Add custom GitHub Actions jobs to scaffold-managed projects via ci-custom.yml and publish-custom.yml without conflicting with three-way merge updates.
#Customizing CI workflows
rlsbl scaffold generates .github/workflows/ci.yml and publish.yml and updates them on re-run. To add custom jobs without fighting merge conflicts, use a separate workflow file:
.github/workflows/ci-custom.yml-- runs on push/PR like ci.yml.github/workflows/publish-custom.yml-- runs on release like publish.yml
Scaffold never creates or modifies these files. They are entirely owned by you.
Example ci-custom.yml:
name: CI (custom)
on:
push:
pull_request:
jobs:
my-extra-check:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v6
- name: Custom check
run: ./scripts/my-check.shThese workflows run alongside the scaffold-managed ones -- no merging required.
#Why not edit ci.yml directly?
scaffold uses a three-way merge (git merge-file) to apply template updates to your local workflow files. For most files this works well, but YAML workflows have rigid structure: a customization in one job can collide with an upstream change in a neighboring job, producing conflict markers that block the auto-commit.
Custom workflow files sidestep this entirely. GitHub Actions runs every .yml file in .github/workflows/, so a separate file is functionally equivalent to extra jobs in ci.yml -- but scaffold has no template for it and will never touch it.
When scaffold does hit a conflict on ci.yml or publish.yml, it prints a tip pointing at this pattern.