Workflow Skill Extraction Analysis — May 2026

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Executive Summary

Analyzed 233 markdown workflows in .github/workflows/ to identify high-impact shared-component opportunities. Found 3 major extraction candidates affecting 259 workflows combined with potential savings of ~2,400-3,400 lines of duplicated code.

Key Findings:

• 98.3% of workflows already use shared/otlp.md (excellent adoption)
• Only 21.9% use shared/reporting.md (progressive disclosure gap)
• 89% of GitHub MCP workflows missing shared/github-guard-policy.md
• 7+ workflows independently implement cache-memory trending patterns

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Methodology

Analysis Approach:

1. Parsed /tmp/gh-aw/agent/workflow-index.json for frontmatter patterns, tool configurations, and import statistics
2. Examined existing shared components in .github/workflows/shared/ (64 files)
3. Deep-dived into representative workflows to validate patterns and extract concrete evidence
4. Prioritized opportunities by impact (workflows affected) and implementation feasibility

Coverage:

• Total workflows: 233
• Existing shared components: 64
• Workflows with GitHub tools: 155 (66.5%)
• Workflows with safe-outputs: 189 (81.1%)

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Top Import Statistics

Shared Component	Workflows	Adoption Rate
shared/otlp.md	229	98.3%
shared/reporting.md	51	21.9%
shared/github-guard-policy.md	17	7.3%
shared/mcp/serena-go.md	14	6.0%
shared/gh.md	9	3.9%
shared/go-source-analysis.md	8	3.4%
shared/python-dataviz.md	6	2.6%

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Top 3 Recommendations

1. Progressive Disclosure Guidelines (HIGH PRIORITY)

Problem: 114+ workflows (60% of safe-output workflows) lack progressive disclosure guidance

Impact:

• Workflows affected: 114+
• Line savings: ~1,710-2,280 lines (15-20 lines per workflow)
• Maintenance benefit: Single source of truth for report formatting
• User experience: Consistently readable reports

Proposed Component: shared/progressive-disclosure.md

Contents:

• Header level guidelines (use h3/h4, not h1/h2)
• Collapsible section patterns (<details><summary>)
• Visibility principles (critical info visible, details collapsed)
• Example templates for different report types

Migration Strategy:

1. Extract core guidance from shared/reporting.md
2. Create shared/progressive-disclosure.md
3. Update shared/reporting.md to import it
4. Add to high-traffic workflows first (daily reports, analysis workflows)

Issue: #33690

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2. GitHub Guard Policy Adoption (HIGH PRIORITY)

Problem: 138 workflows (89% of GitHub MCP workflows) don't import shared/github-guard-policy.md

Impact:

• Workflows affected: 138
• Line savings: ~414-690 lines (3-5 lines per workflow)
• Maintenance benefit: Centralized approval label policy
• Security benefit: Consistent approval behavior

What is github-guard-policy.md?
Provides standard approval labels (cookie, community) for community contributor bypass in GitHub MCP min-integrity checks.

Current implementation (5 lines):

---
tools:
  github:
    approval-labels: [cookie, community]
---

Migration Strategy (3 Phases):

1. Phase 1: High-priority workflows (moderation, security, issue/PR automation) - ~30 workflows
2. Phase 2: Medium-priority (daily reports, slash commands) - ~50 workflows
3. Phase 3: Remaining workflows (smoke tests, experiments) - ~58 workflows

Sample workflows missing import: ai-moderator.md, bot-detection.md, contribution-check.md, code-scanning-fixer.md, approach-validator.md

Issue: #33691

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3. Cache-Memory Trending Pattern (MEDIUM PRIORITY)

Problem: 7+ workflows independently implement cache-memory trending for historical data analysis

Impact:

• Workflows affected: 7+ (with growth potential)
• Line savings: ~280-420 lines (40-60 lines per workflow)
• Maintenance benefit: Standardized trending logic
• Quality benefit: Consistent trend calculations and anomaly detection
• Adoption potential: Makes trending easier for new workflows

Workflows using pattern:

1. api-consumption-report.md - GitHub API quota trending
2. daily-cli-performance.md - Compilation benchmark trending
3. lockfile-stats.md - Lockfile statistics trending
4. chaos-pr-bundle-fuzzer.md - Fuzzing result trending
5. constraint-solving-potd.md - Constraint solver trending
6. daily-security-red-team.md - Security scan trending
7. static-analysis-report.md - Static analysis trending

Common pattern elements:

• History file path: /tmp/gh-aw/cache-memory/trending/<name>/history.jsonl
• Entry count checking (if < 30: backfill 30 days, else incremental 1-2 days)
• Date-based deduplication
• 7-day and 30-day rolling averages
• Chart generation with python-dataviz

Proposed Component: shared/cache-memory-trending.md

Example usage:

imports:
  - uses: shared/cache-memory-trending.md
    with:
      workflow-name: "api-consumption"
      metrics: ["core_consumed", "graphql_consumed"]
      trend-windows: ["7d", "30d"]
  - shared/python-dataviz.md
  - shared/otlp.md

Migration Strategy:

1. Extract from api-consumption-report.md (most mature)
2. Create configurable shared component
3. Migrate workflows incrementally (validate at each phase)

Issue: #33692

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Additional Opportunities (Not Prioritized)

Mission-Driven Prompt Structure

• 82 workflows use "## Mission" section without standard template
• Could extract into shared/mission-template.md
• Lower priority (more style guidance than code duplication)

CLI-Proxy + Agentic-Workflows Pattern

• 4 workflows use this combination
• Too few for extraction priority
• Monitor for growth

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Tool Usage Patterns

Tool Configuration	Count	Percentage
cli-proxy	45	19.3%
cache-memory	7	3.0%
agentic-workflows	6	2.6%
repo-memory	4	1.7%

Prompt Structure Patterns:

• "## Mission" section: 82 workflows (35.2%)
• Numbered steps ("## Step 1"): 62 workflows (26.6%)
• "## Current Context": 34+ workflows (14.6%)
• "## Guidelines"/"## Rules": 15+ workflows

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Impact Summary

Combined Potential Impact (Top 3 Recommendations):

• Total workflows affected: 259 (with overlap)
• Estimated line savings: ~2,400-3,400 lines
• Maintenance benefit: 3 new single sources of truth for critical patterns
• Quality benefit: Consistent report formatting, security policy, and trend analysis

Implementation Priority:

1. Progressive Disclosure - Highest user-facing impact
2. GitHub Guard Policy - Security and consistency
3. Cache-Memory Trending - Quality and reusability

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Next Steps

1. Review issues: [refactoring] Extract progressive disclosure guidelines into shared component #33690, [refactoring] Expand github-guard-policy.md adoption to all GitHub MCP workflows #33691, [refactoring] Extract cache-memory trending/history pattern into shared component #33692
2. Prioritize extraction work: Start with progressive disclosure (highest impact)
3. Create shared components: Follow migration paths outlined in issues
4. Update AGENTS.md: Document new shared components and when to use them
5. Monitor adoption: Track import rates after extraction

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References

• Workflow Index: /tmp/gh-aw/agent/workflow-index.json
• Shared Components: .github/workflows/shared/
• Analysis Run: §26206419572
• Issues Created: [refactoring] Extract progressive disclosure guidelines into shared component #33690, [refactoring] Expand github-guard-policy.md adoption to all GitHub MCP workflows #33691, [refactoring] Extract cache-memory trending/history pattern into shared component #33692

Generated by 🔍 Workflow Skill Extractor · ● 1.6M · ◷

• expires on May 28, 2026, 5:08 AM UTC

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This discussion was automatically closed because it expired on 2026-05-28T05:08:22.989Z.

Closed by Workflow