Permission denied to github-actions[bot] pushing from a workflow

TL;DR: Give the job write permission: add permissions: contents: write to the workflow or job that pushes. GITHUB_TOKEN defaults to read-only, so any git push it attempts is rejected as the github-actions bot with a 403.

Permission denied to github-actions[bot]

The fix

1. Add a permissions block to the job (or workflow) that pushes:

   permissions:
     contents: write

Expected: YAML parses; no other change needed.

1. Re-run the failed job.

Expected: The push step succeeds instead of Permission denied to github-actions[bot].

1. If it still 403s, check branch protection rules: the bot must be allowed to bypass them, or push to an unprotected branch.

Expected: Push lands on the target branch.

When this applies

• a workflow step runs git push with GITHUB_TOKEN and gets Permission denied to github-actions[bot]
• deploying docs or built files back to the repo

When it does NOT apply

• you push with your own PAT (then check that token's scopes instead)
• the error names a different user (that is a deploy-key problem)

Compatibility

GitHub Actions on GitHub.com and GHES, actions/checkout v2 and later. Since 2023 the default token permission is read-only.

Variants of this error

fatal: unable to access 'https://github.com/...': The requested URL returned error: 403

What git prints alongside it. Same fix.

remote: Permission to [owner]/[repo].git denied to github-actions[bot].

The full git form of the same rejection. Same fix.

Why it happens

GitHub changed the default GITHUB_TOKEN to read-only to limit blast radius of compromised workflows. Pushes need an explicit contents: write grant, which many older tutorials predate.

Edge cases and pitfalls

• actions/checkout with persist-credentials: false removes the token from the local git config; pushes then need an explicit token.
• Tags need contents: write too.
• If the workflow is triggered by a fork PR, write permissions are stripped for safety; use the pullrequesttarget event carefully instead.