Docs Patrol¶

Detect code changes that require documentation updates — both internal and published.

Two variants cover different documentation scopes: Docs Patrol checks internal documentation (READMEs, CONTRIBUTING, etc.) against recent code changes, while Docs Patrol External focuses on published Elastic documentation on elastic.co/docs. Both scan recent commits for public API or behavioral changes not reflected in documentation. Most runs end with noop.

Quick install¶

Internal docs only¶

mkdir -p .github/workflows && curl -sL \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elastic/ai-github-actions/v0/gh-agent-workflows/docs-patrol/example.yml \
  -o .github/workflows/docs-patrol.yml

Both internal and external¶

mkdir -p .github/workflows && \
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elastic/ai-github-actions/v0/gh-agent-workflows/docs-patrol/example.yml \
  -o .github/workflows/docs-patrol.yml && \
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elastic/ai-github-actions/v0/gh-agent-workflows/docs-patrol-external/example.yml \
  -o .github/workflows/docs-patrol-external.yml

Docs Patrol (internal)¶

Scans recent commits (7-day lookback by default) for public API or behavioral changes not reflected in nearby documentation. Checks READMEs, contribution guides, and other discovered markdown files before filing.

Trigger¶

Event	Schedule
`schedule`	Weekdays
`workflow_dispatch`	Manual

Inputs¶

Input	Description	Default
`lookback-window`	Git lookback window for detecting recent commits	`"7 days ago"`
`additional-instructions`	Repo-specific instructions appended to the agent prompt	`""`
`setup-commands`	Shell commands run before the agent starts	`""`

Safe outputs¶

create-issue — file a docs patrol report (max 1, auto-closes older reports)

Example workflow¶

name: Docs Patrol
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: "0 14 * * 1-5"
  workflow_dispatch:

permissions:
  contents: read
  issues: write
  pull-requests: read

jobs:
  run:
    uses: elastic/ai-github-actions/.github/workflows/gh-aw-docs-patrol.lock.yml@v0
    secrets:
      COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN }}

Docs Patrol External¶

Like Docs Patrol, but focuses on changes that require updates to published Elastic documentation on elastic.co/docs. Also flags features that need applies_to tag updates or documentation backports to earlier release branches.

Trigger¶

Event	Schedule
`schedule`	Weekdays
`workflow_dispatch`	Manual

Inputs¶

Input	Description	Default
`lookback-window`	Git lookback window for detecting recent commits	`"7 days ago"`
`additional-instructions`	Repo-specific instructions appended to the agent prompt	`""`
`setup-commands`	Shell commands run before the agent starts	`""`

Safe outputs¶

create-issue — file an external docs patrol report (max 1, auto-closes older reports)

Example workflow¶

name: Docs Patrol External
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: "0 14 * * 1-5"
  workflow_dispatch:

permissions:
  contents: read
  issues: write
  pull-requests: read

jobs:
  run:
    uses: elastic/ai-github-actions/.github/workflows/gh-aw-docs-patrol-external.lock.yml@v0
    secrets:
      COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN }}