Secure Ci

Secure actions

Step 0: setup

• If the user doesn't specify a cooldown, assume 7 days.
• Check to see if .pre-commit-config.yaml exists; don't add one if it's not already there.
• Assume monthly grouped updates unless a user asks for weekly or quarterly instead.

Step 1: actions

Fully pin GHA. Use npx actions-up -y --min-age=7 --style=sha --include-branches to update and pin. Make sure all the updates are to the same or newer tags - the sorting mechanim for actions-up fails sometimes, like going from year based releases to old SemVer releases, or grabbing a tag that's not a normal release.

Step 2: zizmor

The repo should use zizmor. If .pre-commit-config.yaml exists, this is a good hook:

  - repo: https://github.com/zizmorcore/zizmor-pre-commit
    rev: a4727cbbcd26d7098e96b9cb738169b59711ae51  # frozen: v1.24.1
    hooks:
      - id: zizmor
        files: "^\\.github"
        args: [--persona=pendatic]

Run uvx zizmor --persona=pedantic .github directly. Fix up the problems reported. You can request auto-fixes with --fix=safe or --fix=all for some of the checks.

Common problems / fixes:

• If you need configuration, it should go into .github/zizmor.yaml.
• The copilot-setup-steps.yml file is special - it does not need a concurrency setting. Ignore this check if zizmor thinks otherwise.
• Ask the user if unsure on a fix.
• Template expansion issues can be passed in via an environment variable instead.

Template expansion fix example, before:

      - run: uv run noxfile.py -s test-${{ matrix.python }}

After:

      - run: uv run noxfile.py -s test-$PYTHON
        env:
          PYTHON: ${{ matrix.python }}

Step 3: pre-commit (if applicable)

If the user is using pre-commit, run prek auto-update --freeze --cooldown-days 7 to update and pin to sha.

Step 4: dependabot

If the user does not use .github/dependabot.yml, add one like this:

version: 2
updates:
  - package-ecosystem: "github-actions"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "monthly"
    groups:
      github-actions:
        patterns:
          - "*"
    cooldown:
      default-days: 7

The old alias "actions" can be updated to "github-actions".

If the package has a .pre-commit-config.yaml but there's no ci: field in it, add this to .github/dependabot.yml:

  - package-ecosystem: "pre-commit"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "monthly"
    groups:
      pre-commit:
        patterns:
          - "*"
    cooldown:
      default-days: 7

If a user does have a ci: section in .pre-commit-config.yaml, but doesn't have autoupdate_schedule set, set it.

Step 5: Isolate deploy jobs

All deploy jobs should run seperatly from build jobs, to minimize the number of packages that run with access to deploy permissions. Use artifact upload/download to provide the required files for the deploy job.

Step 6: Add cooldowns to common locations

If this repo uses uv anywhere and has a pyproject.toml, add:

[tool.uv]
exclude-newer = "7 days"

If there's any sign this repo uses pixi, add exclude-newer = "7d" to the tool pixi table in pyproject.toml or pixi.toml

Final report

Run prek -a --quiet if using pre-commit to make sure all changes pass.

Provide a concise bullet point summary of each change.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: henryiii
• Source: henryiii/skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.