Add optional discussions field to control discussions:write permission for add-comment and hide-comment

[Copilot]

add-comment and hide-comment safe outputs unconditionally requested discussions:write permission, causing 422 errors when GitHub Apps lack Discussions permission. This occurred even when no discussion-related safe outputs were configured.

Solution

Added an optional discussions field to add-comment and hide-comment configurations that allows users to control whether discussions:write permission is requested.

Default behavior (field omitted or discussions: true): Includes discussions:write permission for maximum compatibility
Opt-out (discussions: false): Excludes discussions:write permission for GitHub Apps without Discussions permission

Changes

1. Config Structs (add_comment.go, hide_comment.go):

• Added Discussions *bool field to AddCommentsConfig and HideCommentConfig
• Field is optional and defaults to true when omitted (backward compatible)

2. Permission Logic (safe_outputs_permissions.go, add_comment.go):

• Updated computePermissionsForSafeOutputs() to check the Discussions field
• Updated standalone add-comment handler permissions
• When discussions: false: uses NewPermissionsContentsReadIssuesWritePRWrite()
• Otherwise (default): uses NewPermissionsContentsReadIssuesWritePRWriteDiscussionsWrite()

3. Schema Updates (main_workflow_schema.json):

• Added discussions boolean field to both add-comment and hide-comment schemas
• Includes documentation explaining the purpose and usage

4. Tool Descriptions (safe_outputs_tools.json):

• Updated add_comment and hide_comment tool descriptions to document the discussions field
• Explains when and why to use discussions: false

5. Test Coverage (safe_outputs_permissions_test.go):

• Added tests for default behavior (includes discussions:write)
• Added tests for opt-out behavior with discussions: false (excludes discussions:write)

Usage Example

safe-outputs:
  app:
    app-id: ${{ secrets.APP_ID }}
    private-key: ${{ secrets.APP_PRIVATE_KEY }}
    owner: 'myorg'
    repositories: ['myrepo']
  add-comment:
    target: "*"
    max: 1
    discussions: false  # Exclude discussions:write permission

Behavior

Default (maintains backward compatibility):

• contents: read
• issues: write
• pull-requests: write
• discussions: write ✅

With discussions: false (for apps without Discussions permission):

• contents: read
• issues: write
• pull-requests: write

The discussions:write permission is still independently added when discussion-related safe outputs (create-discussion, close-discussion, update-discussion) are configured.

Original prompt

---

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>add-comment and hide-comment safe outputs unconditionally request discussions:write permission</issue_title>
<issue_description>🤖 AI Assisted Bug Report

Problem

PR #15518 (fixing #15516) introduced computePermissionsForSafeOutputs to compute minimal permissions for the safe_outputs and conclusion jobs. However, the add-comment and hide-comment entries still use NewPermissionsContentsReadIssuesWritePRWriteDiscussionsWrite(), which unconditionally includes discussions: write — even when no discussion-related safe outputs (create-discussion, close-discussion, update-discussion) are configured.

This causes the same 422 error that #15516 reported:

RequestError [HttpError]: The permissions requested are not granted to this installation.

…when the GitHub App installation doesn't have the Discussions permission granted.

Root Cause

In pkg/workflow/safe_outputs_permissions.go:

if safeOutputs.AddComments != nil {
    permissions.Merge(NewPermissionsContentsReadIssuesWritePRWriteDiscussionsWrite())
    //                                                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    //                                              discussions: write always included
}

if safeOutputs.HideComment != nil {
    permissions.Merge(NewPermissionsContentsReadIssuesWritePRWriteDiscussionsWrite())
    //                                              same problem
}

The rationale is that add_comment.cjs can comment on discussions, not just issues/PRs. But if no discussion-related safe-output is configured, the agent will never target a discussion, so discussions: write is unnecessary.

The same pattern also exists in pkg/workflow/add_comment.go L124 (standalone handler permissions).

Impact

Any workflow using add-comment or hide-comment with a GitHub App that doesn't have Discussions permission will fail at the token generation step in the safe_outputs and conclusion jobs. The agent job completes successfully, but its output (comments, labels, assignments) is never applied.

Affected compiled output (lock.yml):

• Job-level permissions: block includes discussions: write
• create-github-app-token step includes permission-discussions: write

Workaround: Manually remove discussions: write and permission-discussions: write from the compiled lock file after every gh aw compile.

Suggested Fix

In safe_outputs_permissions.go, use NewPermissionsContentsReadIssuesWritePRWrite() (already exists at permissions_factory.go L83) instead:

if safeOutputs.AddComments != nil {
    permissions.Merge(NewPermissionsContentsReadIssuesWritePRWrite())
}

if safeOutputs.HideComment != nil {
    permissions.Merge(NewPermissionsContentsReadIssuesWritePRWrite())
}

discussions: write is already independently added when discussion-related safe outputs are configured:

if safeOutputs.CreateDiscussions != nil {
    permissions.Merge(NewPermissionsContentsReadIssuesWriteDiscussionsWrite())
}
if safeOutputs.CloseDiscussions != nil {
    permissions.Merge(NewPermissionsContentsReadDiscussionsWrite())
}
if safeOutputs.UpdateDiscussions != nil {
    permissions.Merge(NewPermissionsContentsReadDiscussionsWrite())
}

So workflows that actually use discussions will still get the permission via those entries.

Same fix should be applied to add_comment.go L124 for the standalone handler path.

Reproduction

1. Create a workflow with add-comment but no discussion safe-outputs:

safe-outputs:
  app:
    app-id: ${{ secrets.APP_ID }}
    private-key: ${{ secrets.APP_PRIVATE_KEY }}
    owner: 'myorg'
    repositories: ['myrepo']
  add-comment:
    target: "*"
    max: 1

2. Use a GitHub App that does NOT have the Discussions permission
3. gh aw compile
4. Observe discussions: write in the lock file's safe_outputs and conclusion jobs
5. Run the workflow — token generation fails with 422

Environment

• gh-aw: v0.45.7 (also affected: v0.43.9, v0.43.22, all versions since Fix: Compute minimal permissions for conclusion/safe_outputs jobs based on configured safe-outputs #15518)
• actions/create-github-app-token: v2.2.1

Related

• Conclusion job should not request discussions: write when workflow has no discussion-related safe-outputs #15516 — original report (closed by Fix: Compute minimal permissions for conclusion/safe_outputs jobs based on configured safe-outputs #15518, but the fix was incomplete)
• Fix: Compute minimal permissions for conclusion/safe_outputs jobs based on configured safe-outputs #15518 — partial fix (introduced computePermissionsForSafeOutputs but didn't fix add-comment/hide-comment)
  </issue_description>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

• Fixes add-comment and hide-comment safe outputs unconditionally request discussions:write permission #16500

---

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

[pelikhan]

@copilot add a field

discussions: false

that allows to disable discussions: write permissions. discussions: write as default.

For add-comments and hide-comments.
Update tool discription

[Copilot]

@copilot add a field

discussions: false...

Added discussions field to both add-comment and hide-comment safe outputs.

Default behavior (field omitted or discussions: true): Includes discussions:write permission
Opt-out (discussions: false): Excludes discussions:write permission

Example:

safe-outputs:
  add-comment:
    target: "*"
    max: 1
    discussions: false  # Exclude discussions:write

Implementation in commit 7d34838:

• Added Discussions *bool field to config structs
• Updated permission logic to check field value
• Updated JSON schema to allow the field
• Updated tool descriptions with usage guidance
• Added tests for both behaviors

Verified compilation: workflows with discussions: false no longer request permission-discussions: write in generated lock files.

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Adds a configurable opt-out (discussions: false) for add-comment / hide-comment safe outputs so workflows can avoid requesting discussions:write and prevent 422s for GitHub Apps without Discussions permission.

Changes:

• Adds optional Discussions *bool to AddCommentsConfig and HideCommentConfig, and updates permission computation to conditionally include discussions:write.
• Updates schema/docs (main_workflow_schema.json, safe_outputs_tools.json) and extends permission tests.
• Regenerates .github/workflows/ci-doctor.lock.yml permissions output.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 7 out of 7 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
pkg/workflow/safe_outputs_permissions.go	Conditionally merges discussions:write for add/hide comment based on new config flag.
pkg/workflow/safe_outputs_permissions_test.go	Adds test cases for default vs discussions:false.
pkg/workflow/add_comment.go	Updates standalone add_comment job permissions to respect the new flag.
pkg/workflow/hide_comment.go	Adds Discussions field to config struct (but see review comment re: parsing).
pkg/workflow/js/safe_outputs_tools.json	Documents discussions:false opt-out behavior in tool descriptions.
pkg/parser/schemas/main_workflow_schema.json	Adds discussions boolean to add-comment / hide-comment schema definitions.
.github/workflows/ci-doctor.lock.yml	Updates generated job permissions (notably removes discussions: write).

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

.github/workflows/ci-doctor.lock.yml:1279

• This workflow's source (ci-doctor.md) enables safe-outputs.add-comment without setting discussions: false, but this lock file no longer requests discussions: write for the safe_outputs job. If the default behavior is still to include discussions:write, either regenerate the lock file or explicitly opt out via safe-outputs.add-comment.discussions: false in the source workflow.

    runs-on: ubuntu-slim
    permissions:
      contents: read
      issues: write
      pull-requests: write
    timeout-minutes: 15

---

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[Copilot]

HideCommentConfig now has a Discussions field, but parseHideCommentConfig never reads discussions from the hide-comment config map. As a result, safe-outputs.hide-comment.discussions: false will be silently ignored and the workflow will still request discussions:write. Parse and set this field (only when the key is present) so the opt-out works as intended.

[Copilot]

This workflow's source (ci-doctor.md) enables safe-outputs.add-comment without setting discussions: false, but this lock file no longer requests discussions: write for the conclusion job. If the default behavior is still to include discussions:write (as described/tests indicate), either the lock file needs regeneration or the workflow config should explicitly set safe-outputs.add-comment.discussions: false to justify omitting the permission.

This issue also appears on line 1274 of the same file.

[Copilot]

The standalone add_comment job now conditionally drops discussions:write based on safe-outputs.add-comment.discussions, but there isn't test coverage asserting the generated job permissions for the default vs discussions:false cases (existing tests for buildCreateOutputAddCommentJob only check needs/env). Add a unit test that verifies the job's rendered permissions include/exclude discussions: write accordingly.