gh-aw-githubnext — GitHub Agentic Workflows (githubnext/gh-aw)
GitHub Agentic Workflows (gh-aw) is GitHub Next's official tool for writing agentic workflows in natural language markdown and running them inside GitHub Actions. Each workflow is a .md file with YAML frontmatter (configuration) and a markdown body (agent instructions in natural language), compiled by gh aw compile into GitHub Actions-compatible YAML. The framework supports four AI engines (GitHub Copilot, Claude, Codex, Gemini) and provides a comprehensive security model: read-only permissions by default, all write operations gated through sanitized safe-outputs that execute in a separate secured job, sandboxed execution, input sanitization against prompt injection, network isolation, SHA-pinned dependencies, and human approval gates. Workflows can define inline sub-agents, use persistent memory across runs, orchestrate complex fan-out/fan-in patterns, and schedule on cron expressions. The CLI (gh aw) is a GitHub CLI extension with subcommands for create, compile, run, audit, and debug.
Compared to the seeds, gh-aw is unlike any seed archetype. The closest parallel is kiro (Archetype 5 — closed IDE with proprietary primitives) in that it defines a proprietary workflow format with its own compilation step and lifecycle events. The key deltas: gh-aw runs inside GitHub Actions (CI infrastructure, not a local IDE), supports multiple AI engines, ships a dedicated CLI, and treats security as a first-class constraint at every layer.