AgentUse - Autonomous Agents That Work Without You

Configure AgentUse agents to run in GitHub Actions for automated PR reviews, comment responses, and custom workflows. This guide uses agentuse/pr-review-agent as a comprehensive example. You can copy its workflows and agents directly to your project.

Overview

GitHub Actions can run AgentUse agents in response to repository events:

PR Reviews: Automatic code review when PRs are opened/updated
Comment Replies: Respond to @mentions in PR/issue comments
Custom Workflows: Manual or scheduled agent runs

Quick Start

1. Copy Workflow Files

From the agentuse-pr-agents repository:

# Copy workflows and agents to your project
cp -r .github/agents .github/workflows your-project/.github/

This gives you:

.github/
├── workflows/
│   ├── agentuse-code-review.yml    # PR review automation
│   └── agentuse-comment-reply.yml  # @mention responses
└── agents/
    ├── code-review.agentuse        # Review agent prompt
    └── comment-reply.agentuse      # Reply agent prompt

2. Configure API Keys

Add ONE of these secrets to your repository (Settings → Secrets → Actions):

Secret Name	Provider	Get From	Best For
`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`	Anthropic	console.anthropic.com	Pay-per-use
`OPENAI_API_KEY`	OpenAI	platform.openai.com	GPT models
`OPENROUTER_API_KEY`	OpenRouter	openrouter.ai	Multi-provider
`OPENCODE_GO_API_KEY`	OpenCode Go	opencode.ai/auth	Open coding models
`CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN`	Claude Pro/Max	`npx agentuse auth setup-github`	Subscription users

For Claude Pro/Max users, run npx agentuse auth setup-github in your project directory. Follow the instructions and the command will write the secret to GitHub for you.

3. Done

Open a PR to trigger automatic review, or mention @agentuse in any comment.

Workflow Configuration

PR Code Review Workflow

File: .github/workflows/agentuse-code-review.yml

Key Configuration

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened]
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      pr_number:
        description: 'PR number to review'
        required: true
        type: number

permissions:
  contents: read
  pull-requests: write

concurrency:
  group: pr-review-${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

Environment Variables

The workflow sets these variables for the agent:

Variable	Description
`GITHUB_REPOSITORY`	Repo name (e.g., `user/repo`)
`PR_NUMBER`	Pull request number
`BASE_REF`	Target branch (e.g., `main`)
`HEAD_REF`	Source branch
`GH_TOKEN`	GitHub token for API access

Comment Reply Workflow

File: .github/workflows/agentuse-comment-reply.yml

Key Configuration

if: |
  github.event.issue.pull_request &&
  contains(github.event.comment.body, '@agentuse')

Context Variables

Variable	Description
`COMMENT_ID`	Comment ID for threading
`COMMENT_AUTHOR`	Who mentioned the bot
`COMMENT_BODY`	Full comment text

Agent File Configuration

Structure

Agent files use YAML frontmatter + markdown:

---
model: anthropic:claude-sonnet-5
maxSteps: 50
tools:
  bash:
    commands:
      - "gh *"
      - "git *"
  filesystem:
    - path: "${root}"
      permissions: [read]
---

# Your Agent Instructions

Instructions here in markdown...

Model Selection

Override the default model in three ways: 1. Agent file (recommended for consistency):

model: anthropic:claude-opus-4-8

2. Workflow dispatch input (one-time override):

workflow_dispatch:
  inputs:
    model:
      description: 'Model override'
      type: string

3. Environment variable (all runs):

env:
  MODEL: openai:gpt-5.6

Priority: Dispatch input → Env var → Agent file

Tool Permissions

Limit what the agent can do:

tools:
  bash:
    commands:
      - "gh *"           # GitHub CLI only
      - "git log *"      # Limited git access
  filesystem:
    - path: "src/**"     # Read source files only
      permissions: [read]

Timeout & Step Limits

maxSteps: 50  # Maximum agent steps

# In workflow
npx agentuse run agent.agentuse --timeout 300  # 5 minute timeout

Advanced Configuration

Filter PRs by Path

on:
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - 'src/**'
      - '!**/*.test.ts'

Different Models per Task

# .github/agents/quick-review.agentuse
model: anthropic:claude-haiku-4-5
maxSteps: 20

Skip Draft PRs

jobs:
  review:
    if: github.event.pull_request.draft == false

Monorepo: Pass Affected Packages

Set environment variable in workflow:

env:
  AFFECTED_PACKAGES: ${{ steps.detect.outputs.packages }}

Agent reads it at runtime:

## Step 1: Check Affected Packages

Run this command to see which packages changed:
\```bash
echo $AFFECTED_PACKAGES
\```

Focus your review on these packages only.

Custom Review Standards

Edit .github/agents/code-review.agentuse:

## Security Checks
- No hardcoded secrets
- Input validation on endpoints

## Performance
- No N+1 queries
- Pagination on large lists

Debugging

Enable debug mode in workflow:

env:
  AGENTUSE_DEBUG: true

Common issues:

Issue	Solution
Agent times out	Increase timeout: `--timeout 600`, reduce maxSteps, use faster model
Review not posting	Check `pull-requests: write` permission, verify API key
Wrong files reviewed	Check path filters, verify filesystem permissions

Security

Limit agent access in CI:

tools:
  bash:
    commands:
      - "gh pr *"  # Only PR commands, not repo admin
  filesystem:
    - path: "src/**"  # Don't expose .env, secrets/
      permissions: [read]  # Never [write] in CI

Cost Optimization

Use Cheaper Models

# For simple PRs
model: anthropic:claude-haiku-4-5  # ~$0.01/review

# For complex PRs
model: anthropic:claude-sonnet-5  # ~$0.05/review

Reduce Token Usage

maxSteps: 20  # Limit agent execution

In agent prompt:

Focus only on changed files. Ignore tests unless broken.
Provide concise summaries (2-3 sentences max per section).

Skip Low-Value PRs

if: |
  github.event.pull_request.draft == false &&
  github.event.pull_request.additions > 10

Reference

Common bash commands in agents:

# Get PR metadata
gh pr view $PR_NUMBER --json title,body,files

# Get diff
gh pr diff $PR_NUMBER

# Post comment
gh pr comment $PR_NUMBER --body "Review complete"

Next Steps

Customize agents: Edit .github/agents/*.agentuse to match your workflow
Add more workflows: Create agents for deployment, testing, documentation
Share across repos: Use organization-level secrets and reusable workflows
See Agent Design Patterns for advanced prompt engineering

Getting Started

Building

Running

Reference

CI/CD

Overview

Quick Start

1. Copy Workflow Files

2. Configure API Keys

3. Done

Workflow Configuration

PR Code Review Workflow

Key Configuration

Environment Variables

Comment Reply Workflow

Key Configuration

Context Variables

Agent File Configuration

Structure

Model Selection

Tool Permissions

Timeout & Step Limits

Advanced Configuration

Filter PRs by Path

Different Models per Task

Skip Draft PRs

Monorepo: Pass Affected Packages

Custom Review Standards

Debugging

Security

Cost Optimization

Use Cheaper Models

Reduce Token Usage

Skip Low-Value PRs

Reference

Next Steps

​Overview

​Quick Start

​1. Copy Workflow Files

​2. Configure API Keys

​3. Done

​Workflow Configuration

​PR Code Review Workflow

​Key Configuration

​Environment Variables

​Comment Reply Workflow

​Key Configuration

​Context Variables

​Agent File Configuration

​Structure

​Model Selection

​Tool Permissions

​Timeout & Step Limits

​Advanced Configuration

​Filter PRs by Path

​Different Models per Task

​Skip Draft PRs

​Monorepo: Pass Affected Packages

​Custom Review Standards

​Debugging

​Security

​Cost Optimization

​Use Cheaper Models

​Reduce Token Usage

​Skip Low-Value PRs

​Reference

​Next Steps

Overview

Quick Start

1. Copy Workflow Files

2. Configure API Keys

3. Done

Workflow Configuration

PR Code Review Workflow

Key Configuration

Environment Variables

Comment Reply Workflow

Key Configuration

Context Variables

Agent File Configuration

Structure

Model Selection

Tool Permissions

Timeout & Step Limits

Advanced Configuration

Filter PRs by Path

Different Models per Task

Skip Draft PRs

Monorepo: Pass Affected Packages

Custom Review Standards

Debugging

Security

Cost Optimization

Use Cheaper Models

Reduce Token Usage

Skip Low-Value PRs

Reference

Next Steps