Unsupported event type: push — action exits 1 on push-triggered workflows

[tombrov]

Describe the bug

anthropics/claude-code-action@v1.0.160 (commit 4633baf) fails at startup with Error: Action failed with error:
Unsupported event type: push when the workflow is triggered by a push event. The action never reaches Claude — it exits 1 before any prompt is
run.

This blocks any use case where Claude is driven from non-PR, non-issue automation (scheduled syncs, post-merge content generation, doc
regeneration on push to default branch, etc.). workflow_dispatch, schedule, pull_request, and issue_comment all work; push does not.

To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Create a workflow triggered by on: push: branches: [main] (or call a reusable workflow from such a trigger).
2. In the workflow's job, invoke anthropics/claude-code-action@v1.0.160 with any valid prompt / claude_args / Bedrock or Anthropic credentials.
3. Push a commit to main so the workflow runs.
4. The "Run Claude Code Action" step fails immediately with:

Error: Action failed with error: Unsupported event type: push
Error: Process completed with exit code 1.

A minimal reproducer:

name: repro
on:
push:
branches: [main]
permissions:
contents: read
id-token: write
jobs:
claude:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: anthropics/claude-code-action@v1.0.160
with:
use_bedrock: "true"
claude_args: --max-turns 1
prompt: "Say hello."

Expected behavior

push should be a supported event type — either:

1. The action should treat push like workflow_dispatch (run the prompt, no PR/issue context needed), or
2. The action should expose an explicit event_type / trigger_override input so callers can declare how they want the event to be interpreted,
   or
3. At minimum, the docs should state which events are supported and the failure message should name the supported list so users can self-serve
   a fix.

Today there is no way to drive the action from a push-triggered workflow without restructuring the trigger entirely.

Screenshots

N/A — full failure log included below.

Workflow yml file

Caller workflow (triggered on push to main):

name: AI Helm Services Ingestion Docs

on:
push:
branches:
- main

permissions:
contents: read
id-token: write

jobs:
sync:
secrets: inherit
uses: papayaglobal/workflows/.github/workflows/kb-sync-helm-charts.yaml@main
with:
target-base-path: kubernetes/payroll

Reusable workflow invoking the action (relevant excerpt):

• name: Generate ingestion doc
  uses: 4633baf # v1.0.160
  with:
  github_token: ${{ steps.configure-credentials.outputs.github-token }}
  use_bedrock: "true"
  claude_args: ${{ steps.prepare-claude-args.outputs.args }}
  plugin_marketplaces: ${{ vars.PLUGIN_MARKETPLACE }}
  plugins: ${{ inputs.plugin }}
  prompt: |
  /${{ inputs.skill }} ${{ steps.prep.outputs.source-abs }}

  Asset short name: ${{ matrix.name }}
  Use this directory as OUTPUT_DIR (override the default): ${{ steps.prep.outputs.output-dir }}
  
  Do not write anywhere else. Do not post to GitHub. Final message must list WROTE/EMPTY lines per the skill spec.
  

API Provider

• Anthropic First-Party API (default)
• AWS Bedrock
• GCP Vertex

Additional context

• Action version: 4633baf (v1.0.160)
• Runner: ubuntu-latest
• Bun: 1.3.14+0d9b296af (cached install OK)
• Event: push to main of a private repo, via a reusable workflow (workflow_call) — the parent event type propagates through reusable workflows,
  so the inner job still sees github.event_name == "push".
• The action successfully completes Bun setup and bun install (140 packages installed). The failure happens immediately after, before any
  prompt execution, in the entrypoint that validates the event type.
• The post-run "post-buffered-inline-comments" step also runs and prints No buffered inline comments, which is expected — PR_NUMBER is empty
  because the event isn't a PR. This suggests the action's design assumption is "we always have a PR/issue/comment to anchor to," and push (and
  presumably schedule?) don't fit that model.

Full failure log:

Run 4633baf
...
Run cd ${GITHUB_ACTION_PATH}
bun install v1.3.14 (0d9b296a)

• @actions/core@1.11.1
• @actions/github@6.0.1
• @anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk@0.3.196
• @modelcontextprotocol/sdk@1.16.0
• @octokit/graphql@8.2.2
• @octokit/rest@21.1.1
• @octokit/webhooks-types@7.6.1
• node-fetch@3.3.2
• shell-quote@1.8.3
• zod@3.25.76

140 packages installed [1475.00ms]
Run # Do NOT pass --tsconfig-override here. It triggers a Bun runtime bug
Error: Action failed with error: Unsupported event type: push
Error: Process completed with exit code 1.

Use case: we run the action on push to main to regenerate ingestion docs from changed files in the merged commit, then upload them as artifacts
for a downstream publish job. There is no PR at this point — the merge has already happened — so pull_request triggers don't fit.
workflow_dispatch works but defeats the "regenerate on every merge" automation. Native push support (or an opt-in event override) would unblock
this entirely.