# Developers' Perception of GitHub Actions: A Survey Analysis

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.04084 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.04084/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 7 Mar 2023.

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [On Large Language Models in Mission-Critical IT Governance: Are We Ready Yet?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.11698/) (2024)
- [Developer Perspectives on Licensing and Copyright Issues Arising from Generative AI for Software Development](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.10877/) (2024)
- [GaNDLF-Synth: A Framework to Democratize Generative AI for (Bio)Medical Imaging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.00173/) (2024)
- [The Impact of Foundational Models on Patient-Centric e-Health Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.21882/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

GitHub introduced "Actions" in 2019 to increase workflow velocity and add customized automation to the repositories. Any individual can develop Actions for automating workflow on GitHub repositories and others can reuse them whenever open source. GitHub introduced its marketplace for commercializing and sharing these automation tools, which currently hosts 16,730 Actions. Yet, there are numerous Actions that are developed and distributed in local repositories and outside the Marketplace. So far, the research community conducted mining studies to understand Actions with a significant focus on CI/CD. We conducted a survey study with 90 Action developers and users to understand the motivations and best practices in using, developing, and debugging Actions, and the challenges associated with these tasks. We found that developers prefer Actions with verified creators and more stars when choosing between similar Actions, and often switch to an alternative Action when facing bugs or a lack of documentation. 60.87% of the developers consider the composition of YAML files, which are essential for Action integration, challenging and error-prone. They mainly check Q&A forums to fix issues with these YAML files. Finally, developers tend to avoid using Actions (and hence automation) to reduce complexity, and security risk, or when the benefits of Actions are not worth the cost/effort of setting up Actions for automation.