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PR-context workflows still lose APM-restored skills after v0.71.0 #28221
Description
Summary
We now have a small public repro showing that APM-restored skills are invocable in workflow_dispatch runs, but still unavailable in pull_request runs under engine: copilot.
This reproduces even after recompiling the workflow against gh-aw v0.71.0, which appears intended to fix PR-context APM restore ordering in #28002.
Public repro
Repo:
The workflow:
- imports one public skill through
shared/apm.md - uses
engine: copilot - runs in two contexts:
workflow_dispatchandpull_request - avoids fallback manual review so the result reflects skill availability only
Imported skill:
elastic/elastic-docs-skills/skills/review/docs-check-style
What works
workflow_dispatch
The skill is restored and invocable in dispatch runs.
Successful run examples:
- https://github.com/theletterf/gh-aw-skill-smoke-test/actions/runs/24762637830
- https://github.com/theletterf/gh-aw-skill-smoke-test/actions/runs/24766816029
- https://github.com/theletterf/gh-aw-skill-smoke-test/actions/runs/24767971207
The smoke test confirmed that the agent could invoke the skill and recover exact values from the returned skill context, including:
- version
1.0.5 - allowed-tools
Read, Grep, Glob, Bash(vale *), WebFetch - first source URL
https://www.elastic.co/docs/contribute-docs/style-guide
What fails
pull_request
The same repo, same engine, same imported skill, same workflow family fail in PR context.
Failing PR run on older compile:
- https://github.com/theletterf/gh-aw-skill-smoke-test/actions/runs/24768427022
- PR comment: Test PR-triggered docs skill review theletterf/gh-aw-skill-smoke-test#3 (comment)
Failing PR run after recompiling the smoke test against gh-aw v0.71.0:
- https://github.com/theletterf/gh-aw-skill-smoke-test/actions/runs/24878582311
- PR comment: Test PR-triggered docs skill review theletterf/gh-aw-skill-smoke-test#3 (comment)
The PR-context result is explicit:
Skill invocation failed
Invocation attempted: `skill(skill: docs-check-style)`
Result: The skill `docs-check-style` was not found.
The only available skill is `customizing-copilot-cloud-agents-environment`.
Why this is surprising
PR #28002 appears to be the intended fix:
That PR description says shared APM restore was moved into pre-agent-steps so PR-context base restore would no longer clobber .github/skills before agent startup.
However, the public PR-context repro still fails after recompiling against v0.71.0.
Key observations
-
This is not a blanket APM import failure.
- APM pack/unpack succeeds.
- Dispatch runs can invoke the skill successfully.
-
This is not a skill-content issue.
- The same public Elastic Docs Skill works in dispatch context.
-
This is trigger-context specific.
workflow_dispatch: success.pull_request: failure.
-
In the generated PR-context job order we still observed:
Restore APM packages- later
Restore agent config folders from base branch
That ordering still looks suspicious because the restore step overwrites
.githubfrom the trusted base snapshot.
Request
Could you investigate why APM-restored skills remain available in dispatch runs but are still unavailable in PR runs under engine: copilot, even after the v0.71.0 change associated with #28002?
Possible angles:
- whether PR-context base-branch restore still effectively overwrites or hides APM-restored
.github/skills - whether the ordering fix in Run shared APM restore in
pre-agent-stepsto preserve skills in PR context #28002 is not applied on this workflow shape - whether Copilot skill registration behaves differently in PR-context jobs after checkout/base-restore
Related context
Earlier issue:
That issue started from a larger private repro; the repo above is the cleaner public repro with both success and failure modes.
Activity
pelikhan commentedon Apr 24, 2026
We had to move pre-agent before starting the MCP gateway because apm install MCPs as well. Looking
theletterf commentedon Apr 24, 2026
Appreciate it. I can't use skills in PRs otherwise.
pelikhan commentedon Apr 24, 2026
Minting release soon
pelikhan commentedon Apr 24, 2026
Minting release soon