Summary

GitHub Actions now supports a $/ self-repository syntax: a uses: value prefixed with $/ resolves to the calling repo at the exact commit running, no checkout or version pin needed. drivers-github-tools should adopt it for internal action-to-action references, replacing our mongodb-labs/drivers-github-tools/<action>@v3 self-references (37 occurrences) and the one ./-relative reference in update-action-tag.yml.

Motivation

Who is the affected end user?

Maintainers of drivers-github-tools. No change to the public interface used by driver repos.

How does this affect the end user?

Internal action calls currently pin to the v3 tag, which update-action-tag.yml must re-tag after every release. Our last 5 commits were all manual fixes to keep these SHA/tag references accurate - a recurring maintenance cost $/ would eliminate.

How likely is it that this problem or use case will occur?

Main path - every internal action-to-action call uses this pattern.

If the problem does occur, what are the consequences and how severe are they?

Minor but recurring: risk of drift if the tag isn't updated, plus repeated manual audits. Not an outage risk.

Is this issue urgent?

No. Requires Actions runner >= 2.336.0.

Is this ticket required by a downstream team?

No.

Is this ticket only for tests?

No - internal implementation change, no behavior change for consumers.

Acceptance Criteria

• Confirm consumer runners are >= 2.336.0
• Replace internal owner/repo/<action>@v3 self-references with $/<action>
• Replace ./setup / ./git-sign in update-action-tag.yml with $/setup / $/git-sign; drop the checkout step if no longer needed
• Keep update-action-tag.yml updating v3 for external consumers
• Validate one migrated action in CI before rolling out repo-wide