Write your first workflow with GitHub Actions and GitHub APIs - beginner friendly tutorial!

issue_comment.yaml

name: Create a comment on new issues

on:
  issues:
    types: [opened]

permissions: write-all

jobs:
  comment-with-action:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: "dump github context"
        run: echo '${{ toJSON(github.event) }}' | jq
        shell: bash
      - name: Create comment
        uses: peter-evans/create-or-update-comment@v1
        with:
          issue-number: ${{ github.event.issue.number }}
          body: |
            This is a multi-line test comment
            - With GitHub **Markdown** :sparkles:
            - Created by [create-or-update-comment][1]

            [1]: https://github.com/peter-evans/create-or-update-comment
          reactions: '+1'
          
  comment-with-api:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Create comment with API
        run: |
          gh api -X POST \
            https://api.github.com/repos/${ORGANIZATION}/${REPOSITORY}/issues/${ISSUE_NUMBER}/comments \
            -f body='
            Comment but from the API call not action
            '
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          ORGANIZATION: ${{ github.event.organization.login }}
          REPOSITORY: ${{ github.event.repository.name }}
          ISSUE_NUMBER: ${{ github.event.issue.number }}

this worked.
env:
GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
ORGANIZATION: ${{ github.event.repository.owner.login }} #JSON structure changed
REPOSITORY: ${{ github.event.repository.name }}
ISSUE_NUMBER: ${{ github.event.issue.number }}

The action version has been upgraded. Please use peter-evans/create-or-update-comment@v2

The action version has been upgraded. Please use peter-evans/create-or-update-comment@v2

It's on v3 now! :)

this worked. env: GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }} ORGANIZATION: ${{ github.event.repository.owner.login }} #JSON structure changed REPOSITORY: ${{ github.event.repository.name }} ISSUE_NUMBER: ${{ github.event.issue.number }}

This changes the API call from a repository belonging to an organisation to one belonging to a specific user. I know many are facing this difficulty but it's not really hard and I encourage everyone to create a free organisation and experiment with it (as opposed to just repositories).

Sometimes it is required to add permission to the Github actions, so you can use :

permissions: write-all

The action version has been upgraded. Please use peter-evans/create-or-update-comment@v2

thx worked with permission: write-all flag

omg, it worked with permissions: write-all added to both actions and with ${{ github.event.repository.owner.login }}

thanks guys @Mawulijo @h3ct0rjs

@Link- please update your otherwise great course

I added the permissions: write-all - this was created before GITHUB_TOKEN permissions were introduced :)

Nice @Link- thank you for adding it. I was coming from working with Gitlab CICD and your course was a great resource. Also the official docs so thank you

I am currently facing this issue and I will appreciate any help I can get

Run gh api -X POST
gh api -X POST
https://api.github.com/repo/${ORGANIZATION}/${REPOSITORY}/issues/${ISSUE_NUMBER/comments}
-f body=" Comment from Github API Bot"
shell: /usr/bin/bash -e {0}
env:
GITHUB_TOKEN: ***
ORGANIZATION: Gerald-Izuchukwu
REPOSITORY: Meal-Microservice-App
ISSUE_NUMBER: 10
gh: Not Found (HTTP 404)
{"message":"Not Found","documentation_url":"https://docs.github.com/rest"}
Error: Process completed with exit code 1.

@Gerald-Izuchukwu

You have typos inside of your workflow file. The link should look like this:
https://api.github.com/repos/${ORGANIZATION}/${REPOSITORY}/issues/${ISSUE_NUMBER}/comments

Also, make sure you set up the correct environment variables if you're using a repo inside your account instead of a repo inside an organization(check out Mawulijo's comment).