fix: use RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN so release PRs trigger CI - #285
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kellenmurphy
enabled auto-merge (squash)
August 21, 2026 17:29
This was referenced Aug 21, 2026
kellenmurphy
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Aug 21, 2026
Reverts #285. Passing RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN to the action made the release PR authored by the same account that the approve step runs as, so `gh pr review --approve` failed with "Can not approve your own pull request" and the step aborted before enabling auto-merge. GITHUB_TOKEN on the action is deliberate: it makes the release PR authored by the bot, leaving RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN a distinct identity that is allowed to approve it. CI on the release PR is already triggered by the trigger-ci label, which ci.yml picks up via its `labeled` event type, so the token swap was not needed for that.
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Passes
RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKENtogoogleapis/release-please-actioninstead of the built-inGITHUB_TOKEN.Why
GitHub suppresses workflow-trigger events for anything created with
GITHUB_TOKEN— an intentional infinite-loop guard. Release PRs opened under that token therefore fire nopull_requestevent, and CI never runs on them.The evidence is visible in the run history: 0 of the last 100 workflow runs are on a
release-please--*branch, while dependabot branches show 13, 13, 10, 7 and 7 runs each. Other bot PRs get CI; release PRs do not.This also matters for the automerge step, which approves and auto-merges the release PR. Auto-merge waits on required checks, so a release PR that never triggers CI either blocks indefinitely or merges without having been tested.
Prerequisite
RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKENis already configured as a repository secret (created 2026-05-16) and main already consumes it at line 29 asGH_TOKENfor theghCLI steps. This change applies it to the action input as well — the half that was never landed.Companion to the
--repo "$GITHUB_REPOSITORY"flags already on main.