Claude Code GitHub Actions is the integration that lets Claude work directly inside your GitHub repository. GitHub is where software teams store their code and track their to-do list of bugs and requests. Once you connect Claude Code to a repository, anyone on the team can mention @claude in an issue or a pull request comment, and Claude will act on it: write the change, answer the question, or review the code, then post the result back in GitHub. If none of those words are familiar yet, don't worry -- the next section defines them in plain English.

What Claude Code GitHub Actions actually is

First, a few terms. A repository is the folder where a project's code lives. An issue is a note in GitHub describing a bug to fix or a feature to build. A pull request (or PR) is a proposed set of code changes that someone reviews before it becomes part of the project. And GitHub Actions is GitHub's built-in system for running automated jobs when something happens, like a comment being posted.

Claude Code GitHub Actions ties those together. It installs a small piece of software called the Claude GitHub App into your repository, plus a workflow file that runs Claude Code on GitHub's own servers. From then on, a mention of @claude is the trigger. You are not running anything on your laptop -- the work happens on GitHub, and Claude follows the same project rules your team already wrote down in a CLAUDE.md file.

How you turn it on

Setup is one command, run once by someone with admin access to the repository. In the Claude Code terminal you type the install command, and it walks you through the rest: it installs the Claude GitHub App, then helps you add the workflow file and your API key so Claude can authenticate.

/install-github-app

Run once in the Claude Code terminal to connect a repository. Click to copy.

The GitHub App asks for read and write access to three things -- your repository's contents (the code), its issues, and its pull requests -- so it can read what's there and post changes back. You must be a repository admin to install it and to add the secret key. That's the whole setup. After it finishes, you test it by mentioning @claude in any issue or PR.

What you can ask @claude to do

Once it's live, you talk to Claude the same way you'd talk to a teammate -- by leaving a comment. Four common jobs:

@claude in a comment
✎Implement a changeDescribe the fix or feature and Claude opens a pull request with the code.Opens PR
?Answer a questionAsk how something works or how to approach a problem, and get a written reply.Replies
🔍Review a pull requestAsk Claude to look over a proposed change and comment on issues it finds.Reviews
⚑Fix a failing checkWhen an automated test fails on a PR, ask Claude to diagnose and repair it.Fixes

The four things @claude does most often once installed.

A real example

Say someone files an issue: "The dashboard throws an error when a user has no orders." A developer would normally have to stop what they're doing, read the code, write a fix, and open a pull request. Instead, anyone can drop a single comment on that issue:

@claude fix the error on the dashboard when a user has no orders

Behind the scenes, GitHub Actions wakes up, runs Claude Code, and Claude reads the relevant code, writes a fix, and opens a pull request with the change ready for a human to review and merge. Here's the shape of what runs, and the order it runs in:

Step 1You mention @claudeA comment on an issue or PR is the trigger. No command line needed.
Step 2Claude Code runsGitHub Actions launches Claude on GitHub's servers, following your CLAUDE.md rules.
Step 3A result is postedClaude opens a pull request, answers, or comments -- and a person reviews before anything merges.

The point is that a request written in plain English becomes real work, without a developer dropping everything to handle it by hand.

A human is always in the loop: Claude proposes changes as pull requests. Nothing becomes part of your project until a person reviews and approves it. The docs recommend reviewing Claude's suggestions before merging.

Review every pull request automatically

Beyond replying to @claude mentions, you can set it up to review every pull request on its own, with no one having to ask. In that setup, each time a change is proposed, Claude looks it over and leaves review comments as part of the team's automated checks. It becomes a consistent first pass on every change, so obvious problems get caught early and reviewers spend their time on the parts that need judgment.

You stop writing "someone needs to look at this" and let the routine part happen the moment the comment is posted.