Fix: Invalid secrets context in release workflow conditional

[Copilot]

GitHub Actions reported syntax error at line 24: Unrecognized named-value: 'secrets' in the release workflow. The secrets context cannot be accessed directly in step-level if conditionals.

Changes

• Map secrets.RELEASE_TOKEN to step environment variable
• Use negation operator on env variable instead of string comparison against secret

Before:

- name: Validate RELEASE_TOKEN
  if: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_TOKEN == '' }}
  run: |

After:

- name: Validate RELEASE_TOKEN
  if: ${{ !env.RELEASE_TOKEN }}
  env:
    RELEASE_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_TOKEN }}
  run: |

The negation operator handles empty, null, and undefined cases correctly per GitHub Actions context evaluation rules.

Original prompt

---

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Check failure on line 24 in . github/workflows/release. yml: Unrecognized named-value 'secrets'</issue_title>
<issue_description>## Workflow failure in .github/workflows/release.yml

GitHub Actions reports the following error:

Invalid workflow file
(Line:  24, Col: 13): Unrecognized named-value: 'secrets'. Located at position 1 within expression: secrets. RELEASE_TOKEN == ''

File:

• .github/workflows/release.yml (Failure at line 24)

Relevant Code Section

23|       - name: Validate RELEASE_TOKEN
24|         if: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_TOKEN == '' }}
25|         run: |
26|           echo "::error:: RELEASE_TOKEN secret is required for the release workflow"
27|           echo "::error::The default GITHUB_TOKEN cannot create pull requests"
28|           echo "::error::Please follow the setup instructions in docs/RELEASE-PROCESS.md"
29|           echo ":: error::See https://github.com/${{ github.repository }}/blob/${{ github.event.repository. default_branch }}/docs/RELEASE-PROCESS.md"
30|           exit 1

Steps to Reproduce

1. Trigger the relevant workflow (e. g., release action).
2. Observe failure in GitHub Actions for .github/workflows/release.yml.

Expected Behavior

Workflow should parse all expressions validly and run without error.

Actual Behavior

The workflow fails with an 'Unrecognized named-value: secrets' error in an if conditional at line 24.

Suggested Next Steps

• Review usage of secrets.RELEASE_TOKEN in the workflow.
• Ensure that the context reference is correctly structured and the secret is available at runtime.
• See GitHub Actions - Contexts and expression syntax for additional guidance. </issue_description>

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

• Fixes Check failure on line 24 in . github/workflows/release. yml: Unrecognized named-value 'secrets' #40

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