[Schema Consistency] 🔍 Schema Consistency Check - Documentation Freshness & Example Validation (2025-10-26)

[github-actions[bot]]

🔍 Schema Consistency Check - October 26, 2025

Summary

• Strategy Used: Strategy Weekly Research Report: AI Workflow Automation Landscape and Market Opportunities - August 2025 #7 - Example Validation & Documentation Freshness Audit (NEW)
• Inconsistencies Found: 7 categories
• Critical Issues: 6
• Categories Analyzed: Schema, Documentation Examples, Real Workflow Usage
• New Strategy: YES (experimental 30% mode - day 299)
• Files Analyzed: 65 files (schema, 9 docs, 55 workflows)

🎯 Strategy Innovation

This analysis used a completely new approach not seen in the previous 6 runs:

• Focus: User-facing examples rather than code implementation
• Method: Validate ALL documentation examples against schema, cross-reference with production usage
• Discovery: YAML parsing version mismatch creating false positives

🚨 Critical Issues

1. Dead Code Candidates (P0)

Two schema fields appear to be abandoned features:

githubActionsStep field:

• ✅ Defined in schema
• ❌ Never documented anywhere
• ❌ Never used in any of 55 production workflows
• Recommendation: Remove from schema OR document intended use

runtimes field:

• ✅ Defined in schema
• ❌ Never documented anywhere
• ❌ Never used in any of 55 production workflows
• Recommendation: Remove from schema OR document intended use

Impact: Schema pollution, confusion for users reading schema, maintenance burden

---

2. Undocumented Active Feature (P1)

post-steps field:

• ✅ Used in production (1 workflow: .github/workflows/audit-workflows.md:48)
• ❌ NOT documented anywhere
• ❌ No examples shown

Impact: Users cannot discover or use this feature. Production workflows use undocumented features.

---

3. Missing Examples (P2)

Fields documented but lacking examples:

1. jobs - Mentioned in safe-outputs.md but no example shown
2. mcp-servers - Documented in tools.md but no configuration example
3. command - Described in triggers.md but no complete example

Impact: Users struggle to implement these features without examples

---

4. YAML Boolean Gotcha (P3)

Critical Discovery: YAML version mismatch causes validation confusion!

# Python yaml.safe_load (YAML 1.1 spec)
import yaml
yaml.safe_load("on:\n  issues:\n    types: [opened]")
# Returns: {True: {'issues': {'types': ['opened']}}}
# The key is boolean True, not string "on"!

// Go goccy/go-yaml (YAML 1.2 spec) - Used by gh-aw
var result map[string]interface{}
yaml.Unmarshal([]byte("on:\n  issues:\n    types: [opened]"), &result)
// Returns: result["on"] = map[string]interface{}{"issues": ...}
// The key is string "on" ✅

YAML 1.1 Boolean Values: on, off, yes, no, y, n, true, false

Impact:

• ✅ gh-aw works correctly (uses YAML 1.2)
• ❌ Python-based validation tools give false positives
• ⚠️ Users testing locally with Python may see incorrect results
• 📚 Should be documented in a "YAML Gotchas" section

---

5. Schema Fields Never Used (P3)

16 fields defined in schema but NOT used in any production workflow:

Full list (click to expand)

• cache
• command
• container
• description
• env
• environment
• features
• github-token
• githubActionsStep ⚠️
• jobs
• mcp-servers
• run-name
• runs-on
• runtimes ⚠️
• services

Note: Some (like description, github-token, mcp-servers) are legitimately optional advanced features. Others may be dead code.

---

6. Schema Missing Examples Property (P3)

Current state:

{
  "properties": {
    "tools": {
      "description": "Configure available tools",
      // ❌ No "examples" property
    }
  }
}

Recommended:

{
  "properties": {
    "tools": {
      "description": "Configure available tools",
      "examples": [
        {"edit": null, "bash": ["gh issue comment"]},
        {"github": {"allowed": ["create_issue"]}}
      ]
    }
  }
}

Impact: Schema validation tools, IDE autocomplete, and documentation generators cannot show examples

---

✅ Positive Findings

Excellent Documentation Structure

The documentation is well-organized with specialized pages:

• ✅ frontmatter.md - Overview and core fields
• ✅ tools.md - Tool configuration (separate from main)
• ✅ triggers.md - Event triggers (separate from main)
• ✅ safe-outputs.md - Output configuration
• ✅ imports.md - Import system

This prevents frontmatter.md from being overwhelming!

Production Workflows Are Healthy

• ✅ All 55 workflows parse correctly
• ✅ All use required fields appropriately
• ✅ No violations of schema constraints detected

Parser Uses Correct YAML Spec

• ✅ goccy/go-yaml library (YAML 1.2 compliant)
• ✅ Correctly handles on as string key, not boolean
• ✅ No workarounds needed in production code

---

📊 Field Usage Statistics

Analysis of 55 production workflows:

Field	Workflows	Status
tools	50	⭐ Essential
safe-outputs	49	⭐ Essential
permissions	48	⭐ Essential
engine	48	⭐ Essential
timeout_minutes	48	⭐ Essential
name	28	✅ Common
imports	27	✅ Common
strict	26	✅ Common (46% adoption)
network	25	✅ Common
steps	10	📊 Occasional
if	4	📊 Rare
source	3	📊 Rare
roles	3	📊 Rare
concurrency	3	📊 Rare
post-steps	1	📊 Very Rare (undocumented!)
(16 others)	0	❌ Never used

---

📝 Recommendations

Immediate Actions (This Week)

1. Document post-steps field

   • Add to frontmatter.md with example
   • Found usage: .github/workflows/audit-workflows.md:48

2. Investigate Dead Code

   • Review git history for githubActionsStep and runtimes
   • Either remove from schema or document planned usage
   • Add deprecation warnings if needed

3. Add Missing Examples

   • jobs field in safe-outputs.md
   • mcp-servers configuration in tools.md
   • command trigger complete example in triggers.md

Short-term Improvements (This Month)

4. Document YAML Gotchas

   • Create new section in docs about YAML 1.1 vs 1.2
   • Warn about on, yes, no, off boolean parsing
   • Show how to quote keys if needed: 'on':

5. Enhance Schema with Examples

   • Add "examples": [...] to all properties
   • Enables better IDE support and documentation generation
   • Follow JSON Schema draft-07 specification

6. Improve Cross-References

   • Add prominent links in frontmatter.md to specialized docs
   • Create a "See Also" section for each field
   • Consider an examples gallery page

Long-term Enhancements (This Quarter)

7. Schema Cleanup

   • Remove truly dead fields after investigation
   • Add "x-usage-frequency": "required|common|rare|experimental" annotations
   • Mark deprecated fields with "deprecated": true

8. Create Examples Gallery

   • Single page with common configurations
   • Searchable/filterable by field
   • Link from getting started guide

9. Validation Tool Updates

   • Ensure all validation tools use YAML 1.2
   • Document recommended YAML parsers
   • Add warnings for common pitfalls

---

📈 Strategy Performance

Strategy #7 Metrics:

• Findings: 7 categories
• Effectiveness: Very High ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• New Insights: Yes (YAML gotcha, dead code detection)
• Complementary: Yes (different angle from all previous strategies)
• Should Reuse: Yes, annually for documentation freshness audit

Comparison to Previous Strategies:

• Strategies 1-6 focused on schema ↔ code ↔ docs consistency
• Strategy 7 focuses on examples ↔ reality ↔ user experience
• Found entirely different class of issues (dead code, YAML versions)

Updated Cache: Strategy added to /tmp/gh-aw/cache-memory/strategies.json

---

🔍 Patterns Discovered

New Patterns from This Analysis

1. YAML Version Mismatch Risk

   • Different parsers follow different specs
   • Creates false positives in validation
   • Users need clear guidance on recommended tools

2. Dead Code Accumulation

   • Schema fields added for planned features
   • Features never implemented or documented
   • Schema never cleaned up
   • Suggests need for regular schema audits

3. Documentation Separation Trade-off

   • Splitting docs by concern (tools.md, triggers.md) is good
   • BUT main frontmatter.md needs better cross-references
   • Users may not discover specialized docs

Confirmed Patterns from Previous Runs

• Documentation Lag: Code evolves faster than docs (confirmed again)
• Strict Mode Adoption: 46% of workflows use strict mode (significant!)
• Validation Timing: Most validation at compile time, not schema time

---

🗂️ Files Analyzed

Schema Files (1)

• pkg/parser/schemas/main_workflow_schema.json - 31 properties

Documentation Files (9)

• docs/src/content/docs/reference/frontmatter.md - ~20 examples
• docs/src/content/docs/reference/frontmatter-full.md
• docs/src/content/docs/reference/tools.md - multiple examples
• docs/src/content/docs/reference/triggers.md - multiple examples
• docs/src/content/docs/reference/safe-outputs.md - examples present
• docs/src/content/docs/reference/cache-memory.md
• docs/src/content/docs/reference/network.md - examples present
• docs/src/content/docs/reference/imports.md - examples present
• docs/src/content/docs/reference/engines.md - examples present

Production Workflows (55)

• .github/workflows/*.md - All 55 workflow files analyzed

---

🔗 Related Resources

• Previous Schema Consistency Discussions
• JSON Schema Examples Documentation
• YAML 1.1 vs 1.2 Differences

---

✅ Next Steps

• Create issue: Document post-steps field
• Create issue: Investigate githubActionsStep and runtimes history
• Create issue: Add YAML gotchas documentation section
• Create issue: Add examples to schema properties
• Update strategy cache ✅ (completed)
• Schedule next run (recommend in ~3-4 analyses, or when major docs changes occur)

---

Generated by Schema Consistency Checker using Strategy #7
Analysis Date: 2025-10-26
Strategy Cache: /tmp/gh-aw/cache-memory/strategies.json
Detailed Findings: /tmp/gh-aw/cache-memory/strategy-007-findings.md

AI generated by Schema Consistency Checker

[pelikhan]

/plan

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Agentic Plan Command triggered by this discussion comment.

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This discussion was automatically closed because it was created by an agentic workflow more than 1 month ago.