Agent-CI: Run GitHub Actions on Your Machine

Redwood launched Agent-CI, a tool that runs GitHub Actions workflows locally with instant caching and pause-on-failure capability, enabling developers to debug and retry failed steps without pushing to the cloud. The tool emulates the official GitHub Actions runner binary and integrates with AI coding agents like Claude Code and Cursor.

Run GitHub Actions on your machine. Caching in ~0 ms. Pause on failure. Let your AI agent fix it and retry — without pushing. ❯ npx @redwoodjs/agent-ci run --workflow .github/workflows/ci.yml Initializing local runner environment... Mounting local workspace: /Users/dev/project Starting job: test-and-build ✓ Run actions/checkout@v4 0s ✓ Run actions/setup-node@v4 0s ✓ Run npm install 0s - cached ▶ Run npm run test ✖ 1 failing test Error: Expected true to be false ⚠️ Step failed. Runner paused. Container state preserved. Fix the issue and run: npx @redwoodjs/agent-ci retry --name runner-test-and-build Principles Principle Instant Feedback Reality Cloud CI takes minutes to spin up, install dependencies, and run tests. The feedback loop is broken. Advantage By bind-mounting your local node modules and tool caches, Agent CI starts in ~0ms. Your first run warms the cache; subsequent runs are instant. Principle Debug in Place Reality When a cloud CI job fails, the container is destroyed. You have to guess the fix, push, and wait again. Advantage Agent CI pauses on failure. The container stays alive with all state intact. Fix the issue on your host, then retry just the failed step. Principle True Compatibility Reality Other local runners use custom re-implementations of the GitHub Actions spec, leading to subtle bugs and drift. Advantage Agent CI emulates the server-side API surface and feeds jobs to the unmodified, official GitHub Actions runner binary. Architecture Comparison | Feature | GitHub Actions | Other local runners | Agent CI | |---|---|---|---| | Runner binary | Official | Custom re-implementation | Official | | API layer | GitHub.com | Compatibility shim | Full local emulation | | Cache round-trip | Network ~seconds | Varies | ~0 ms bind-mount | | On failure | Start over | Start over | Pause → fix → retry step | | Container state | Destroyed | Destroyed | Kept alive | In Developers' Own Words "Waiting for CI could be the subtitle of the book of the last 3 weeks of my life The Factory Life: Waiting for CI" Jess Martin @jessmartin "An alternative to Act for AI? I'll take it " Eric Clemmons 🍊☁️ @ericclemmons "Clever dude " Cyrus @cyrusnewday "Okay this is awesome" Chris 🧑🌾 @chriszeuch "I like the look of what you're cooking here 👀" Andrew Jefferson @EastlondonDev "You can run Github actions workflows fully locally with Agent CI. Such a crazy good unlock for coding agents " Pekka Enberg @penberg "It's great." Juho Vepsäläinen @bebraw "Oh noice." Ahmad Awais @MrAhmadAwais Quick Start 1. Run Run a specific workflow npx @redwoodjs/agent-ci run --workflow .github/workflows/ci.yml Run all relevant workflows for current branch npx @redwoodjs/agent-ci run --all 2. Retry npx @redwoodjs/agent-ci retry --name <runner-name AI Agent Integration Install the agent skill — works with Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and 40+ other agents https://agentskills.io : npx skills add redwoodjs/agent-ci --skill agent-ci Then add to your agent instructions CLAUDE.md , .cursorrules , AGENTS.md : CI Install the agent-ci skill one-time setup : bash npx skills add redwoodjs/agent-ci --skill agent-ci Before completing any work, run the agent-ci skill to validate your changes locally. If it fails, fix the issue and re-run. Do not report work as done until it passes. Claude Code: Agent CI also ships a /validate skill. Copy .claude/commands/validate.md https://github.com/redwoodjs/agent-ci/blob/main/.claude/commands/validate.md into your project for automatic background execution with monitoring and retry.