GHA-219 Add Slack notification when rule metadata PR is opened or updated (#122)

Co-authored-by: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: nils-werner-sonarsource

notify-slack/README.md

@@ -1,15 +1,14 @@
-# Notify Slack on Failure Action
+# Notify Slack Action
 
-This GitHub Action sends a Slack notification summarizing failed jobs in a workflow run when used with an `if: failure()` condition.
+This GitHub Action sends a Slack notification. It supports two modes:
+- **Failure mode** (default): summarizes failed jobs in a workflow run, intended for use with `if: failure()`.
+- **Custom message mode**: sends a free-text message directly, useful for informational notifications such as PR creation alerts.
 
 ## Description
 
-The action posts a concise message to a Slack channel containing:
-1. A link to the failed GitHub Actions run
-2. A list of failed jobs provided by the workflow
-3. A custom project-branded username and icon
-
-It is intended to be used as the last step (or in a dedicated job) guarded by `if: failure()` so that it only triggers on failures.
+The action posts a message to a Slack channel containing either:
+- A link to the failed GitHub Actions run and a list of failed jobs (failure mode), or
+- A custom message provided by the caller (custom message mode).
 
 ## Dependencies
 
@@ -19,22 +18,22 @@ This action depends on:
 
 ## Inputs
 
-| Input           | Description                                                            | Required | Default   |
-|-----------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------|-----------|
-| `project-name`  | The display name of the project; used in the Slack username.           | Yes      | -         |
-| `icon`          | Emoji icon for the Slack message (Slack emoji code).                   | No       | `:alert:` |
-| `slack-channel` | Slack channel (without `#`) to post the notification into.             | Yes      | -         |
-| `jobs`          | Comma-separated list of job names to report as failed (provided by you). | Yes    | -         |
-
-Note: The list of failed jobs must be provided via the `jobs` input by your workflow logic.
+| Input           | Description                                                                                            | Required | Default   |
+|-----------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------|-----------|
+| `project-name`  | The display name of the project; used in the Slack username.                                           | Yes      | -         |
+| `icon`          | Emoji icon for the Slack message (Slack emoji code).                                                   | No       | `:alert:` |
+| `slack-channel` | Slack channel (without `#`) to post the notification into.                                             | Yes      | -         |
+| `jobs`          | A GitHub needs-like object string of jobs and their results (e.g., from `toJSON(needs)`). Required when `message` is not set. | No | - |
+| `message`       | A custom free-text Slack message. When provided, skips job-failure parsing and sends this message directly. | No  | -         |
+| `color`         | Slack attachment color (`good`, `danger`, `warning`, or a hex code).                                   | No       | `danger`  |
 
 ## Outputs
 
 No outputs are produced by this action.
 
 ## Usage
 
-### Basic usage (in a dedicated failure notification job)
+### Failure notification (in a dedicated failure notification job)
 
 ```yaml
 jobs:
@@ -53,18 +52,21 @@ jobs:
           jobs: ${{ toJSON(needs) }}
 ```
 
-### Minimal usage (only required inputs)
+### Custom message (e.g. PR ready for review)
 
 ```yaml
 - uses: SonarSource/release-github-actions/notify-slack@v1
-  if: failure()
   with:
     project-name: 'My Project'
-    slack-channel: 'engineering-alerts'
-    jobs: 'build, test'
+    slack-channel: 'team-channel'
+    icon: ':memo:'
+    color: good
+    message: |
+      *my-repo* rule metadata PR is ready for review:
+      https://github.com/org/my-repo/pull/42
 ```
 
-### Custom icon
+### Custom icon (failure mode)
 
 ```yaml
 - uses: SonarSource/release-github-actions/notify-slack@v1
@@ -73,18 +75,18 @@ jobs:
     project-name: 'My Project'
     slack-channel: 'engineering-alerts'
     icon: ':rocket:'
-    jobs: 'build, test'
+    jobs: ${{ toJSON(needs) }}
 ```
 
 ## Implementation Details
 
 The action is a composite action that:
 - Fetches `SLACK_TOKEN` from Vault path `development/kv/data/slack` using `vault-action-wrapper`
-- Uses a workflow-provided `jobs` input (comma-separated string) to populate the "Failed Jobs" section
-- Constructs a Slack message with run URL and the provided failed jobs list
-- Uses `rtCamp/action-slack-notify` to send a minimal styled message (no title/footer) with danger color
+- When `message` is not set: parses the `jobs` JSON input to extract failed job names and constructs a message with the run URL
+- When `message` is set: sends the provided message directly, skipping job-failure parsing
+- Uses `rtCamp/action-slack-notify` to send a minimal styled message (no title/footer)
+- Sets the attachment color from the `color` input (defaults to `danger`)
 - Sets Slack username to: `<project-name> CI Notifier`
-- If the `jobs` list is empty or not provided, the "Failed Jobs" line will be blank
 
 ## Prerequisites
 
@@ -94,8 +96,6 @@ The action is a composite action that:
 
 ## Notes
 
-- Use `if: failure()` on the step or job; otherwise it will also fire on success.
-- `project-name`, `slack-channel`, and `jobs` are required inputs (no defaults).
+- For failure notifications, use `if: failure()` on the step or job; otherwise it will also fire on success.
 - Do not prefix the channel with `#`.
 - Message formatting is intentionally minimal for quick triage in alert-focused channels.
-- How you compute the failed jobs list is up to your workflow; you can use prior steps to gather job results and pass them to this action via `jobs`.

notify-slack/action.yml

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name: 'Notify Slack on Failure'
-description: 'Sends a Slack notification when a job fails.'
+description: 'Sends a Slack notification when a job fails, or a custom message.'
 
 inputs:
   project-name:
@@ -13,13 +13,21 @@ inputs:
     description: 'The Slack channel to send the notification to.'
     required: true
   jobs:
-    description: 'A GitHub needs-like object string of jobs and their results (e.g., from toJSON(needs)).'
-    required: true
+    description: 'A GitHub needs-like object string of jobs and their results (e.g., from toJSON(needs)). Required when message is not set.'
+    required: false
+  message:
+    description: 'A custom free-text Slack message. When provided, skips job-failure parsing and sends this message directly.'
+    required: false
+  color:
+    description: 'Slack attachment color (e.g. good, danger, warning, or a hex color code).'
+    required: false
+    default: 'danger'
 
 runs:
   using: "composite"
   steps:
     - name: Collect Failed Jobs
+      if: ${{ inputs.message == '' }}
       shell: bash
       id: collect_failed_jobs
       env:
@@ -43,11 +51,9 @@ runs:
         SLACK_MSG_AUTHOR: " "
         SLACK_TITLE: " "
         SLACK_FOOTER: " "
-        SLACK_COLOR: danger
+        SLACK_COLOR: ${{ inputs.color }}
         MSG_MINIMAL: true
-        SLACK_MESSAGE: |
-          *Run:* ${{ github.server_url }}/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }}
-          *Failed Jobs:* ${{ steps.collect_failed_jobs.outputs.failed-jobs }}
+        SLACK_MESSAGE: ${{ inputs.message != '' && inputs.message || format('*Run:* {0}/{1}/actions/runs/{2}\n*Failed Jobs:* {3}', github.server_url, github.repository, github.run_id, steps.collect_failed_jobs.outputs.failed-jobs) }}
         SLACK_TOKEN: "${{ fromJSON(steps.secrets.outputs.vault).SLACK_TOKEN }}"
         SLACK_ICON_EMOJI: "${{ inputs.icon }}"
         SLACK_USERNAME: "${{ inputs.project-name }} CI Notifier"

update-rule-metadata/README.md

@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ This action depends on:
 | `sonarpedia-files` | Comma-separated list of sonarpedia files to be updated. By default, it will update all Sonarpedia files in the repository. | No       | Auto-discovered |
 | `branch`           | Branch to run the check against and create the PR for. By default, it will use master.                                     | No       | `master`        |
 | `rspec-branch`     | Branch of the rspec repository to be used. If not specified, the `master` branch will be used by default.                  | No       | `master`        |
+| `slack-channel`    | Slack channel to notify when a PR is created or updated. If empty, no notification is sent.                                | No       | -               |
 
 ## Outputs
 
@@ -81,6 +82,15 @@ permissions:
     branch: 'develop'
 ```
 
+### Notify a Slack channel when a PR is created or updated
+
+```yaml
+- name: Update Rule Metadata
+  uses: SonarSource/release-github-actions/update-rule-metadata@v1
+  with:
+    slack-channel: 'team-channel'
+```
+
 ### Complete example with all inputs
 
 ```yaml
@@ -99,6 +109,7 @@ jobs:
           sonarpedia-files: 'frontend/java/sonarpedia.json,frontend/csharp/sonarpedia.json'
           branch: 'develop'
           rspec-branch: 'feature/my-rspec-branch'
+          slack-channel: 'team-channel'
 ```
 
 ## Implementation Details

update-rule-metadata/action.yml

@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ inputs:
   rspec-token-suffix:
     description: 'Suffix for the RSpec token if different from "rspec-read".'
     required: false
+  slack-channel:
+    description: 'Slack channel to notify when a PR is created or updated. If empty, no notification is sent.'
+    required: false
 
 outputs:
   has-changes:
@@ -279,3 +282,15 @@ runs:
         base: ${{ inputs.branch }}
         branch: bot/update-rule-metadata
         labels: ${{ inputs.labels }}
+
+    - name: Notify Slack
+      if: ${{ inputs.slack-channel != '' && steps.create-pr.outputs.pull-request-operation != 'none' }}
+      uses: SonarSource/release-github-actions/notify-slack@v1
+      with:
+        project-name: ${{ github.repository }}
+        slack-channel: ${{ inputs.slack-channel }}
+        icon: ':memo:'
+        color: good
+        message: |
+          *${{ github.event.repository.name }}* rule metadata PR is ready for review:
+          ${{ steps.create-pr.outputs.pull-request-url }}