that enable local CI verification:

install-act.sh — Installs act if missing (platform-aware, sudo fallback)

run-act.sh — Runs act in the background with log polling to avoid agent timeouts

AGENTS.md section — Instructions Jules reads to know how to use these scripts

Setup Steps

Step 1: Copy scripts to the repository

Copy the scripts/ directory from this skill into the target repository at scripts/act/:
Target structure:
scripts/act/
├── install-act.sh
└── run-act.sh

Make sure the scripts are executable:

chmod +x scripts/act/install-act.sh scripts/act/run-act.sh

Step 2: Add instructions to AGENTS.md

Append the following section to the repository's AGENTS.md file (create it if it doesn't exist). This is how Jules discovers the local verification capability:

## Local CI Verification

Before pushing code or opening a PR, verify changes pass CI locally using `act`.

### Prerequisites
- Docker must be running
- If `act` is not installed, run: `bash scripts/act/install-act.sh`

### How to Verify

1. Read `.github/workflows/` to find the CI workflow and identify the job ID
2. Run the verification script:
   ```bash
   bash scripts/act/run-act.sh "push -j <JOB_ID>"

With matrix: bash scripts/act/run-act.sh "push -j <JOB_ID> --matrix <KEY>:<VALUE>"
3. If the run fails, read the log output, fix the code, and re-run
4. After verification, clean up:

rm -f act_output.log
git checkout <any unintended file changes>

Configuration

Timeout: ACT_TIMEOUT=900 bash scripts/act/run-act.sh "..."  (default: 600s)

Poll interval: ACT_POLL=15 bash scripts/act/run-act.sh "..."  (default: 10s)

Custom image: pass -P ubuntu-latest=node:20-bookworm in the arguments for faster pulls

### Step 3: Update .gitignore

Append these entries to `.gitignore` if they don't already exist:

act artifacts

act_output.log
.secrets

### Step 4: Print next steps for the user

Tell the user:
1. Docker must be installed and running on any machine (or Jules VM) where verification runs
2. `act` will be auto-installed on first use via `scripts/act/install-act.sh`
3. If workflows require secrets, create a `.secrets` file (KEY=VALUE format) — never commit it
4. Commit all generated files

## Troubleshooting

- **Docker not running**: `act` requires Docker. Ensure the Docker daemon is started.
- **Image pull slow**: First run downloads ~2GB+. Use `-P ubuntu-latest=node:20-bookworm` for faster pulls.
- **ARM64 issues**: On Apple Silicon, add `--container-architecture linux/amd64` to act arguments.
- **Secrets required**: Create a `.secrets` file and pass `--secret-file .secrets` in the act arguments.
- **Timeout**: Increase with `ACT_TIMEOUT=1200 bash scripts/act/run-act.sh "..."`.

## Resource References

- [Troubleshooting Guide](resources/troubleshooting.md) — Detailed solutions for common issues