Workflows / Github / workflow_dispatch

Github workflow_dispatch Event Notification to Slack & Email

Learn how to listen to the workflow_dispatch webhook event from Github to trigger a notification workflow in MagicBell.

Event payload

Sample payload for the workflow_dispatch event.

{
  "inputs": {
    "dry_run": "false",
    "environment": "production",
    "version": "1.2.3"
  },
  "organization": {
    "avatar_url": "https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/111111?v=4",
    "description": "Building great software",
    "id": 111111,
    "login": "acme",
    "node_id": "MDEyOk9yZ2FuaXphdGlvbjExMTExMQ==",
    "url": "https://api.github.com/orgs/acme"
  },
  "ref": "refs/heads/main",
  "repository": {
    "default_branch": "main",
    "full_name": "acme/project",
    "html_url": "https://github.com/acme/project",
    "id": 987654321,
    "name": "project",
    "node_id": "MDEwOlJlcG9zaXRvcnk5ODc2NTQzMjE=",
    "owner": {
      "avatar_url": "https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/111111?v=4",
      "html_url": "https://github.com/acme",
      "id": 111111,
      "login": "acme",
      "node_id": "MDEyOk9yZ2FuaXphdGlvbjExMTExMQ==",
      "type": "Organization"
    },
    "private": true
  },
  "sender": {
    "avatar_url": "https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/234567?v=4",
    "html_url": "https://github.com/john-dev",
    "id": 234567,
    "login": "john-dev",
    "node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjIzNDU2Nw==",
    "type": "User"
  },
  "workflow": ".github/workflows/deploy.yml"
}

Connect Github to MagicBell to receive events and trigger workflows. This guide uses the MagicBell CLI.

Add the Github integration

Save your Github webhook signing secret in MagicBell. See GitHub webhooks.

magicbell integration save_github \
  --data '{"webhook_signing_secret":"your_secret_here"}'

Copy the ID from the response and use it to build your webhook URL:

https://api.magicbell.com/v2/integrations/github/webhooks/incoming/{id}

Setup the webhook

Add a workflow

Create a workflow that triggers automatically when Github sends this event. Use liquid templates to access fields in your workflow.

Workflow key

Use this key to trigger the workflow when Github sends a workflow_dispatch:

integration.github.workflow_dispatch

Example workflow

Notify when workflows are manually triggered.

{
  "key": "integration.github.workflow_dispatch",
  "steps": [
    {
      "command": "broadcast",
      "input": {
        "action_url": "{{payload.repository.html_url}}/actions",
        "content": "{{payload.sender.login}} manually triggered {{payload.workflow}} on {{payload.repository.full_name}} ({{payload.ref}}).",
        "overrides": {
          "providers": {
            "slack": {}
          }
        },
        "recipients": [
          {
            "external_id": "devops-team"
          }
        ],
        "title": "Workflow manually triggered"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Save with the CLI

Use the MagicBell CLI to save this workflow to your project. You can also use the Workflows API endpoint instead.

magicbell workflow save \
  --data '{"key":"integration.github.workflow_dispatch","steps":[{"command":"broadcast","input":{"action_url":"{{payload.repository.html_url}}/actions","content":"{{payload.sender.login}} manually triggered {{payload.workflow}} on {{payload.repository.full_name}} ({{payload.ref}}).","overrides":{"providers":{"slack":{}}},"recipients":[{"external_id":"devops-team"}],"title":"Workflow manually triggered"}}]}'

Test the workflow

Use the Github CLI to trigger test events and verify your workflow executes correctly.

1. Trigger a test event

Use the GitHub CLI to forward webhook events from your repository to MagicBell:

gh webhook forward \
  --events=workflow_dispatch \
  --url=https://api.magicbell.com/v2/integrations/github/webhooks/incoming/{id}

2. Verify the workflow ran

Check that MagicBell received the event and executed the workflow:

magicbell workflow list_runs --workflow_key integration.github.workflow_dispatch

3. Debug issues

If the workflow failed or you need more details, fetch the run to see step-by-step execution:

magicbell workflow fetch_run --run_id {run_id}

Other workflow notification workflows

workflow_job

Notify when a workflow job starts queueing. Track CI/CD pipeline progress.

workflow_run

Notify when GitHub Actions workflows complete. Notify the team on deployment success or failure.

View all Github workflows →