Fix release workflow: sync main to gh-pages and deploy from gh-pages branch

[Copilot]

The release.yml workflow was failing because actions/deploy-pages requires the triggering branch (main) to be explicitly allowed in the github-pages environment protection rules.

Changes

• Updated actions/upload-pages-artifact from v3 to v4 in release.yml, keeping the existing actions/deploy-pages@v4 deployment approach
• Added new sync-gh-pages.yml reusable workflow that syncs the main branch to gh-pages by force-pushing (supports both workflow_dispatch for standalone use and workflow_call for reuse)
• Integrated sync-gh-pages.yml as the first job in release.yml — the deploy job depends on it (needs: sync), so running the release workflow automatically syncs main→gh-pages before building and deploying
• Updated permissions to contents: write (needed for the sync push) and deploy job now checks out the gh-pages branch to use the freshly synced code

Deployment Flow

1. Trigger "Release Awesome Azd" workflow from the gh-pages branch in the Actions UI
2. The sync job automatically pushes the latest main content to gh-pages
3. The deploy job builds from the freshly synced gh-pages branch and deploys via actions/deploy-pages@v4 — since gh-pages is the trigger branch, the github-pages environment protection rules are satisfied

Original prompt

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This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Fix release yaml file bug</issue_title>
<issue_description>Fix release yaml: Branch "main" is not allowed to deploy to github-pages due to environment protection rules. Sync changes from main branch to gh-pages branch and use gh-pages branch for release</issue_description>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

• Fixes Fix release yaml file bug #777

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[hemarina]

@copilot Keep using actions/upload-pages-artifact@v4 + actions/deploy-pages@v4. Add a workflow to sync current main branch to gh-pages branch and use gh-pages branch as trigger branch for actions/deploy-pages.

[Copilot]

@copilot Keep using actions/upload-pages-artifact@v4 + actions/deploy-pages@v4. Add a workflow to sync current main branch to gh-pages branch and use gh-pages branch as trigger branch ...

Done in 7d9868b. Reverted release.yml to use actions/upload-pages-artifact@v4 + actions/deploy-pages@v4 (also bumped upload-pages-artifact from v3 to v4). Added a new sync-gh-pages.yml workflow that force-pushes main to gh-pages.

Deployment flow:

1. Run "Sync Main to GH-Pages" workflow (from main)
2. Run "Release Awesome Azd" workflow (selecting gh-pages branch in the Actions UI)

Since gh-pages is the trigger branch, the github-pages environment protection rules are satisfied.

[hemarina]

@copilot When I run release yaml, it runs sync-gh-pages.yml first and then the rest of yaml file.

[Copilot]

@copilot When I run release yaml, it runs sync-gh-pages.yml first and then the rest of yaml file.

Done in 2cf9874. The release workflow now calls sync-gh-pages.yml as its first job (via workflow_call), then the deploy job runs after it completes (needs: sync). The deploy job checks out the freshly synced gh-pages branch.

The sync-gh-pages.yml workflow also remains independently runnable via workflow_dispatch.

To deploy: trigger "Release Awesome Azd" from the gh-pages branch in the Actions UI — the sync job ensures gh-pages is up to date with main before deploying.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Fixes the GitHub Pages release workflow by ensuring the deployment is triggered from an allowed branch (gh-pages) while still deploying the latest main content.

Changes:

• Adds a reusable workflow to force-sync main → gh-pages.
• Makes the release workflow run the sync job first and deploy from gh-pages.
• Updates actions/upload-pages-artifact from v3 to v4 and adjusts permissions for pushing.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File	Description
.github/workflows/sync-gh-pages.yml	Introduces a reusable workflow to sync main to gh-pages via force-push.
.github/workflows/release.yml	Runs the sync workflow before deploy, checks out gh-pages for the build, and bumps the upload artifact action to v4.