What Is Workflow Dispatch?
Workflow dispatch is a trigger type in GitHub Actions that lets a person (or an API call) manually start a workflow on demand, rather than waiting for a push, pull request, or schedule. It can accept typed inputs, so the same workflow can be run with different parameters, such as choosing a target environment or version to deploy.
Why it matters
Some workflows, manual deploys, ad-hoc maintenance jobs, one-off data tasks, should run when a human decides, with custom inputs. Workflow dispatch provides that controlled manual entry point with a UI and an API, complementing automatic event and schedule triggers.
Related concepts
- Manual trigger, complementing push and schedule
- Accepts typed inputs from the user
- Can be invoked via the API for ChatOps
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