docs(skills): record statuses:write startup_failure pattern

[castrojo]

Records the root cause and fix for promote startup_failures discovered during the 2026-06-23 promote pipeline recovery session.

When projectbluefin/actions@v1 adds a new permission to a reusable promote job, the dakota caller must mirror it in its top-level permissions: block. Missing permissions produce startup_failure with no log output.

No code changes — docs only.

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Documentation
  • Added guidance for a GitHub Actions startup failure during workflow dispatches when required permissions are missing.
  • Clarified how to identify and fix permission-related regressions in reusable workflows.

[coderabbitai]

Caution

Review failed

The pull request is closed.

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro Plus

Run ID: b43494c0-8a71-4911-bf5e-cef8aed973aa

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between d10b2b1 and 8339925.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• docs/skills/ci-reference.md

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Adds a new troubleshooting entry to docs/skills/ci-reference.md documenting a startup_failure error on promote-testing-to-main.yml dispatches caused by missing statuses: write in the caller's top-level permissions:, including the fix and detection guidance.

CI Reference Documentation

Layer / File(s)	Summary
startup_failure / statuses:write troubleshooting entry docs/skills/ci-reference.md	New subsection describing the symptom, root cause (caller permissions cap reusable workflow jobs), required statuses: write fix, and detection guideline for future projectbluefin/actions@v1 permission changes.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 1 (Trivial) | ⏱️ ~2 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• projectbluefin/dakota#700: Documents a related startup_failure root cause for reusable-workflow dispatches involving missing/incorrect permissions: in the caller.
• projectbluefin/dakota#802: Adds documentation on the broader startup_failure/missing top-level permissions pattern that this PR extends with the statuses: write case.
• projectbluefin/dakota#817: Updates caller workflow top-level permissions for promote-testing-to-main.yml to fix startup_failure, directly related to the scenario documented here.

Suggested labels

area/ci, kind/improvement

Suggested reviewers

• p5
• tulilirockz

Poem

🐇 A hop through the workflow, a failure in sight,
statuses: write was missing — oh what a plight!
The caller must grant what the callee may need,
Or startup_failure will make your pipeline bleed.
Now documented clearly, the bunny hops free! 🌟

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch docs/promote-statuses-startup-failure

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[github-actions]

Thanks for the PR! A maintainer will review it.

While you wait, make sure these pass locally:

just validate        # element graph check
just build default   # build the image
just boot-test       # confirm the desktop boots (exits 0 = pass)
just lint            # bootc container lint

If this PR fixes a bug, add verify steps to the linked issue so users can confirm the fix on their hardware after the next nightly ships:

```verify
ujust <something>   # what users should run to confirm the fix
```

[hanthor]

LGTM. Reviewed 2026-06-24.