Keep Automations Repo Owned
keep-automations-repo-owned
Summary
Critical checks and generation steps become fragile when they live only in personal scripts or local memory. Put repeatable automation in the repository so agents and humans can run the same workflow.
Problem
Automations become opaque when their real instructions live only in an app instance, schedule configuration, or private prompt. They are hard to review, version, recover, and hand off.
Preferred Move
Keep automation instructions in the repository whenever the workflow belongs to the project. The scheduler prompt should be small and point to a reviewed runbook, script, or guide that the repo owns.
Tradeoff
Some secrets, credentials, schedules, or deployment wiring must live outside the repo. Keep those as external configuration, but keep the workflow's intent and reviewed steps in version control.
Agent Instruction
When creating or revising an automation, put the durable runbook or script in the repo and keep the
external automation prompt thin. Report which repo file owns the workflow.Examples
Bad: the app-owned automation contains the only copy of the workflow.
Every Monday, inspect releases, decide if the binary needs rebuilding, run the upgrade, verify the
device, and message me if anything looks wrong.
Good: the app-owned automation delegates to a repo-owned runbook.
You are the weekly upgrade agent. Follow docs/automations/weekly-upgrade.md.