GitHub Action¶

Run Bernstein from GitHub Actions to orchestrate coding agents in CI.

Quick setup¶

Copy .github/workflows/bernstein-ci-fix.yml into your repo, set the appropriate API key secret, and you're done. When CI fails on your default branch, Bernstein will attempt to fix it automatically.

Inputs¶

Modes¶

Fix-CI mode (task: fix-ci)¶

When task is the literal string "fix-ci", the action:

1. Downloads failed job logs from the triggering workflow run (via gh run view --log-failed).
2. Passes the logs as context to bernstein -g "<goal>" --headless.
3. Retries up to max-retries times if the fix attempt fails.
4. Commits and pushes any resulting changes.

This mode is designed for workflow_run triggers so it can react to CI failures from another workflow.

Normal mode¶

When task is anything other than "fix-ci", the action runs:

bernstein -g "<task>" --budget <budget> --headless

Use this for ad-hoc tasks like generating tests, refactoring, or applying a migration.

Example — run a task on push:

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  update-docs:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: write
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: sipyourdrink-ltd/bernstein@v4
        with:
          task: "Update API docs to match current source"
          budget: "2.00"
        env:
          ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY }}

Required secrets¶

The action needs an API key for whichever agent CLI you use:

Set the secret in your repo settings under Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions.

How it works¶

The action is a composite action (action.yml + action/entrypoint.sh). Steps:

1. Install Python and uv.
2. Install bernstein via uv tool install bernstein.
3. Create a minimal bernstein.yaml if one doesn't exist.
4. Run bernstein in headless mode with the specified task and budget.
5. If any files changed, commit and push them.

Limitations¶

• Agent CLI must be available. The action installs bernstein, but selected CLIs still need to be available/authenticated for your chosen mode.
• Budget is advisory. The budget cap relies on bernstein's cost tracking, which depends on the agent CLI reporting costs accurately.
• Fix-CI mode is best-effort. Complex failures (infra issues, flaky tests, missing credentials) may not be fixable by an agent.
• Concurrency. The example workflow uses concurrency to prevent multiple fix attempts from racing. If you run bernstein in other workflows, consider adding similar guards.
• Permissions. The action needs contents: write to push commits and actions: read to download workflow logs in fix-ci mode.