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Pr Artifact Explorer

Open, share, and inspect GitHub PRs, issues, workflow runs (including scheduled, manual and other runs with no PR), Actions artifacts, and local or HTTP(S) web previews in the Artifact Explorer canvas, with viewport presets, zoom, screenshots, and recoverable download jobs.

Install with the GitHub CLI
gh skills install github/awesome-copilot pr-artifact-explorer
SKILL.md · 7 KB

Use the pr-artifact-explorer canvas to show a user pull requests, issues, workflow runs, Actions artifacts, and web pages.

How to drive the canvas

The action names below (open_target, share, ...) are canvas actions, not standalone tools. Always:

  1. Call list_canvas_capabilities { canvasId: "pr-artifact-explorer" } to discover the actions and their schemas.
  2. Call open_canvas { canvasId: "pr-artifact-explorer", instanceId: "<handle you choose>" } to open or focus the panel.
  3. Call invoke_canvas_action { instanceId, actionName, input } with that same instanceId.

Open a target

invoke_canvas_action with open_target { input } (or the open input repository, pullNumber, runId, artifactId, url, route, view: "runs" with run filters, plus preset/width/height/zoom). input accepts:

  • GitHub PR/issue URLs or owner/repo#123; issues display details only
  • Actions links and requests that need no PR: https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/actions (also ?query=event%3Aschedule, /actions/workflows/<file>.yml), https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/actions/runs/<run>, owner/repo actions, owner/repo run 123, show scheduled runs in owner/repo
  • real artifact permalinks (https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/actions/runs/<run>/artifacts/<id>), an artifact ID with a repository, or a shared explorer link/route such as #/docs, #/artifact/owner%2Frepo/0/456?file=index.html, #/browser?v=...
  • http(s):// and localhost URLs (browser preview)
  • bounded natural language: open PR 123 in owner/repo, show localhost:3000 on mobile, go back, zoom 150%, tablet, 1280x720, screenshot

Use share { input, preset?, zoom?, width?, height? } to produce a link, route, and text to give the user. Artifact shares keep repository/artifact/file identity (not preview ports); the recipient pastes it into the canvas or into open_target.

Workflow runs without a pull request

Many runs have no PR: schedule (cron), workflow_dispatch, push, release, workflow_run, and others. Use open_runs { repository, event?, status?, branch?, workflow?, excludePullRequests?, hasArtifacts? } to open the repository's Workflow runs list (for example event: "schedule" for cron runs; excludePullRequests and hasArtifacts default to true, so pass false to include PR runs or runs with no artifacts), and open_run { repository, runId } to open one run and its artifacts. The same artifact preview, Browser view, sharing and Re-run behavior applies; artifacts opened from a run keep a ?run=<id> route so breadcrumbs return to the run. Run rows show a lazily loaded artifact count; the branch filter autocompletes real branches. Routes use nopr=0 and artifacts=0 to turn those defaults off.

Artifacts

inspect_artifact { repository, artifactId } starts a background job. Downloads continue past soft limits; when one is reached the user is prompted for a larger value (set_limit { kind, value }; the value must be at least the live progress). Check job_status; use retry_job after an interrupted or failed job (a completed ZIP is reused) and cancel_job only when asked. Never execute artifact programs or build scripts: artifacts are only inspected or previewed as static sites and files.

Re-running the workflow that produced an artifact is a UI-only, user-confirmed action (the Re-run button on an artifact row or a run page). Never attempt it yourself or call its API; if the user wants a fresh artifact, tell them to use that button. It reuses the original commit, ref and actor, is limited to 30 days and 50 re-runs, and only requests a run, not a ready artifact.

Browser preview

  • navigate_browser { url, preset?, zoom? } opens an http(s) URL, including localhost.
  • set_viewport { preset: native | mobile | tablet | desktop | custom, width?, height?, orientation? } sets the emulated page size.
  • set_zoom { zoom, fit? } scales the view without changing the viewport.
  • screenshot { mode?: "fresh" | "controlled", url?, preset?, width?, height?, fullPage? } takes a real Chromium PNG saved under the session files/artifact-explorer-screenshots folder. fresh (default) renders the URL anew and is labeled fresh-render; controlled captures the live isolated Chromium page (controlled-current).
  • controlled_navigate { url, preset?, ... }, controlled_back, controlled_forward, controlled_refresh, controlled_close drive an isolated Chromium (in-memory profile, no login state) with real history; use it for sites that block iframes. Navigation failures are returned as errors, never as blank pages. If Playwright or Chromium is missing, relay the returned setup instructions to the user (including a playwright_config_unsupported error for the retired PR_ARTIFACT_EXPLORER_PLAYWRIGHT variable); never install silently.
  • Pages that forbid framing (X-Frame-Options / CSP) are reported and not bypassed.

Previewing files

  • A contextual Browser view action appears in the preview toolbar only for static-site HTML artifacts; it is not a global nav item. Open URLs directly with open_target / navigate_browser or a #/browser?v=... route.
  • .webm, .mp4 and .mov use native <video controls> with range seeking (the whole entry is CRC/size verified once, then reused). Codec support is browser-dependent (WebM VP8/VP9 is most reliable; H.264 MP4/MOV may not play), so a failure shows an explanation and a download fallback.
  • A compact Preview / Raw toggle sits beside Download for every file (&view=raw in routes). Raw shows exact source for text and a bounded, labelled-partial hex+ASCII view for binary; unsafe/encrypted entries explain why and keep the ZIP download.
  • Browser chrome and owned artifact HTML follow the inherited canvas theme (initial and live changes); controlled Chromium and captures follow the current color scheme. External sites keep their own theme.
  • Open in default browser (Sharing and help menu) launches the current http(s) target in the OS browser. Owned artifact sites are served by this canvas's loopback server and stop when it closes.
  • JUnit XML (testsuites/testsuite roots) renders a native report with totals, status filters, search and failure/error/skipped/stdout/stderr details; the XML source and download stay available. Malformed reports fall back to source with an error; other XML uses the generic viewer.

Recovery

If the canvas misbehaves, call restart_canvas: it keeps the port, token, and running jobs. Use docs to open the built-in Docs tab, which also lists keyboard shortcuts (press ?).