Reduce Actions workflow list response payloads

[tommaso-moro]

Summary

• Return dedicated minimal response types from list_workflow_runs and list_workflow_jobs.
• Preserve the existing response envelopes while removing heavyweight nested objects, node IDs, and redundant REST endpoint URLs from list items.
• Retain the identifiers and diagnostic fields needed to inspect a run, select relevant runs/jobs, retrieve logs, and operate on a run through subsequent MCP tool calls.

Field contract

list_workflow_runs

Retained top-level fields:id, name, display_title, workflow_id, run_number, run_attempt, event, status, conclusion, head_branch, head_sha, path, html_url, created_at, updated_at, run_started_at.

Dropped top-level fields:node_id, check_suite_id, check_suite_node_id, url, jobs_url, logs_url, check_suite_url, artifacts_url, cancel_url, rerun_url, previous_attempt_url, workflow_url, repository, head_repository.

Nested field	Retained	Dropped or compressed	Reason
pull_requests	PR numbers	Full pull request objects; all nested fields except number	The number is sufficient to call pull request tools; full PR objects duplicate a large amount of separately retrievable data.
actor, triggering_actor	login, id, profile_url (from html_url), avatar_url	All other user fields and API URLs	These fields preserve identity and navigation without embedding full user profiles.
head_commit	message	All other commit fields	head_sha remains top-level for commit/check lookup; the message preserves commit intent.
referenced_workflows	path, sha, ref	Nothing	All fields are retained because they identify the reusable workflow and resolved version.

The list envelope remains { "total_count": ..., "workflow_runs": [...] }.

list_workflow_jobs

Retained job fields:id, run_id, name, workflow_name, status, conclusion, head_branch, head_sha, html_url, run_attempt, runner_id, runner_name, runner_group_id, runner_group_name, labels, steps, created_at, started_at, completed_at.

Dropped job fields:run_url, node_id, url, check_run_url.

Every job-step field remains: name, status, conclusion, number, started_at, and completed_at. Runner and runner-group metadata is also retained for self-hosted-runner diagnosis.

The existing outer jobs response envelope and nested total_count/jobs result are preserved.

Why these fields are safe to remove from list responses

• Current Actions tools accept repository coordinates plus workflow, run, job, or artifact IDs—not REST endpoint URLs.
• Run id, workflow workflow_id/path, job id, and head_sha preserve the supported tool-chaining paths.
• repository and head_repository duplicate the repository context supplied to the tool and can be retrieved separately when needed.
• Node IDs and check-suite identifiers are not inputs to any current Actions follow-up tool. Check-oriented lookup uses the retained head_sha.
• Human-facing html_url values remain, while repeated API endpoint URLs are removed.

Measured response-size reduction

Measurements use minified JSON from representative fixtures containing nested repository data, actors, one pull request, a head commit, one referenced workflow, runner/group metadata, and two job steps. Actual savings vary with populated nested fields and the number of steps.

Response	Before	After	Bytes saved	Reduction
1 workflow run	4,342 B	1,015 B	3,327 B	76.6%
10 workflow runs	43,106 B	9,836 B	33,270 B	77.2%
1 workflow job	1,205 B	908 B	297 B	24.6%
10 workflow jobs	11,736 B	8,766 B	2,970 B	25.3%
10 runs and 10 jobs combined	54,842 B	18,602 B	36,240 B	66.1%

The job reduction is intentionally smaller because all step fields and all runner/group metadata remain available.

Testing

• script/lint
• script/test
• script/generate-docs

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Reduces GitHub Actions list payload sizes while preserving fields needed for diagnostics and follow-up tool calls.

Changes:

• Adds minimal workflow-run, job, step, and response types.
• Converts Actions list responses to minimal representations.
• Adds conversion and handler-level tests.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
pkg/github/minimal_types.go	Defines and converts minimal Actions response types.
pkg/github/actions.go	Returns minimal workflow run and job lists.
pkg/github/actions_test.go	Updates list-handler response tests.
pkg/github/actions_minimal_test.go	Tests field retention and payload trimming.

Review details

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• Files reviewed: 4/4 changed files
• Comments generated: 0
• Review effort level: Balanced

[mattdholloway]

Looks good to go! Great spot