Troubleshooting GitHub Actions: Resolving Permission Issues When Committing Changes to Your Repository

In your automated workflow setup using GitHub Actions, you’ve successfully crafted a scraper that fetches data from an external calendar, stores it in a JSON file, and updates your static website accordingly. However, you’re encountering a persistent error when attempting to commit these updates back to your repository. Specifically, the job fails at the commit stage, citing access restrictions despite having configured a token.

Understanding the Problem

Your process involves automating data retrieval and storage directly within your GitHub repository using Actions. While the scraping and JSON updating work correctly, the commit operation is blocked. The error message indicates a permission issue:

remote: Permission to (repository) denied to github-actions[bot].
fatal: unable to access ‘(repository URL)’: The requested URL returned error: 403

This suggests that, although you’ve generated a token with seemingly adequate rights, GitHub Actions’ bot account still lacks the necessary permissions to push changes.

Common Causes and Solutions

1. Token Configuration:
2. Ensure that the Personal Access Token (PAT) used has the repo scope enabled, which grants full control of private repositories.

3. If you’re using the default GITHUB_TOKEN provided by GitHub, verify that your workflow is configured to use it correctly and that your repository settings permit GitHub Actions to push code.

4. Workflow Permissions:

5. For repositories using the GITHUB_TOKEN, check the repository settings under “Actions” -> “Workflow permissions” and ensure that read and write access are enabled.

6. Your workflow file should specify permissions explicitly, like:
   yaml
permissions:
contents: write

7. Repository Security Settings:

8. Confirm that workflows are allowed to push code. Sometimes, organizational policies restrict certain actions.

9. Correct Repository URL:

10. Verify that the remote URL your workflow uses is correct and matches your repository. Using SSH vs HTTPS can impact access permissions.

11. Token Usage in Workflow:

12. Ensure that your git commands operate with the correct token environment variable.
13. Example:
    bash
git remote set-url origin https://x-access-token:${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}@github.com/username/repository.git

Next Steps

Given the information, here’s a suggested approach:

• Double-check your workflow configuration to ensure the permissions are