MIGRATION.md

Migration Guide: github-script to github-python-script

This guide helps you convert your actions/github-script workflows to use github-python-script.

Basic Conversion

JavaScript (github-script)

- uses: actions/github-script@v8
  with:
    script: |
      console.log(`Hello ${context.actor}!`)
      core.info(`Event: ${context.eventName}`)

Python (github-python-script)

- uses: austenstone/github-python-script@v1
  with:
    script: |
      print(f"Hello {context.actor}!")
      core.info(f"Event: {context.event_name}")

Key Differences

1. Property Naming Convention

JavaScript uses camelCase, Python uses snake_case:

JavaScript	Python
context.eventName	context.event_name
context.runId	context.run_id
context.runNumber	context.run_number

2. Object Access

JavaScript:

const owner = context.repo.owner;
const repo = context.repo.repo;

Python:

owner = context.repo["owner"]
repo = context.repo["repo"]

3. String Formatting

JavaScript:

core.info(`PR #${pr.number}: ${pr.title}`)

Python:

core.info(f"PR #{pr.number}: {pr.title}")
# or
core.info("PR #{}: {}".format(pr.number, pr.title))

API Conversion Examples

Creating Issue Comments

JavaScript:

await github.rest.issues.createComment({
  issue_number: context.issue.number,
  owner: context.repo.owner,
  repo: context.repo.repo,
  body: '👋 Thanks for reporting!'
})

Python:

github.rest.issues.create_comment(
    issue_number=context.issue["number"],
    owner=context.repo["owner"],
    repo=context.repo["repo"],
    body="👋 Thanks for reporting!"
)

Adding Labels

JavaScript:

await github.rest.issues.addLabels({
  issue_number: context.issue.number,
  owner: context.repo.owner,
  repo: context.repo.repo,
  labels: ['bug', 'triage']
})

Python:

github.rest.issues.add_labels(
    issue_number=context.issue["number"],
    owner=context.repo["owner"],
    repo=context.repo["repo"],
    labels=["bug", "triage"]
)

Listing Issues

JavaScript:

const issues = await github.rest.issues.listForRepo({
  owner: context.repo.owner,
  repo: context.repo.repo,
  state: 'open'
})

for (const issue of issues.data) {
  console.log(`#${issue.number}: ${issue.title}`)
}

Python:

issues = github.rest.issues.list_for_repo(
    owner=context.repo["owner"],
    repo=context.repo["repo"],
    state="open"
)

for issue in issues:
    print(f"#{issue.number}: {issue.title}")

GraphQL Queries

JavaScript:

const query = `query($owner:String!, $name:String!) {
  repository(owner:$owner, name:$name) {
    issues(first:10) {
      nodes {
        number
        title
      }
    }
  }
}`;

const variables = {
  owner: context.repo.owner,
  name: context.repo.repo
}

const result = await github.graphql(query, variables)
console.log(result)

Python:

query = """
query($owner:String!, $name:String!) {
  repository(owner:$owner, name:$name) {
    issues(first:10) {
      nodes {
        number
        title
      }
    }
  }
}
"""

variables = {
    "owner": context.repo["owner"],
    "name": context.repo["repo"]
}

result = github.graphql(query, variables)
print(result)

Advanced Patterns

Pagination

JavaScript:

const opts = github.rest.issues.listForRepo.endpoint.merge({
  ...context.repo,
  state: 'all'
})
const issues = await github.paginate(opts)

Python:

repo = github.get_repo(f"{context.repo['owner']}/{context.repo['repo']}")
issues = github.paginate(repo.get_issues, state="all")

Async/Await vs Standard Functions

JavaScript:

// JavaScript requires async/await
const issue = await github.rest.issues.get({
  owner: context.repo.owner,
  repo: context.repo.repo,
  issue_number: 1
})

Python:

# Python calls are synchronous
issue = github.rest.issues.get(
    owner=context.repo["owner"],
    repo=context.repo["repo"],
    issue_number=1
)

Accessing Nested Data

JavaScript:

const prTitle = context.payload.pull_request.title
const prAuthor = context.payload.pull_request.user.login

Python:

pr_title = context.payload["pull_request"]["title"]
pr_author = context.payload["pull_request"]["user"]["login"]

Return Values

JavaScript

const result = {
  status: 'success',
  count: 42
}
return result

Python

__result__ = {
    "status": "success",
    "count": 42
}

Error Handling

JavaScript

try {
  await github.rest.issues.get({
    owner: context.repo.owner,
    repo: context.repo.repo,
    issue_number: 9999
  })
} catch (error) {
  core.warning(`Issue not found: ${error.message}`)
}

Python

try:
    github.rest.issues.get(
        owner=context.repo["owner"],
        repo=context.repo["repo"],
        issue_number=9999
    )
except Exception as error:
    core.warning(f"Issue not found: {str(error)}")

External Modules

JavaScript

const execa = require('execa')
const { stdout } = await execa('echo', ['hello'])
console.log(stdout)

Python

import subprocess
result = subprocess.run(['echo', 'hello'], capture_output=True, text=True)
print(result.stdout)

Full Example Comparison

JavaScript (github-script)

name: Welcome Contributors
on: pull_request_target

jobs:
  welcome:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/github-script@v8
        with:
          script: |
            const creator = context.payload.sender.login
            const opts = github.rest.issues.listForRepo.endpoint.merge({
              ...context.repo,
              creator,
              state: 'all'
            })
            const issues = await github.paginate(opts)

            for (const issue of issues) {
              if (issue.number === context.issue.number) continue
              if (issue.pull_request) return
            }

            await github.rest.issues.createComment({
              issue_number: context.issue.number,
              owner: context.repo.owner,
              repo: context.repo.repo,
              body: '**Welcome**, new contributor! 🎉'
            })

Python (github-python-script)

name: Welcome Contributors
on: pull_request_target

jobs:
  welcome:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: austenstone/github-python-script@v1
        with:
          script: |
            creator = context.payload["sender"]["login"]
            repo = github.get_repo(f"{context.repo['owner']}/{context.repo['repo']}")
            issues = repo.get_issues(creator=creator, state="all")

            for issue in issues:
                if issue.number == context.issue["number"]:
                    continue
                if issue.pull_request:
                    exit()

            github.rest.issues.create_comment(
                issue_number=context.issue["number"],
                owner=context.repo["owner"],
                repo=context.repo["repo"],
                body="**Welcome**, new contributor! 🎉"
            )

Quick Reference Table

Feature	JavaScript	Python
Variables	const, let, var	No keyword needed
String formatting	`Hello ${name}`	f"Hello {name}"
Array/List	[1, 2, 3]	[1, 2, 3]
Object/Dict	{key: value}	{"key": value}
Comments	// comment or /* */	# comment
Print	console.log()	print()
Async calls	await keyword	Not needed
Property access	obj.property	obj["property"] or obj.property
Function calls	camelCase()	snake_case()
Boolean	true, false	True, False
Null	null	None

Tips for Migration

1. Test incrementally: Convert one workflow at a time
2. Check property names: Remember camelCase → snake_case
3. Dictionary access: Use [] notation for context objects
4. Remove await: Python calls are synchronous
5. Function names: GitHub API methods use snake_case in Python
6. Return values: Use __result__ variable instead of return
7. Imports: Python has built-in modules - no need to require()

Need Help?

• Check the README for more examples
• Review EXAMPLES.md for advanced patterns
• Open an issue if you encounter problems during migration