Teach create workflow agent to discover CLI automation before manual configuration

[Copilot]

Improve Create Workflow Agent to Discover CLI Tools

Problem

When asked to create a dependabot project management workflow, the agent gave manual setup instructions instead of discovering the available gh aw project new --with-project-setup CLI command.

Solution

Added concise CLI automation discovery guidance to the create workflow agent.

Changes Made

• Explore repository structure and understand the issue
• Update create-agentic-workflow.md to include CLI tool discovery guidance
• Add section on gh aw project CLI capabilities
• Document the --with-project-setup flag and its features
• Add guidance to suggest CLI commands before manual configuration
• Make CLI Automation Discovery section concise (8 lines, not 93 lines)
• Update projects.md Core Projects Patterns to emphasize CLI-first approach
• Test the changes with command verification
• Validate all changes compile and tests pass

Key Improvements

1. CLI Automation Discovery Section (.github/aw/create-agentic-workflow.md)

• Concise 8-line section teaching agents to discover CLI tools before manual setup
• References gh aw --help for exploration
• Lists key commands: project new --with-project-setup, secrets, init, new, add
• Specific guidance for GitHub Projects workflows

2. Projects Guide (.github/aw/projects.md)

• Updated Core Projects Patterns section to emphasize CLI-first approach
• CLI command reference included inline without redundant separate section

Impact

The create workflow agent will now:

• ✅ Discover and recommend gh aw project new --with-project-setup
• ✅ Provide single CLI command instead of 6+ manual steps
• ✅ Reduce user configuration burden significantly
• ✅ Ensure consistent project setup with standard views and fields

Testing

• Build succeeds
• Format check passes
• Project command tests pass
• CLI help text verified

Original prompt

Improve create workflow agent: We just asked to create a dependabot project management workflow and instead of discovering that we have create-project cli available with custom view, etc. it gave manual instructions: Configuration Required
Users must:

Create Projects v2 board: https://github.com/orgs//projects/
Generate PAT with Projects permissions → GH_AW_PROJECT_GITHUB_TOKEN secret
Update placeholder project URLs in frontmatter
Recompile: gh aw compile dependabot-project-manager

This should have been smarter so that the user has minimal configuraiton setup.

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[mnkiefer]

@copilot CLI Automation Discovery:* section is much too verbose. It should be shorter or not needed at all (since it has help)

[Copilot]

@copilot CLI Automation Discovery:* section is much too verbose. It should be shorter or not needed at all (since it has help)

Agreed - reduced the section from ~93 lines to ~8 lines. Now just provides the key principle with brief command examples and refers to gh aw --help for details (c5f4b7e)

[mnkiefer]

@copilot Remove the reundant section ## Quick Setup with CLI, it should be clear enough.

[Copilot]

@copilot Remove the reundant section ## Quick Setup with CLI, it should be clear enough.

Removed the redundant section. The CLI command reference remains in Core Projects Patterns which is sufficient (f9900a4)

[github-actions]

🔍 PR Triage Results

Category: docs | Risk: low | Priority: 28/100

Scores Breakdown

• Impact: 20/50 - Documentation update
• Urgency: 0/30 - Recently created
• Quality: 8/20 - CI pending, good description, draft status

📋 Recommended Action: defer

Draft or low priority - can wait for more development

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Triaged by PR Triage Agent on 2026-02-06

AI generated by PR Triage Agent

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Updates the repository’s “create workflow” agent guidance to encourage discovering and using gh aw CLI automation (especially for GitHub Projects) before suggesting manual configuration steps.

Changes:

• Add a concise “CLI Automation Discovery” section to .github/aw/create-agentic-workflow.md with key gh aw commands to check first.
• Update .github/aw/projects.md to recommend gh aw project new --with-project-setup as the preferred quick setup path and position create-project safe-output as advanced.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
.github/aw/projects.md	Adds CLI-first recommendation for Projects setup and reframes programmatic project creation as advanced.
.github/aw/create-agentic-workflow.md	Adds a short CLI discovery section and a pointer in the tools/resources list to encourage CLI-first setup suggestions.

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[Copilot]

The new bullet recommends CLI automation for project creation, but later in this doc ("Create a new project (optional)") still says to prefer manual creation unless bootstrapping. This reads as contradictory guidance; consider clarifying that the "prefer manual" guidance applies specifically to the create-project safe-output (programmatic creation), while initial setup should be done via CLI (or update/remove the later statement to match).

See below for a potential fix:

- **Create projects with automation (CLI)** - Run `gh aw project new --with-project-setup` yourself to bootstrap new projects with standard views and fields (recommended for initial setup)
- **Track items and fields** with `update-project` (add issue/PR items, create/update fields, optionally create views)
- **Post periodic run summaries** with `create-project-status-update` (status, dates, and a concise markdown summary)
- **Create new projects programmatically (agent)** with `create-project` safe-output (advanced; use only when the agent must create projects itself—otherwise create projects manually or via CLI as described in "Create a new project (optional)")

[Copilot]

The resource bullet is titled "CLI Tool Discovery" but points to the "CLI Automation Discovery" section below. To reduce confusion and make the reference easy to find (especially for agents scanning headings), consider using the exact same phrase for both the bullet label and the section heading.

Suggested change

	- **⚡ CLI Tool Discovery** → Before configuring complex manual setup, check if `gh aw` provides a CLI command for the task (see CLI Automation Discovery section below)
	- **⚡ CLI Automation Discovery** → Before configuring complex manual setup, check if `gh aw` provides a CLI command for the task (see CLI Automation Discovery section below)