fresh-eyes-only-action v1

What it does

This GitHub Action dismisses stale approvals on a Pull Request when new commits are pushed. It’s designed to ensure that reviewers always approve the latest code changes, preventing merges based on outdated reviews.

It can run automatically when a PR is updated, or be triggered manually with a workflow_dispatch or repository_dispatch event.

In situations when the code does not change, approvals should be preserved. Examples include:

• Simple rebase (For example: rebase a branch into latest main)
• Squash commits

Both rebase+squash at the same time are not supported. What you can do:

• squash -> push -> rebase -> push
• rebase -> push -> squash -> push

When to use it

Use this action if you want to:

• Automatically clear outdated approvals after a PR changes.
• Require reviewers to re-approve after each new commit.
• Keep your review process strict and up to date.

Supported triggers

1. PR synchronize

Run this action on a pull_request event with type synchronize to automatically dismiss approvals when new commits are pushed.

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [synchronize]

2. Manual trigger

Run this action manually with workflow_dispatch by providing the required inputs.

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      pr-number:
        description: "The Pull Request number"
        required: true
      repository:
        description: "owner/repo containing the PR"
        required: true
      base-ref:
        description: "Base branch name of the PR (e.g., main)"
        required: true
      actor:
        description: "GitHub username who triggered the process"
        required: true
      before-sha:
        description: "Commit SHA before the push"
        required: true
      after-sha:
        description: "Commit SHA after the push"
        required: true

Required inputs for workflow_dispatch

Field	Type	Description
pr-number	integer	Pull Request number to target.
repository	string	Full owner/name of the repository containing the PR.
base-ref	string	Base branch name for the PR (e.g., main).
actor	string	GitHub username that triggered the process.
before-sha	string	Commit SHA before the push.
after-sha	string	Commit SHA after the push.

Example: PR synchronize usage

name: Fresh Eyes Only (PR synchronize)

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [synchronize]

jobs:
  fresh-eyes:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      pull-requests: write
      contents: read
    steps:
      - uses: your-org/fresh-eyes-only-action@v1
        with:
          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

Example: Manual trigger usage

name: Fresh Eyes Only (manual)

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      pr-number:
        description: "The Pull Request number"
        required: true
      repository:
        description: "owner/repo containing the PR"
        required: true
      base-ref:
        description: "Base branch name of the PR (e.g., main)"
        required: true
      actor:
        description: "GitHub username who triggered the process"
        required: true
      before-sha:
        description: "Commit SHA before the push"
        required: true
      after-sha:
        description: "Commit SHA after the push"
        required: true

jobs:
  fresh-eyes:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      pull-requests: write
      contents: read
    steps:
      - uses: your-org/fresh-eyes-only-action@v1
        with:
          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          pr-number: ${{ github.event.inputs.pr-number }}
          repository: ${{ github.event.inputs.repository }}
          base-ref: ${{ github.event.inputs.base-ref }}
          actor: ${{ github.event.inputs.actor }}
          before-sha: ${{ github.event.inputs.before-sha }}
          after-sha: ${{ github.event.inputs.after-sha }}