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Merge group webhook event and GitHub Actions workflow trigger

This feature is available to repositories enrolled in the Pull Request Merge Queue beta.

A new webhook event and GitHub Actions workflow trigger (merge_group) makes it easier to run required status checks on merge groups created by merge queue. A merge group includes the changes from one or more pull requests and must pass the status checks required by the target branch.

A merge_group webhook event, which currently has one supported action (checks_requested), is sent after a merge group is created and informs receivers, including GitHub Actions, when status checks are needed on the merge group. The event payload includes head_sha, the commit SHA that should be validated and have status reported on using check runs or commit statuses. For GitHub Actions, status is reported automatically at the conclusion of jobs in the triggered workflow.

To trigger a GitHub Actions workflow for a merge group, the merge_group trigger should be used. The following example triggers on individual pull requests and merge groups targeting the main branch:

# Trigger this workflow on individual pull requests and merge groups that target the `main` branch
on:
  pull_request:
    branches: [ main ]
  merge_group:
    branches: [ main ]

A push event is still sent when a merge group branch is created, and will trigger a GitHub Actions workflow. However, unlike a merge_group event, a push event does not include the target branch of the merge group.

Learn more about using merge queue.

Learn more about the new GitHub Actions merge_group workflow trigger and the merge_group webhook event.

We’ve made a series of improvements to the GitHub Connect license sync feature in addition to the "Sync now" button we recently added in GHES:

  1. Enterprise administrators can now access a refreshed Consumed License CSV that includes additional data, such as the saml_name_id and the GitHub Enterprise Cloud email address (for verified domains only) for each user;
  2. Enterprise administrators also have access to two new License REST API endpoints:
    a. consumed-licenses: returns the same Consumed License data found in the CSV download
    b. license-sync-status: returns information related to the license sync job status
  3. We improved the license sync matching algorithm for enterprises that use SAML SSO. We now attempt to match Server user accounts against SAML attributes in addition to matching against users' GitHub Enterprise Cloud email addresses. This improvement eliminates the need for enterprise administrators to require users to add their work-related email addresses to their GitHub Enterprise Cloud account.

Learn more about license sync and give us your feedback

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GitHub secret scanning protects users by searching repositories for known types of secrets. By identifying and flagging these secrets, our scans help prevent data leaks and fraud.

We have partnered with Prefect to scan for their access tokens and help secure our mutual users on public and private repositories. The Prefect service account API keys are not associated with a user and are restricted to a specific tenant, but they are recommended for application and automation use. GitHub will forward access tokens found in public repositories to Prefect, who will immediately email the owner of the leaked key. More information about Prefect API Tokens can be found here.

GitHub Advanced Security customers can also scan for Prefect tokens and block them from entering their private and public repositories with push protection.

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