Slack Workflow Status

This action will post workflow status notifications into your Slack channel. The notification includes the name of the Actor, Event, Branch, Workflow Name, Status and Run Durations. This action can optionally include the status and duration of individual jobs in a workflow to quickly help you identify where failures and slowdowns occur.

Action Inputs

Name	Required	Description
slack_webhook_url	one of	Slack Incoming Webhook URL. Provide either this or slack_bot_token (not both). Recommended via ${{secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL}}. Create one with the Incoming Webhooks App.
slack_bot_token	one of	Slack Bot User OAuth Token (xoxb-…) — posts via the Slack Web API instead of an Incoming Webhook. Useful when your workspace has webhooks disabled, or to post to multiple channels and DMs from a single secret. The Slack app needs chat:write (and chat:write.public to post in channels the bot isn't a member of). When this input is set, channel is required. Falls back to the SLACK_BOT_TOKEN env var when the input is empty.
repo_token	required	A token is automatically available in your workflow secrets var. ${{secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN}}. You can optionally send an alternative self-generated token.
include_jobs	optional	When set to true, include individual job status and durations in the slack notification. When false only the event status and workflow status lines are included. When set to on-failure — individual job status is reported only if workflow failed. Default is true.
hide_job_statuses	optional	Comma-separated list of job conclusions to hide from the rendered job list — e.g. skipped to hide noisy matrix-skip entries while keeping successes and failures visible. The overall workflow color/text always reflects the real result. Default is empty (show every completed job).
extra_text	optional	Free-form text appended to the notification body. Useful for adding a deploy URL, ticket link, channel mention, or any other context that should travel with the message. Default is empty.
jobs_to_fetch	optional	Sets the number of jobs to fetch (for workflows with big number of jobs). Default is 30.
include_commit_message	optional	When set to true, include the workflow head commit message title in the slack notification. Default is false.
channel	optional / required with bot token	Where to post the notification. With slack_webhook_url, overrides the default channel attached to the webhook (workspace permitting). With slack_bot_token, this is required and accepts a channel name (#release), channel ID (C0123…), or user ID (U0123…) for DMs.
name	optional	Allows you to provide a name for the slack bot user posting the notifications. Overrides the default name created with your webhook.
icon_emoji	optional	Allows you to provide an emoji as the slack bot user image when posting notifications. Overrides the default image created with your webhook. Emoji Code Cheat Sheet
icon_url	optional	Allows you to provide a URL for an image to use as the slack bot user image when posting notifications. Overrides the default image created with your webhook.
workflow_run	optional	Set to "true" when this action runs in a workflow triggered by the workflow_run event. The notification will then describe the upstream workflow that fired the event rather than this notifier workflow itself. Default is "false".

Usage

To use this action properly, you should create a new job at the end of your workflow that needs all other jobs in the workflow. This ensures that this action is only run once all jobs in your workflow are complete.

This action requires read permission of actions scope. You should assign a job level actions permission if workflow level actions permission is set none.

name: World Greeter
on:
  push:
    branches: [ master, staging ]
jobs:
  job-1:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Say Hello
        run: echo "Hello"
  job-2:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Say World
        run: echo "World"
  slack-workflow-status:
    if: always()
    name: Post Workflow Status To Slack
    needs:
      - job-1
      - job-2
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    # actions.read permission is required.
    permissions:
      actions: 'read'
    steps:
      - name: Slack Workflow Notification
        uses: Gamesight/slack-workflow-status@master
        with:
          # Required Input
          repo_token: ${{secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN}}
          slack_webhook_url: ${{secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL}}
          # Optional Input
          channel: '#anthony-test-channel'
          name: 'Anthony Workflow Bot'
          icon_emoji: ':poop:'
          icon_url: 'https://avatars0.githubusercontent.com/u/1701160?s=96&v=4'

This action can also be used for Pull Request workflows and will include pull request information in the notification.

Posting with a Slack Bot Token

If your workspace has Incoming Webhooks disabled, or you want a single credential that can post to many channels (and DMs), use a Bot User OAuth Token (xoxb-…) instead. The bot must have the chat:write scope (plus chat:write.public if you want to post in channels it hasn't been invited to).

- name: Slack Workflow Notification
  uses: Gamesight/slack-workflow-status@master
  with:
    repo_token: ${{secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN}}
    slack_bot_token: ${{secrets.SLACK_BOT_TOKEN}}
    channel: '#release-notifications'   # required when using a bot token
    # channel: 'U01ABCDEF'              # or DM a specific user by ID
    name: 'Workflow Bot'
    icon_emoji: ':rocket:'

Provide either slack_webhook_url or slack_bot_token — setting both is rejected.

Troubleshooting

Resource not accessible by integration

This error means the token passed via repo_token lacks the permissions needed to read the workflow run and its jobs (issue #45). The action calls actions.getWorkflowRun and actions.listJobsForWorkflowRun, both of which require the actions: read permission on the token.

If the workflow declares a top-level permissions: block, that block overrides the default GITHUB_TOKEN permissions for every job — including this one. You must explicitly grant actions: read either at the workflow level or on the notifier job:

jobs:
  slack-workflow-status:
    permissions:
      actions: read     # required: read this run's jobs
      contents: read    # required when using `workflow_run`: read the upstream run
    # ...

When using the workflow_run input, the notifier workflow runs in a separate context from the workflow it reports on. The GITHUB_TOKEN for workflow_run-triggered runs is issued against the base repository, so PRs from forks will work, but the token still needs actions: read and contents: read on the base repo.

Bot token errors

When using slack_bot_token, errors from Slack are surfaced via core.setFailed. The most common ones:

• not_in_channel — invite the bot to the channel, or grant the chat:write.public scope so it can post without being a member.
• channel_not_found — for private channels, pass the channel ID (C0123…) instead of the name. For DMs, pass the user ID (U0123…).
• invalid_auth / token_revoked — the token has been rotated or doesn't belong to this workspace; re-issue from the Slack app's OAuth & Permissions page.
• missing_scope — add chat:write (and optionally chat:write.public / chat:write.customize for username and icon_* overrides) and reinstall the app.

Notification fires before all jobs finish

Make sure the notifier job uses both if: always() and needs: listing every job you want it to wait on. Without needs: the notifier may run in parallel with your other jobs and report incomplete results.

developed and maintained by: gamesight.io