Workflow Event Filters and Activity Types

GitHub Actions workflows can trigger on events such as push, workflow_dispatch, and schedule. To avoid unnecessary builds, you can fine-tune which events—and which parts of those events—actually invoke your jobs.

First, review GitHub’s list of available event activity types. For example, Pull Request events support activities like assigned, opened, and closed:

For details on Pull Request types, see the official docs:

Push events don’t have activity types, but you can filter by branches, tags, and paths:

Key Filter Options

Example Workflow: Combining Filters and Activity Types

Add the file at .github/workflows/filters-and-activities.yml:

name: Workflow Filters and Activities

on:
  workflow_dispatch:

  push:
    branches:
      - main
    branches-ignore:
      - 'feature/*'
      - 'test/**'

  pull_request:
    types:
      - opened
      - closed
    paths-ignore:
      - README.md
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  hello:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Show Event
        run: echo "This workflow ran for event: ${{ github.event_name }}"

Reviewing the Push Filter

• branches: [main] ensures only pushes to main trigger the workflow.
• branches-ignore: ['feature/*', 'test/**'] skips any branch matching those patterns.

Live Example 1: Push to main

Pushing to main queues and runs the workflow:

Live Example 2: Push to Ignored Branch

git checkout -b feature/event-testing
# Edit README.md
git add README.md
git commit -m "Update README for testing"
git push -u origin feature/event-testing

Since feature/* is ignored, no workflow runs:

Pull Request Filters and Activity Types

Example 1: Only README.md Changed

Opening a PR from feature/event-testing to main with only README.md modified will not trigger the workflow due to paths-ignore:

Even after opening or closing, nothing runs:

Example 2: Other Files Changed

Modify any file besides README.md, push, and open a new PR. The workflow now triggers:

Click into the run to view the hello job:

Conclusion

By combining branches, branches-ignore, paths-ignore, and types, you gain precise control over which push and pull_request events trigger your workflows. This leads to faster feedback cycles and cleaner CI build history.