Summary

• Adds optional github-token parameter to authenticate GitHub API requests
• Increases rate limit from 60 requests/hour to 5000 requests/hour
• Maintains full backward compatibility with automatic token defaulting

Problem

The action fails intermittently when GitHub's unauthenticated API rate limit (60 requests/hour) is exceeded, particularly in busy CI environments with multiple workflows.

Solution

Added conditional authentication using the GitHub token that's automatically available in workflows. The implementation:

• Defaults to ${{ github.token }} for zero-configuration improvement
• Falls back gracefully when no token is provided
• Adds minimal logging to indicate authentication status

Evidence

Testing confirmed the rate limit improvements in this workflow run:

• Unauthenticated: x-ratelimit-limit: 60
• Authenticated: x-ratelimit-limit: 5000

The test validates three scenarios:

1. Current upstream behavior (60/hour limit)
2. With authentication using default token (5000/hour limit)
3. Empty token parameter (graceful fallback to 60/hour limit)

Testing

• Verified backward compatibility with empty/missing token
• Confirmed successful authentication with default token
• Tested explicit token passing

References

• GitHub API rate limiting docs
• Automatic token authentication