update docs PR assignment error

[snopoke]

Sometimes the .github/workflows/update-changelog.yml action will fail to create the PR because the assignee can't be found: could not assign user: 'Copilot' not found.

@claude what's the best way to handle this error?

[claude]

Claude finished @snopoke's task in 55s —— View job

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Analysis Complete

• Read repository guidelines (CLAUDE.md)
• Examine the update-changelog.yml workflow
• Identify the source of the 'Copilot' assignee error
• Provide recommendations for fixing the issue

Problem Identified

The error occurs in .github/workflows/update-changelog.yml:293 where the workflow tries to assign the created PR to the author of the source PR:

--assignee "${{ steps.set_vars.outputs.pr_author }}"

When a PR in the source repository (open-chat-studio) is authored by "Copilot" (or any user that doesn't have access to the target repository), the gh pr create command fails because it can't find that user in the target repository.

Recommended Solutions

Here are several approaches to handle this, from simplest to most robust:

Option 1: Make assignee optional (Simplest)

Remove the --assignee flag entirely or only assign when the author is valid. Since the PR body already mentions the author with @${{ steps.set_vars.outputs.pr_author }}, this information isn't lost.

Pros: Simple, no failures
Cons: PRs won't have an assignee

Option 2: Add error handling with fallback (Recommended)

Wrap the assignee assignment with error handling to gracefully continue if assignment fails:

# Try to assign to PR author, but don't fail if they don't exist
gh pr create \
  --title "$PR_TITLE" \
  --body "$PR_BODY" \
  --label "automated" \
  --base "${{ steps.set_vars.outputs.base_branch }}" \
  --head "${{ env.branch_name }}" || { echo "Failed to create pull request"; exit 1; }

# Try to assign after PR creation (won't fail the workflow if user doesn't exist)
gh pr edit "${{ env.branch_name }}" --add-assignee "${{ steps.set_vars.outputs.pr_author }}" || echo "Could not assign @${{ steps.set_vars.outputs.pr_author }} (user may not have access to this repo)"

Pros: Best of both worlds - assigns when possible, continues when not
Cons: Slightly more complex

Option 3: Validate user exists first

Check if the user exists in the target repository before trying to assign:

# Check if user has access to the repo
if gh api "repos/${{ github.repository }}/collaborators/${{ steps.set_vars.outputs.pr_author }}" &>/dev/null; then
  ASSIGNEE_FLAG="--assignee ${{ steps.set_vars.outputs.pr_author }}"
else
  ASSIGNEE_FLAG=""
  echo "Note: @${{ steps.set_vars.outputs.pr_author }} does not have access to this repository and cannot be assigned"
fi

gh pr create \
  --title "$PR_TITLE" \
  --body "$PR_BODY" \
  --label "automated" \
  $ASSIGNEE_FLAG \
  --base "${{ steps.set_vars.outputs.base_branch }}" \
  --head "${{ env.branch_name }}"

Pros: Clean, predictable behavior
Cons: Extra API call, may not catch all edge cases

My Recommendation

I recommend Option 2 (error handling with fallback) because:

• It attempts to assign when possible (helpful for human contributors)
• It gracefully handles cases where assignment fails
• The error message is logged but doesn't break the workflow
• No extra API calls needed

Note

Unfortunately, I cannot modify workflow files due to GitHub App permissions restrictions. You'll need to manually update .github/workflows/update-changelog.yml with your chosen solution.

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