Squad in CI/CD Pipelines

Try this to automate deployment pipelines:

Set up GitHub Actions to run tests on every PR and deploy to staging on merge to main

Try this to enable periodic housekeeping:

Enable Ralph's heartbeat workflow to triage issues automatically

Ralph runs periodically via GitHub Actions to handle housekeeping between Copilot sessions — triage new issues, apply squad labels, check stale branches, archive old decisions.

1. The Heartbeat Workflow — Ralph Between Sessions

Using Squad with GitHub Actions. Label-driven automation, heartbeat workflows, and autonomous issue processing.

Ralph (the manager agent) runs periodically via GitHub Actions to handle housekeeping between Copilot sessions:

  • Triage new issues
  • Apply squad labels based on routing rules
  • Check for stale branches
  • Archive old decisions

The workflow is in .github/workflows/squad-heartbeat.yml and runs every 6 hours.

You don’t have to do anything — it’s installed automatically (along with 9 other workflows) when you run npx github:bradygaster/squad.

name: Ralph Heartbeat
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 */6 * * *'  # Every 6 hours
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  heartbeat:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Run Ralph
        run: npx github:bradygaster/squad heartbeat

Ralph reads .ai-team/routing.md, looks at open issues, and applies labels:

Issue #42: "Add Stripe payment integration"
  → squad:morpheus (backend work, routed to Morpheus)
  → type:feature
  → priority:high

Now when you open Copilot, you see issues pre-triaged.

2. Label-Driven Automation

Squad uses GitHub labels to drive workflows:

Routing labels (auto-applied by Ralph):

  • squad:neo — routed to Neo (Lead)
  • squad:trinity — routed to Trinity (Frontend Dev)
  • squad:morpheus — routed to Morpheus (Backend Dev)
  • squad:tank — routed to Tank (Tester)

Control labels:

  • go:neo — tells Copilot to auto-assign this issue to Neo
  • go:trinity — auto-assign to Trinity
  • go:morpheus — auto-assign to Morpheus
  • go:tank — auto-assign to Tank

Type labels (for filtering):

  • type:feature
  • type:bug
  • type:refactor
  • type:docs

Priority labels:

  • priority:critical
  • priority:high
  • priority:medium
  • priority:low

Release labels:

  • release:next — include in the next release
  • release:backlog — not scheduled yet

Ralph applies squad:* and type:* labels automatically. You apply go:* labels manually when you want autonomous processing.

3. @copilot Auto-Assign for Autonomous Issue Processing

When you add a go:* label to an issue, the @copilot automation picks it up:

  1. Ralph labels issue #42 with squad:morpheus (backend work)
  2. You review the issue and add go:morpheus (approval to proceed)
  3. GitHub Actions triggers the @copilot workflow
  4. Copilot session spawns Morpheus to handle the issue
  5. Morpheus reads the issue, implements the feature, opens a PR
  6. PR is tagged for human review

This is autonomous issue processing. You don’t open Copilot manually — the workflow does.

Workflow file: .github/workflows/copilot-auto-assign.yml:

name: Copilot Auto-Assign
on:
  issues:
    types: [labeled]

jobs:
  auto-assign:
    if: startsWith(github.event.label.name, 'go:')
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Extract agent name
        id: agent
        run: echo "agent=${LABEL#go:}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
        env:
          LABEL: ${{ github.event.label.name }}
      - name: Spawn Copilot session
        run: |
          copilot --agent squad --message "${{ steps.agent.outputs.agent }}, handle issue #${{ github.event.issue.number }}"

Note: This workflow requires GitHub Actions to have access to your Copilot session. See GitHub’s docs for gh copilot in Actions.

4. What You CAN’T Do: Agents Can’t Run in Actions (Yet)

Squad agents require a live Copilot session. They can’t run in a GitHub Actions runner without Copilot CLI access.

This means:

❌ You can’t run Squad, build the feature inside a GitHub Actions workflow
✅ You can use Ralph to triage and label issues
✅ You can trigger Copilot sessions via Actions (if you have gh copilot access)
❌ You can’t have agents autonomously merge PRs without human approval (by design)

5. Sample Workflow: Issue Filed → Triage → Assign → Build → Review

  1. User files issue #42: “Add Stripe payment integration”
  2. Ralph (heartbeat) runs, reads routing rules, applies squad:morpheus and type:feature
  3. You review the issue, decide it’s good, add go:morpheus label
  4. GitHub Actions triggers Copilot auto-assign workflow
  5. Copilot spawns Morpheus to handle issue #42
  6. Morpheus builds the Stripe integration, writes tests, opens PR #43
  7. Neo (Lead) reviews PR #43, approves or requests changes
  8. You merge PR #43 after human review

Steps 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 are automated. You only do steps 3 and 8.

6. Workflow Templates Ship with Squad

When you run npx github:bradygaster/squad, these workflow templates are installed:

  • .ai-team-templates/squad-heartbeat.yml → Ralph runs every 6 hours
  • .ai-team-templates/copilot-auto-assign.yml → Triggers Copilot on go:* labels
  • .ai-team-templates/pr-review-reminder.yml → Reminds you of open PRs needing review

To activate them:

cp .ai-team-templates/*.yml .github/workflows/
git add .github/workflows/
git commit -m "Enable Squad workflows"
git push

Now they’re live.

7. Sample Prompts for CI-Adjacent Workflows

Trigger Ralph manually:

npx github:bradygaster/squad heartbeat

Check what Ralph would do (dry run):

npx github:bradygaster/squad heartbeat --dry-run

Have agents work on labeled issues:

> Team, review all open issues labeled squad:morpheus and tell me
> which ones are ready to work on.

Autonomous issue pickup:

> Ralph, triage the 10 newest issues and apply squad labels.
> If any are ready to start, let me know.

Tips

  • Ralph is your assistant between sessions. It triages issues, applies labels, and keeps things organized while you’re not in Copilot.
  • go:* labels mean “approved to proceed.” Don’t add them to every issue — only the ones you’ve reviewed and want agents to handle autonomously.
  • Agents still need human review. PRs created by agents should be reviewed by a human before merging.
  • Workflows are templates. Customize .ai-team-templates/ to match your CI/CD setup, then copy to .github/workflows/.
  • Heartbeat frequency is configurable. Edit squad-heartbeat.yml to change from every 6 hours to daily, hourly, etc.