Surface assign-to-agent auth/availability failures in agent failure issues/comments

actions/setup/js/assign_to_agent.cjs

@@ -399,7 +399,17 @@ async function main(config = {}) {
         const errorType = isAuthError ? "authentication/permission" : "agent availability";
         core.warning(`Agent assignment failed for ${agentName} on ${type} #${number} due to ${errorType} error. Skipping due to ignore-if-error=true.`);
         core.info(`Error details: ${errorMessage}`);
-        _allResults.push({ issue_number: issueNumber, pull_number: pullNumber, agent: agentName, owner: effectiveOwner, repo: effectiveRepo, pull_request_repo: effectivePullRequestRepoSlug, success: true, skipped: true });
+        _allResults.push({
+          issue_number: issueNumber,
+          pull_number: pullNumber,
+          agent: agentName,
+          owner: effectiveOwner,
+          repo: effectiveRepo,
+          pull_request_repo: effectivePullRequestRepoSlug,
+          success: true,
+          skipped: true,
+          error: errorMessage,
+        });
         return { success: true, skipped: true };
       }
 
@@ -451,18 +461,24 @@ function getAssignToAgentAssigned() {
 
 /**
  * Returns the "assignment_errors" output string for step outputs.
- * Format: "issue:N:agent:error" or "pr:N:agent:error" per failure, newline-separated.
+ * Format: "issue:N:agent:error" or "pr:N:agent:error" per failure/skipped-with-error,
+ * newline-separated.
  * @returns {string}
  */
 function getAssignToAgentErrors() {
-  return _allResults
-    .filter(r => !r.success && !r.skipped)
-    .map(r => {
-      const number = r.issue_number || r.pull_number;
-      const prefix = r.issue_number ? "issue" : "pr";
-      return `${prefix}:${number}:${r.agent}:${r.error}`;
-    })
-    .join("\n");
+  return (
+    _allResults
+      // Include skipped(ignore-if-error) entries that still captured an error so
+      // downstream failure handling can surface assignment problems in issue/comment reports.
+      // Include hard failures (!success) and ignored failures (skipped=true with error).
+      .filter(r => r.error && (r.skipped || !r.success))
+      .map(r => {
+        const number = r.issue_number || r.pull_number;
+        const prefix = r.issue_number ? "issue" : "pr";
+        return `${prefix}:${number}:${r.agent}:${r.error}`;
+      })
+      .join("\n")
+  );
 }
 
 /**

actions/setup/js/assign_to_agent.test.cjs

@@ -1054,6 +1054,8 @@ describe("assign_to_agent", () => {
 
     // Should not fail the workflow
     expect(mockCore.setFailed).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(mockCore.setOutput).toHaveBeenCalledWith("assignment_error_count", "0");
+    expect(mockCore.setOutput).toHaveBeenCalledWith("assignment_errors", expect.stringContaining("Bad credentials"));
 
     // Summary should show skipped assignments
     expect(mockCore.summary.addRaw).toHaveBeenCalled();

actions/setup/js/handle_agent_failure.cjs

@@ -2030,6 +2030,40 @@ function buildCredentialAuthErrorContext(auditJsonlPathOverride) {
   const templatePath = getPromptPath("credential_auth_error.md");
   return "\n" + renderTemplateFromFile(templatePath, { providers: providersList });
 }
+
+/**
+ * Build a context string when assign_to_agent reported assignment errors.
+ * Includes remediation guidance for token and Copilot access setup.
+ * @param {string} assignmentErrors
+ * @returns {string}
+ */
+function buildAssignmentErrorsContext(assignmentErrors) {
+  if (!assignmentErrors || !assignmentErrors.trim()) {
+    return "";
+  }
+
+  let context = buildWarningAlertLine("Agent Assignment Failed", "Failed to assign agent to issues or pull requests.");
+  context += "\n**Assignment Errors:**\n";
+
+  const errorLines = assignmentErrors.split("\n").filter(line => line.trim());
+  for (const errorLine of errorLines) {
+    const parts = errorLine.split(":");
+    if (parts.length >= 4) {
+      const type = parts[0]; // "issue" or "pr"
+      const number = parts[1];
+      const agent = parts[2];
+      const error = parts.slice(3).join(":");
+      context += `- ${type === "issue" ? "Issue" : "PR"} #${number} (agent: ${agent}): ${error}\n`;
+    }
+  }
+
+  context += "\nTo resolve this, verify the agent token and Copilot access configuration:\n";
+  context += "- Configure a valid `GH_AW_AGENT_TOKEN` with `issues: write` and `pull-requests: write` plus active Copilot entitlement\n";
+  context += "- If your org supports it, add `permissions: { copilot-requests: write }` to use org inference without a personal token\n";
+  context += "- Docs: https://github.github.com/gh-aw/reference/engines/#github-copilot-default\n\n";
+
+  return context;
+}
 /**
  * Build a context string when assigning the Copilot coding agent to created issues failed.
  * @param {boolean} hasAssignCopilotFailures - Whether any copilot assignments failed
@@ -2699,8 +2733,10 @@ async function main() {
     // in the engine output and sets the agentic_engine_timeout output.
     const isTimedOut = agentConclusion === "timed_out" || agenticEngineTimeout;
 
-    // Check if there are assignment errors (regardless of agent job status)
-    const hasAssignmentErrors = parseInt(assignmentErrorCount, 10) > 0;
+    // Check if there are assignment errors (regardless of agent job status).
+    // Use assignment_errors as the single source of truth because it includes
+    // both hard failures and skipped(ignore-if-error) assignment errors.
+    const hasAssignmentErrors = assignmentErrors.split("\n").some(line => line.trim());
 
     // Check if there are copilot assignment failures for created issues (regardless of agent job status)
     const hasAssignCopilotFailures = parseInt(assignCopilotFailureCount, 10) > 0;
@@ -3061,22 +3097,7 @@ async function main() {
         const runId = extractRunId(runUrl);
 
         // Build assignment errors context
-        let assignmentErrorsContext = "";
-        if (hasAssignmentErrors && assignmentErrors) {
-          assignmentErrorsContext = buildWarningAlertLine("Agent Assignment Failed", "Failed to assign agent to issues due to insufficient permissions or missing token.") + "\n**Assignment Errors:**\n";
-          const errorLines = assignmentErrors.split("\n").filter(line => line.trim());
-          for (const errorLine of errorLines) {
-            const parts = errorLine.split(":");
-            if (parts.length >= 4) {
-              const type = parts[0]; // "issue" or "pr"
-              const number = parts[1];
-              const agent = parts[2];
-              const error = parts.slice(3).join(":"); // Rest is the error message
-              assignmentErrorsContext += `- ${type === "issue" ? "Issue" : "PR"} #${number} (agent: ${agent}): ${error}\n`;
-            }
-          }
-          assignmentErrorsContext += "\n";
-        }
+        const assignmentErrorsContext = buildAssignmentErrorsContext(assignmentErrors);
 
         // Build create_discussion errors context
         const createDiscussionErrorsContext = hasCreateDiscussionErrors ? buildCreateDiscussionErrorsContext(createDiscussionErrors) : "";
@@ -3284,22 +3305,7 @@ async function main() {
         const issueTemplate = fs.readFileSync(issueTemplatePath, "utf8");
 
         // Build assignment errors context
-        let assignmentErrorsContext = "";
-        if (hasAssignmentErrors && assignmentErrors) {
-          assignmentErrorsContext = buildWarningAlertLine("Agent Assignment Failed", "Failed to assign agent to issues due to insufficient permissions or missing token.") + "\n**Assignment Errors:**\n";
-          const errorLines = assignmentErrors.split("\n").filter(line => line.trim());
-          for (const errorLine of errorLines) {
-            const parts = errorLine.split(":");
-            if (parts.length >= 4) {
-              const type = parts[0]; // "issue" or "pr"
-              const number = parts[1];
-              const agent = parts[2];
-              const error = parts.slice(3).join(":"); // Rest is the error message
-              assignmentErrorsContext += `- ${type === "issue" ? "Issue" : "PR"} #${number} (agent: ${agent}): ${error}\n`;
-            }
-          }
-          assignmentErrorsContext += "\n";
-        }
+        const assignmentErrorsContext = buildAssignmentErrorsContext(assignmentErrors);
 
         // Build create_discussion errors context
         const createDiscussionErrorsContext = hasCreateDiscussionErrors ? buildCreateDiscussionErrorsContext(createDiscussionErrors) : "";
@@ -3531,6 +3537,7 @@ module.exports = {
   loadToolDenialsExceededEvents,
   buildToolDenialsExceededContext,
   buildCredentialAuthErrorContext,
+  buildAssignmentErrorsContext,
   buildAICreditsRateLimitErrorContext,
   buildUnknownModelAICreditsContext,
   hasEngineMaxRunsExceededSignal,

actions/setup/js/handle_agent_failure.test.cjs

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ describe("handle_agent_failure", () => {
   let buildReportIncompleteContext;
   let buildFailureIssueTitle;
   let buildSecretVerificationContext;
+  let buildAssignmentErrorsContext;
   let getActionFailureIssueExpiresHours;
   const ENGINE_RATE_LIMIT_TEMPLATE = "> [!WARNING]\n> **Engine Rate Limited (HTTP 429)**\n> OTLP telemetry\n> {engine_label}\n";
   const ENGINE_MAX_RUNS_EXCEEDED_TEMPLATE = "> [!WARNING]\n> **Engine Max Runs Exceeded**\n> max-runs guardrail\n> {engine_label}\n";
@@ -31,7 +32,16 @@ describe("handle_agent_failure", () => {
 
     // Reset module registry so each test gets a fresh require
     vi.resetModules();
-    ({ main, buildCodePushFailureContext, buildPushRepoMemoryFailureContext, buildReportIncompleteContext, buildFailureIssueTitle, buildSecretVerificationContext, getActionFailureIssueExpiresHours } = require("./handle_agent_failure.cjs"));
+    ({
+      main,
+      buildCodePushFailureContext,
+      buildPushRepoMemoryFailureContext,
+      buildReportIncompleteContext,
+      buildFailureIssueTitle,
+      buildSecretVerificationContext,
+      buildAssignmentErrorsContext,
+      getActionFailureIssueExpiresHours,
+    } = require("./handle_agent_failure.cjs"));
   });
 
   afterEach(() => {
@@ -1311,6 +1321,29 @@ describe("handle_agent_failure", () => {
       expect(buildSecretVerificationContext("", "")).toBe("");
     });
 
+    describe("buildAssignmentErrorsContext", () => {
+      it("returns empty string when there are no assignment errors", () => {
+        expect(buildAssignmentErrorsContext("")).toBe("");
+      });
+
+      it("returns empty string for whitespace-only input", () => {
+        expect(buildAssignmentErrorsContext("   ")).toBe("");
+        expect(buildAssignmentErrorsContext("\n")).toBe("");
+        expect(buildAssignmentErrorsContext("\n\n")).toBe("");
+      });
+
+      it("renders assignment failures with token guidance docs", () => {
+        const result = buildAssignmentErrorsContext("issue:42:copilot:Bad credentials\npr:7:copilot:copilot coding agent is not available for this repository");
+
+        expect(result).toContain("Agent Assignment Failed");
+        expect(result).toContain("Issue #42 (agent: copilot): Bad credentials");
+        expect(result).toContain("PR #7 (agent: copilot): copilot coding agent is not available for this repository");
+        expect(result).toContain("GH_AW_AGENT_TOKEN");
+        expect(result).toContain("copilot-requests: write");
+        expect(result).toContain("https://github.github.com/gh-aw/reference/engines/#github-copilot-default");
+      });
+    });
+
     it("returns generic warning for non-copilot engines when verification failed", () => {
       const result = buildSecretVerificationContext("failed", "claude");
       expect(result).toContain("Secret Verification Failed");