Troubleshooting GitHub Actions: Resolving Permission Issues During Automated Commits

In the realm of automated workflows, especially when leveraging GitHub Actions for tasks like data scraping and updates, encountering permission errors can be quite frustrating. Recently, a developer shared their experience with a custom scraper built to extract information from a calendar and store the data in a JSON file for display on a static website. The core challenge lies in the workflow’s inability to push updates back to the repository, despite having a personal access token configured.

Understanding the Issue

The user reports that their GitHub Actions workflow executes the data scraping process successfully but fails at the commit stage, citing insufficient access rights. The error message indicates a permission denial when attempting to push changes, specifically:

Permission to [repository] denied to github-actions[bot] with a subsequent failure code 128.

This is a common stumbling block for many newcomers to automated GitHub workflows, particularly when setting up permissions for bot accounts or tokens.

Common Causes and Fixes

1. Token Permissions:
   Ensure that the personal access token (PAT) used in your workflow has the necessary scopes. For repository modifications, it should include at least repo scope, which grants full control over private repositories.

2. Proper Token Usage:
   Verify that the token is correctly added as a secret in your GitHub repository (e.g., GITHUB_TOKEN or a custom one), and that your workflow references it correctly:

yaml
- name: Commit and push changes
env:
GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.YOUR_TOKEN_SECRET }}
run: |
git config --global user.name "github-actions[bot]"
git config --global user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
git add .
git commit -m "Update ice times"
git push origin main

1. Using the Correct Authentication Method:
   Instead of relying solely on GITHUB_TOKEN, verify if you need to authenticate using a PAT with explicit permissions, especially if pushing to a fork or a private repository.

2. Repository Settings and Branch Protections:
   Check whether branch protection rules prevent force pushes or require specific status checks. Adjust these settings if necessary to allow automated commits.

Additional Considerations

• Confirm that the token isn’t expired and correctly associated with the repository.
• Review whether the token is being passed securely as