From 8daa86096d9c35200dcc1ac6e66239507bca7b81 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: agessaman <adam@gessaman.com>
Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2026 15:07:10 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] ci(beta): trigger on push to observer-firmware-dev
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Dispatch-only does not work in this repo. The fork's default branch is `dev`
(an upstream mirror carrying none of the observer workflows), and GitHub only
surfaces workflow_dispatch for workflows present on the DEFAULT branch — so the
beta workflow would never have appeared in the Actions UI and could not have
been run at all.

Adding fork-specific workflows to `dev` would pollute the upstream mirror and
conflict on every upstream sync, so the push trigger is the right mechanism: it
runs from the file on the pushed branch, which is exactly how the production
observer workflow already works.

workflow_dispatch is retained (harmless, and starts working if the default
branch ever changes). paths-ignore mirrors production so docs/CI-only commits
do not rebuild firmware.

Trade-off now explicit in the file: every push to observer-firmware-dev
publishes a dev build. Stage on a side branch and fast-forward when you intend
to release.
---
 .../build-observer-firmwares-beta.yml         | 39 ++++++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 33 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-observer-firmwares-beta.yml b/.github/workflows/build-observer-firmwares-beta.yml
index 0aa598dd..4ea08206 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-observer-firmwares-beta.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-observer-firmwares-beta.yml
@@ -3,14 +3,41 @@ name: Build MQTT Observer Firmwares (BETA channel)
 permissions:
   contents: write
 
-# Manual dispatch only, deliberately. The dev channel is normally built from
-# `observer-firmware-dev`, but unlike production this has no push trigger:
-# publishing firmware that real nodes will pull over the air should be an
-# explicit act, not a side effect of every commit to a development branch.
-# Dispatching also lets you build any branch from the Actions UI without this
-# file pinning one.
+# Push-triggered on the dev line, mirroring build-observer-firmwares.yml.
+#
+# This is NOT the original design — dispatch-only was, so that publishing to real
+# nodes stayed an explicit act. That does not work in this repo: this fork's
+# default branch is `dev` (an upstream mirror that carries none of the observer
+# workflows), and GitHub only surfaces `workflow_dispatch` for workflows present
+# on the DEFAULT branch. A dispatch-only workflow here would never appear in the
+# Actions UI. Adding fork-specific workflows to `dev` would pollute the upstream
+# mirror and conflict on every upstream sync, so the push trigger is the correct
+# mechanism — the same one production already relies on.
+#
+# workflow_dispatch is kept as well: harmless now, and it starts working if the
+# default branch ever changes.
+#
+# Consequence to be aware of: every push to `observer-firmware-dev` publishes a
+# dev-channel build. That is defensible for a channel users opt into, but if you
+# want staging commits without publishing, work on a side branch and fast-forward
+# `observer-firmware-dev` when you intend to release.
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - observer-firmware-dev
+    # Same rationale as production: docs/CI-only changes do not alter binaries.
+    paths-ignore:
+      - '**.md'
+      - 'docs/**'
+      - 'scripts/gen_changelog.py'
+      - '.github/**'
+      - '.gitignore'
+      - '.gitattributes'
+      - '.editorconfig'
+      - 'LICENSE'
+      - '.vscode/**'
+      - '.claude/**'
 
 # Shared with build-observer-firmwares.yml and sync-flasher-content.yml so the
 # workflows never push to the flasher repo at the same time.