Actions grows beyond workflows

GitHub Actions has expanded well past its 2018 debut as a workflow automation tool, now serving as the home for CI/CD and the broader automation ecosystem on GitHub. To match that scope, GitHub is rolling out a redesigned navigation for the Actions experience, built on the Primer design system. The update is meant to improve discoverability, tighten the hierarchy around reusable workflows, and prepare the surface for features still to come.

What the new layout changes

  • Sidebar renamed to Actions to reflect the full range of what lives in this area, not just workflows.
  • Scalable navigation structure designed to accommodate future feature additions without requiring a redesign.
  • Better multi-viewport support through Primer, which brings consistent, accessible behavior out of the box.
  • Clearer reusable workflow hierarchy, with run jobs grouped beneath the calling workflow.
  • New Usage and Workflow file entry points in the sidebar for faster access.
  • Local navigation on workflow runs to return to the workflow list and identify which workflow a run belongs to.

Renamed to Actions

Workflows are only part of what users manage in the Actions space. The menu item previously labeled Workflows is now simply Actions to better describe the entire surface it represents.

The new sidebar borrows the pattern used elsewhere on GitHub, particularly in settings pages, and adapts it for Actions with workflow pagination plus a management section. The first capabilities in that section revolve around cache management, documented in GitHub's caching guide, but the structure leaves space for additional controls as GitHub ships them.

Primer brings consistent viewport behavior

Because the navigation relies on Primer, GitHub's design system, the Actions interface inherits the same responsive behavior and accessibility standards found across other GitHub surfaces without custom code per viewport.

Reusable workflows get a hierarchy

When a run includes reusable workflows, the new UI collapses jobs from those workflows under the parent caller. Users can expand or collapse each level, making it easier to trace which workflow invoked what.

For any given workflow run, the sidebar now surfaces direct links to the Usage view and the underlying Workflow file, so users don't have to hunt through menus to find them.

Easy back-navigation on runs

Workflow run pages previously had no local way to return to the workflow list. The addition of local navigation fixes that gap, and it doubles as a breadcrumb that shows which workflow the current run belongs to.

GitHub is inviting feedback on the new navigation in the community discussions forum under the Actions and Packages category.