pr-buildkite-detective does not work with workflow_run, Buildkite uses GH commnit status

[v1v]

elastic/integrations#17589 does not work as expected, so https://github.com/elastic/integrations/actions/workflows/pr-buildkite-detective.yml is not running

IIUC, that's because it relies on a GitHub workflow using the GitHub workflow event called workflow_run

However, Buildkite does not use GitHub workflows, but GitHub commit status, see https://buildkite.com/docs/pipelines/source-control/github

Modify https://github.com/elastic/ai-github-actions/blob/main/.github/workflows/gh-aw-pr-buildkite-detective.md and the docs at https://github.com/elastic/ai-github-actions/blob/main/gh-agent-workflows/pr-buildkite-detective/example.yml accordingly.

[github-actions]

tl;dr: Issue confirmed — pr-buildkite-detective is wired to workflow_run, but Buildkite reports commit/check status, so this workflow can miss Buildkite failures; switch triggering to status/check events and resolve PRs from commit SHA.

Recommendation

Use status (and optionally check_run) instead of workflow_run for pr-buildkite-detective, then update the detective prompt/logic to derive PRs from commit SHA instead of github.event.workflow_run.pull_requests.

Findings

1. Trigger is currently hard-coded to workflow_run and workflow names:

# gh-agent-workflows/pr-buildkite-detective/example.yml:2-5
on:
  workflow_run:
    workflows: ["CI", "Build", "Test"]
    types: [completed]

# gh-agent-workflows/pr-buildkite-detective/example.yml:16-19
if: >-
  github.event.workflow_run.conclusion == 'failure' &&
  toJSON(github.event.workflow_run.pull_requests) != '[]'

Same in generated trigger:

# .github/workflows/trigger-pr-buildkite-detective.yml:5-7,19-21
on:
  workflow_run:
    workflows: ["CI", "Build", "Test"]
...
if: >-
  github.event.workflow_run.conclusion == 'failure' &&
  toJSON(github.event.workflow_run.pull_requests) != '[]'

2. The detective workflow source depends throughout on github.event.workflow_run.* fields:

• .github/workflows/gh-aw-pr-buildkite-detective.md:102-104 (id, conclusion, head_sha)
• .github/workflows/gh-aw-pr-buildkite-detective.md:136 (workflow_run.pull_requests)
• .github/workflows/gh-aw-pr-buildkite-detective.md:144 (workflow_run.head_sha)

3. Docs currently describe this as workflow_run-based:

• gh-agent-workflows/pr-buildkite-detective/README.md:23

4. Upstream GitHub docs evidence:

• workflow_run is for activity of another workflow run (“requested/completed/in_progress”).
• status runs when commit status changes (error|failure|pending|success) and is suitable for commit-status integrations.
• check_run is also suitable for external checks and provides richer details.

(Ref: GitHub Actions events docs sections for workflow_run, status, check_run.)

5. Related history:

• Issue #239 requested adding Buildkite detective; PR #246 implemented it with workflow_run trigger assumptions.

Verification

I verified trigger/context usage directly from repository files and command output:

$ grep -nE "workflow_run|check_run|pull_requests|conclusion" \
  gh-agent-workflows/pr-buildkite-detective/example.yml \
  .github/workflows/trigger-pr-buildkite-detective.yml \
  .github/workflows/gh-aw-pr-buildkite-detective.md \
  gh-agent-workflows/pr-buildkite-detective/README.md

gh-agent-workflows/pr-buildkite-detective/example.yml:3:  workflow_run:
gh-agent-workflows/pr-buildkite-detective/example.yml:17:      github.event.workflow_run.conclusion == 'failure' &&
gh-agent-workflows/pr-buildkite-detective/example.yml:18:      toJSON(github.event.workflow_run.pull_requests) != '[]'
.github/workflows/trigger-pr-buildkite-detective.yml:5:  workflow_run:
.github/workflows/trigger-pr-buildkite-detective.yml:19:      github.event.workflow_run.conclusion == 'failure' &&
.github/workflows/trigger-pr-buildkite-detective.yml:20:      toJSON(github.event.workflow_run.pull_requests) != '[]'
.github/workflows/gh-aw-pr-buildkite-detective.md:63:  group: pr-buildkite-detective-${{ github.event.workflow_run.id }}
.github/workflows/gh-aw-pr-buildkite-detective.md:102:- **Workflow Run ID**: ${{ github.event.workflow_run.id }}
.github/workflows/gh-aw-pr-buildkite-detective.md:103:- **Conclusion**: ${{ github.event.workflow_run.conclusion }}
.github/workflows/gh-aw-pr-buildkite-detective.md:104:- **Commit SHA**: ${{ github.event.workflow_run.head_sha }}
.github/workflows/gh-aw-pr-buildkite-detective.md:136:2. Identify the PRs associated with the workflow run using `github.event.workflow_run.pull_requests`...
.github/workflows/gh-aw-pr-buildkite-detective.md:144:2. ...filtering by commit SHA `${{ github.event.workflow_run.head_sha }}`...
gh-agent-workflows/pr-buildkite-detective/README.md:23:| `workflow_run` | `completed` | CI workflow failed and the run is associated with a PR |

I also fetched GitHub docs for event semantics (workflow_run, status, check_run) and confirmed they match the above recommendation.

Detailed Action Plan

1. Update trigger source to commit/check-based events:

   • gh-agent-workflows/pr-buildkite-detective/example.yml
   • Replace on.workflow_run with on.status (and optionally on.check_run.types: [completed]).
   • Replace workflow-run condition with event-appropriate failure condition:
     • status: github.event.state == 'failure'
     • check_run: github.event.check_run.conclusion == 'failure'

2. Update detective workflow source assumptions:

   • .github/workflows/gh-aw-pr-buildkite-detective.md
   • Replace github.event.workflow_run.* references in context and instructions.
   • Step 1 should resolve PRs from commit SHA via GitHub API (e.g., “List pull requests associated with commit SHA”) instead of workflow_run.pull_requests.
   • Replace concurrency.group (workflow_run.id) with a stable event-agnostic key (for example github.run_id + SHA).

3. Regenerate compiled artifacts:

   • Run make compile so .github/workflows/trigger-pr-buildkite-detective.yml and .github/workflows/gh-aw-pr-buildkite-detective.lock.yml are updated from sources.

4. Update docs:

   • gh-agent-workflows/pr-buildkite-detective/README.md trigger table and any workflow_run wording.
   • docs/workflows/gh-agent-workflows.md if trigger wording is explicit there.

5. Validate in a consumer repo:

   • Use a PR with Buildkite failing status/check.
   • Confirm the trigger workflow starts and posts the detective comment.

Related Items

Type	Link	Relevance
Issue	#421	Current bug report
Issue	#239	Original request to add Buildkite detective
PR	#246	Initial implementation using workflow_run
File	gh-agent-workflows/pr-buildkite-detective/example.yml	Source trigger currently using workflow_run
File	.github/workflows/trigger-pr-buildkite-detective.yml	Generated trigger mirroring same assumptions
File	.github/workflows/gh-aw-pr-buildkite-detective.md	Prompt/instructions rely on workflow_run.* payload
File	gh-agent-workflows/pr-buildkite-detective/README.md	Documents workflow_run trigger
Doc	https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/events-that-trigger-workflows	Event semantics for workflow_run, status, check_run

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[v1v]

Make the required changes

[v1v]

/ai create the PR with the changes