Add @claude to GitHub PRs in 3 Minutes with claude-code-action@v1

TL;DR: anthropics/claude-code-action@v1 puts Claude Code into GitHub Actions in 3 steps — one slash command, one secret, one YAML file — then @claude fix this in any PR comment triggers a full agent run.

The official Claude Code GitHub Action runs the full Claude Code runtime inside GitHub Actions — the same agentic engine you use in your terminal, with access to your repo, your CLAUDE.md, and all of Claude's tools.

Setup: 3 steps

Step 1. From your Claude Code session in the terminal:

/install-github-app

This installs the GitHub App to your repo (it needs write access to Contents, Issues, and Pull requests) and guides you through adding ANTHROPIC_API_KEY to your repo secrets.

Step 2. Copy the workflow into .github/workflows/claude.yml:

name: Claude Code
on:
  issue_comment:
    types: [created]
  pull_request_review_comment:
    types: [created]
jobs:
  claude:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: anthropics/claude-code-action@v1
        with:
          anthropic_api_key: ${{ secrets.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY }}

Step 3. Test it: in any PR, comment @claude explain what this PR does.

Three patterns worth setting up

On-demand. The basic pattern above. Comment @claude implement the feature described in this issue, @claude fix the TypeError in UserDashboard.tsx, or @claude add test coverage for this function — Claude reads the diff, writes code, commits. It follows your CLAUDE.md rules and test requirements.

Automatic code review. Trigger on pull_request events using Anthropic's code-review plugin:

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize]
jobs:
  review:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: anthropics/claude-code-action@v1
        with:
          anthropic_api_key: ${{ secrets.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY }}
          plugin_marketplaces: "https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code.git"
          plugins: "code-review@claude-code-plugins"
          prompt: "/code-review:code-review ${{ github.repository }}/pull/${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}"

Scheduled automation. Run Claude on a cron for daily digests, stale issue triage, or dependency drift checks:

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: "0 9 * * *"

Cost control

Each run consumes GitHub Actions minutes plus API tokens. Set explicit limits:

claude_args: "--max-turns 10 --model claude-sonnet-4-6"

Add timeout-minutes: 10 at the job level. Agentic GitHub Actions runs draw from the separate agentic credit pool (not your subscription limit) on usage-based plans.

Sources: Claude Code GitHub Actions docs, anthropics/claude-code-action repository, GitHub Code Review docs