---
type: GlossaryTerm
id: https://w3id.org/lmodel/github-actions/knowledge/glossary/required-status-check
genre: reference
title: Required status check
definition: A status check that a ruleset requires to pass before a change reaches a ref the ruleset targets, named by the context that a check run must report.
description: A status check that a ruleset requires to pass before a change reaches a ref it targets; its name is the context a check run reports, which GitHub Actions takes from the job's name or id, as caller / called for a job of a called workflow. The schema models it as GhaRequiredStatusCheck.
resource: src/github_actions/schema/github_actions_rules.yaml
definedBy:
  - https://w3id.org/lmodel/github-actions/knowledge/references/rest-api-rules
relatedTo:
  - https://w3id.org/lmodel/github-actions/knowledge/glossary/repository-ruleset
sources:
  - id: github_actions_rules.yaml
    resource: src/github_actions/schema/github_actions_rules.yaml
    title: GhaRequiredStatusCheck, its attributes and its comments
  - id: readme.md
    resource: README.md
    title: the Influences section
  - id: contributing.md
    resource: CONTRIBUTING.md
    title: the last item of Releasing (maintainers)
  - id: derive.py
    resource: scripts/derive.py
    title: the docstring's statement of the naming rule
generated:
  by: process:ktl-librarian
  at: "2026-10-29T16:44:32Z"
  revision: cc14f8e2bd682e256323ad6fcc7cd655e28798b9
status: draft
verified:
  - by: process:ktl-librarian
    at: "2026-10-28T22:46:12Z"
---

# Required status check

The rules module defines a required status check as a status check that a ruleset requires to pass before a change reaches a ref it targets, named by the context that a check run must report.[^github_actions_rules.yaml] The schema models it as `GhaRequiredStatusCheck`, with `check_context` for that context. A ruleset names the checks it requires in `requires_check`, and `emitted_by` names the top-level workflow whose job reports a check.

## How a check is named

The class's comments state the rule:

- GitHub Actions reports each job as a check run named after the job: its `name`, or its id when it has none;
- a job of a called workflow is named after the calling job and the called job, joined by a slash with a space on each side, such as `test / unit`;
- a matrix job's check name adds its matrix values in parentheses, such as `docs (3.13)`.

The comment says that the otterdog documentation states the rule for a called job, and the README names otterdog among the schema's influences for that rule.[^readme.md] `job_path` records the job ids from the top-level workflow's job to the job that reports the check, with the calling job's id first for a job of a called workflow.

`scripts/derive.py` applies the rule to a repository's workflow files.[^derive.py] Its docstring adds these details:

- a matrix job's values are joined by a comma and a space;
- a `name` that reads the matrix context takes the values in its own place;
- the check names of a job that calls a workflow in another repository are reported as unresolved.

See [Derive and check concepts from workflow files](../playbooks/derive-and-check.md).

## What else the class records

- `integration_id` names the GitHub App the check must come from; GitHub Actions is app 15368.
- `strict_policy` says whether a pull request must be tested against the latest code of the branch it targets.
- `do_not_enforce_on_create` says whether a branch may be created although the check would otherwise stop it.
- `skip_conditions` records what in the workflow can skip the job, as key paths such as `on.pull_request.paths` or `jobs.test.if`. A comment says that a job skipped by its own `if`, or because a job it needs failed or was skipped, reports success, so its required check passes without running. A path filter skips the whole run, and a calling job's `if` or `needs` skips the call, which GitHub records under the caller's name alone, so the check stays pending and blocks the merge.

The comments relate the class to two outside vocabularies. SLSA's Source track lets an organization carry such a control into a Source Verification Summary Attestation as an `ORG_SOURCE_` property, and slsa-framework's source-tool emits one as `GH_REQUIRED_CHECK_` followed by the check's name. in-toto's Test Result predicate is the shape of an attestation of what the check found.

## In this repository

CONTRIBUTING.md asks maintainers to leave off any branch rule that requires status checks on `main`, because it would reject the release job's own push to `main`.[^contributing.md]

[^github_actions_rules.yaml]: src/github_actions/schema/github_actions_rules.yaml, GhaRequiredStatusCheck
[^readme.md]: README.md, the otterdog item of the Influences section
[^contributing.md]: CONTRIBUTING.md, the last item of Releasing (maintainers)
[^derive.py]: scripts/derive.py, the docstring