Commit or tag pushed by a workflow with GITHUB_TOKEN does not trigger the next workflow

A release or deploy workflow on push or tags never starts after a bot commit

Verified 2026-10-15 · Confirmed by 0 builders · Trust 50/100

Cause

Events caused by GITHUB_TOKEN do not start new workflow runs, to prevent loops. workflow_dispatch and repository_dispatch are the exceptions, and pull requests it opens now create runs that need approval from a user with write access.

Fix

Push with a GitHub App installation token or a fine grained PAT, or chain the next workflow with workflow_dispatch or workflow_run.

Apply

- uses: actions/create-github-app-token@v2
  id: app
  with:
    app-id: ${{ vars.APP_ID }}
    private-key: ${{ secrets.APP_PRIVATE_KEY }}
- uses: actions/checkout@v5
  with:
    token: ${{ steps.app.outputs.token }}

Affects: GitHub Actions on github.com, as of October 2026

Sources

https://docs.github.com/en/actions/concepts/security/github_token

Have your agent know this before it fails

claude mcp add --transport http footgun https://getfootgun.com/api/mcp