Manual Workflows

Manual workflows run only when explicitly triggered via the GitHub Actions UI or CLI. They’re perfect for on-demand tasks like research, analysis, or operations that need human judgment about timing.

When to Use Manual Workflows

• On-demand research: Search and analyze topics as needed
• Manual operations: Tasks requiring human judgment on timing
• Testing and debugging: Run workflows with custom inputs
• One-time tasks: Operations that don’t fit a schedule

Example Manual Triggers

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      topic:
        description: 'Research topic'
        required: true
        type: string

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      severity:
        description: 'Issue severity level'
        required: false
        type: choice
        options:
          - low
          - medium
          - high

Accessing Inputs in Workflows

Use ${{ github.event.inputs.INPUT_NAME }} to access input values in your workflow markdown:

---
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      topic:
        description: 'Research topic'
        required: true
        type: string
      depth:
        description: 'Analysis depth'
        type: choice
        options:
          - brief
          - detailed
        default: brief
permissions:
  contents: read
safe-outputs:
  create-discussion:
---

# Research Assistant

Research the topic: "${{ github.event.inputs.topic }}"

Analysis depth: ${{ github.event.inputs.depth }}

Provide findings based on the requested depth level.

Running Manual Workflows

Via CLI:

gh aw run workflow

Via GitHub Actions UI:

1. Go to Actions tab
2. Select workflow
3. Click “Run workflow”
4. Fill in inputs (if any)
5. Click “Run workflow” button

Quick Start

Add a manual workflow to your repository:

gh aw add githubnext/agentics/research

Then run it:

gh aw run research