Fix issue-monster workflow by enabling needs.* expression evaluation in runtime-imported markdown by Copilot · Pull Request #14255 · github/gh-aw

Copilot · 2026-02-07T02:11:10Z

The issue-monster workflow wasn't assigning issues to agents because ${{ needs.search_issues.outputs.* }} expressions in the workflow body were never interpolated. The agent received no issue data and called noop instead of assign_to_agent.

Changes

Compiler (pkg/workflow/compiler_yaml.go)

Extract expressions from MainWorkflowMarkdown (not MarkdownContent which includes unprocessed imports)
Add extracted expressions to environment variables for runtime interpolation
Prevents extracting github.aw.inputs.* expressions before substitution

Runtime (actions/setup/js/runtime_import.cjs)

Evaluate needs.* and steps.* expressions from environment variables during runtime-import
Converts expressions to env var names (e.g., needs.search_issues.outputs.issue_list → GH_AW_NEEDS_SEARCH_ISSUES_OUTPUTS_ISSUE_LIST)
Falls back to existing evaluation if not found in environment

Example

Workflow markdown with job dependencies:

**Issue Count**: ${{ needs.search_issues.outputs.issue_count }}
**Available Issues**: ${{ needs.search_issues.outputs.issue_list }}

Now compiles to workflow with environment variables:

env:
  GH_AW_NEEDS_SEARCH_ISSUES_OUTPUTS_ISSUE_COUNT: ${{ needs.search_issues.outputs.issue_count }}
  GH_AW_NEEDS_SEARCH_ISSUES_OUTPUTS_ISSUE_LIST: ${{ needs.search_issues.outputs.issue_list }}

And runtime-import evaluates these expressions from process.env when processing the markdown body.

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Original prompt

Review why issue monster is not assign tasks to the agent.

💬 We'd love your input! Share your thoughts on Copilot coding agent in our 2 minute survey.

- Extract expressions from MainWorkflowMarkdown (not MarkdownContent) to avoid processing imported content before substitution - Add needs.* and steps.* expression evaluation from environment variables in runtime_import.cjs - This allows needs.search_issues.outputs.* to be passed to the agent prompt Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

…in runtime-imported markdown Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Fixes runtime-imported markdown prompt rendering so workflows can use ${{ needs.* }} / ${{ steps.* }} expressions (notably for issue-monster), by surfacing those values via GH_AW_* environment variables and teaching runtime-import to resolve them from process.env.

Changes:

Compiler: additionally extracts expressions from MainWorkflowMarkdown and adds them to the env vars used during prompt generation/runtime interpolation.
Runtime: runtime_import.cjs now attempts to resolve needs.* / steps.* expressions from process.env using a deterministic GH_AW_* naming scheme.
Regenerates many compiled workflow lockfiles to include additional GH_AW_* env vars (including needs.* outputs and various github.* fields).

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 113 out of 113 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
pkg/workflow/compiler_yaml.go	Extract expressions from main workflow markdown (runtime-imported body) and merge them into compiler-provided env mappings.
actions/setup/js/runtime_import.cjs	Add `needs.`/`steps.` evaluation via env var lookup during runtime-import expression processing.
.github/workflows/workflow-normalizer.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/workflow-generator.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/weekly-issue-summary.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/video-analyzer.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/unbloat-docs.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/ubuntu-image-analyzer.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/typist.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/terminal-stylist.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/technical-doc-writer.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/super-linter.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/sub-issue-closer.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/static-analysis-report.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/stale-repo-identifier.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/smoke-project.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/smoke-opencode.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/smoke-copilot.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/smoke-codex.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/smoke-claude.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/slide-deck-maintainer.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/sergo.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/semantic-function-refactor.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/security-review.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_` env vars (incl. `needs.`).
.github/workflows/security-guard.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/security-compliance.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/scout.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_` env vars (incl. complex expr hashes + `needs.`).
.github/workflows/safe-output-health.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/research.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/repository-quality-improver.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/repo-audit-analyzer.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/release.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_` env vars (incl. `needs.release.outputs.`).
.github/workflows/q.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_` env vars (incl. complex expr hashes + `needs.`).
.github/workflows/python-data-charts.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/prompt-clustering-analysis.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/pr-triage-agent.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/pr-nitpick-reviewer.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/portfolio-analyst.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/poem-bot.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_` env vars (incl. `needs.`).
.github/workflows/plan.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_` env vars (incl. `needs.`).
.github/workflows/pdf-summary.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_` env vars (incl. complex expr hashes + `needs.`).
.github/workflows/notion-issue-summary.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars (incl. hashed expr for `issue-number`).
.github/workflows/metrics-collector.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/mergefest.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/lockfile-stats.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/jsweep.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/issue-triage-agent.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/issue-monster.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile to pass `needs.search_issues.outputs.*` into runtime-import evaluation via env vars.
.github/workflows/issue-classifier.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_` env vars (incl. `needs.`).
.github/workflows/issue-arborist.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/hourly-ci-cleaner.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_` env vars (incl. `needs.check_ci_status.outputs.`).
.github/workflows/grumpy-reviewer.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_` env vars (incl. `needs.`).
.github/workflows/go-pattern-detector.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/go-fan.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/glossary-maintainer.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/github-remote-mcp-auth-test.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/github-mcp-tools-report.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/github-mcp-structural-analysis.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/functional-pragmatist.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/firewall.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/firewall-escape.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/duplicate-code-detector.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/draft-pr-cleanup.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/docs-noob-tester.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/developer-docs-consolidator.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/dev-hawk.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/dependabot-project-manager.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/dependabot-go-checker.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/delight.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-testify-uber-super-expert.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-team-evolution-insights.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-syntax-error-quality.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-secrets-analysis.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-safe-output-optimizer.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-repo-chronicle.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-regulatory.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-performance-summary.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-observability-report.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-multi-device-docs-tester.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-mcp-concurrency-analysis.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-malicious-code-scan.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-issues-report.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-file-diet.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-fact.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-doc-updater.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-copilot-token-report.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-compiler-quality.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-cli-tools-tester.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/daily-cli-performance.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/craft.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_` env vars (incl. `needs.`).
.github/workflows/copilot-session-insights.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/copilot-pr-prompt-analysis.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/copilot-pr-nlp-analysis.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/copilot-pr-merged-report.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile; adds placeholder substitution + env vars to support runtime-import expression interpolation.
.github/workflows/copilot-cli-deep-research.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/copilot-agent-analysis.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/commit-changes-analyzer.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/codex-github-remote-mcp-test.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/code-simplifier.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/cloclo.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_` env vars (incl. `needs.`).
.github/workflows/cli-version-checker.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/cli-consistency-checker.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/claude-code-user-docs-review.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/ci-doctor.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/ci-coach.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/changeset.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_` env vars (incl. `needs.`).
.github/workflows/breaking-change-checker.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/brave.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_` env vars (incl. complex expr hashes + `needs.`).
.github/workflows/blog-auditor.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/audit-workflows.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/artifacts-summary.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.
.github/workflows/archie.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_` env vars (incl. complex expr hashes + `needs.`).
.github/workflows/ai-moderator.lock.yml	Regenerated lockfile with additional `GH_AW_*` env vars.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (2)

actions/setup/js/runtime_import.cjs:221

The runtime-import env var fast-path treats empty string as "not found" (envValue !== ""). If a needs/steps output legitimately evaluates to an empty string, this will fall through and return the original ${{ ... }} string, leaving an unevaluated expression in the imported markdown. Consider returning the env value whenever the variable is present (e.g., check only for envValue !== undefined), so empty outputs are handled correctly.
actions/setup/js/runtime_import.cjs:223
Env var name derivation for needs.* / steps.* expressions only replaces dots with underscores, but doesn’t normalize other valid identifier characters like -. Job IDs and step IDs commonly contain hyphens; the compiler’s ExpressionExtractor currently falls back to hash-based names for those, and GitHub Actions env keys also typically can’t contain -. This means needs.some-job.outputs.x / steps.some-step.outputs.x in runtime-imported markdown may never resolve. Suggest normalizing to a shared scheme (e.g., replace any [^A-Z0-9_] with _) and ensuring the compiler generates matching env var names for those expressions.

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Copilot · 2026-02-07T02:42:34Z

pkg/workflow/compiler_yaml.go

+		// Create a new extractor for main workflow markdown
+		mainExtractor := NewExpressionExtractor()
+		mainExprMappings, err := mainExtractor.ExtractExpressions(data.MainWorkflowMarkdown)
+		if err == nil && len(mainExprMappings) > 0 {
+			compilerYamlLog.Printf("Extracted %d expressions from main workflow markdown", len(mainExprMappings))
+			// Merge with imported expressions (append to existing mappings)
+			expressionMappings = append(expressionMappings, mainExprMappings...)
+		}


mainExprMappings are appended to expressionMappings without deduplication. If the same expression appears in both imported markdown and the main markdown, generateInterpolationAndTemplateStep will emit duplicate env: keys (it iterates expressionMappings directly), which can produce invalid YAML / nondeterministic behavior. Consider deduping by EnvVar (or Original) before calling generateInterpolationAndTemplateStep, or changing that step generator to build a stable unique set.

Copilot · 2026-02-07T02:42:35Z

actions/setup/js/runtime_import.cjs

+  // Check if this is a needs.* or steps.* expression that should be looked up from environment variables
+  // The compiler extracts these expressions and makes them available as GH_AW_* environment variables
+  // For example: needs.search_issues.outputs.issue_list → GH_AW_NEEDS_SEARCH_ISSUES_OUTPUTS_ISSUE_LIST
+  if (trimmed.startsWith("needs.") || trimmed.startsWith("steps.")) {
+    // Convert expression to environment variable name
+    // e.g., "needs.search_issues.outputs.issue_list" → "GH_AW_NEEDS_SEARCH_ISSUES_OUTPUTS_ISSUE_LIST"
+    const envVarName = "GH_AW_" + trimmed.toUpperCase().replace(/\./g, "_");
+    const envValue = process.env[envVarName];
+    if (envValue !== undefined && envValue !== null && envValue !== "") {
+      return envValue;
+    }
+    // If not found in environment, continue to try other evaluation methods below
+  }


This change adds new evaluation behavior for needs.* / steps.* expressions via process.env, but runtime_import.test.cjs currently asserts these expressions are unresolvable and should remain wrapped. Please update/add tests to cover the new env-lookup path (including the empty-string case and an id containing - once name normalization is decided).

This issue also appears in the following locations of the same file:

line 214

line 214

Initial plan

9437727

Copilot AI assigned Copilot and pelikhan Feb 7, 2026

Copilot started work on behalf of pelikhan February 7, 2026 02:11 View session

Copilot AI and others added 2 commits February 7, 2026 02:28

Fix issue-monster workflow by enabling needs.* expression evaluation …

9792adb

…in runtime-imported markdown Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Fix issue with monster not assigning tasks to agent~~ Fix issue-monster workflow by enabling needs.* expression evaluation in runtime-imported markdown Feb 7, 2026

Copilot AI requested a review from pelikhan February 7, 2026 02:35

Copilot finished work on behalf of pelikhan February 7, 2026 02:35

pelikhan marked this pull request as ready for review February 7, 2026 02:37

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings February 7, 2026 02:37

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of pelikhan February 7, 2026 02:38 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Feb 7, 2026

View reviewed changes

pelikhan merged commit 0d71edf into main Feb 7, 2026
98 checks passed

pelikhan deleted the copilot/fix-issue-monster-assignment branch February 7, 2026 02:43

github-actions bot mentioned this pull request Feb 7, 2026

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Fix issue-monster workflow by enabling needs.* expression evaluation in runtime-imported markdown#14255

Fix issue-monster workflow by enabling needs.* expression evaluation in runtime-imported markdown#14255
pelikhan merged 3 commits intomainfrom
copilot/fix-issue-monster-assignment

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Copilot AI commented Feb 7, 2026 •

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