GH_UsesVariable

[Workflow] Job or step references a variable by name — GH_WorkflowJob / GH_WorkflowStep → GH_RepoVariable / GH_OrgVariable / GH_EnvironmentVariable (scope match)

Edge Schema

• Traversable: ❌

Start	Kind	End
GH_WorkflowStep	GH_UsesVariable	GH_RepoVariable
GH_WorkflowStep	GH_UsesVariable	GH_OrgVariable
GH_WorkflowStep	GH_UsesVariable	GH_EnvironmentVariable
GH_WorkflowJob	GH_UsesVariable	GH_RepoVariable
GH_WorkflowJob	GH_UsesVariable	GH_OrgVariable
GH_WorkflowJob	GH_UsesVariable	GH_EnvironmentVariable

General Information

The non-traversable GH_UsesVariable edge links a workflow job or step to the variable it references via a ${{ vars.NAME }} expression. This edge maps variable consumption within workflows. Unlike secrets, variable values are readable via the API, making them lower sensitivity — but they can still influence workflow behavior (e.g., controlling target environments or feature flags).

Matching strategy

Edges use match_by: property with scope-specific matchers to disambiguate between variables with the same name across repositories and environments:

• GH_RepoVariable is matched by name + repository_id (the GitHub node_id of the repository).
• GH_OrgVariable is matched by name + environmentid (the node_id of the organization, which acts as the org-level variable scope).
• GH_EnvironmentVariable is matched by name + deployment_environment_name + repository_id when the parent job targets a concrete environment name.

This means one ${{ vars.MY_VAR }} expression can produce edges to repo-level, org-level, and environment-level variables that share the same name in the applicable scopes. The environment-level edge is only emitted when the workflow job references a literal environment name rather than a dynamic expression.

Context property

The edge carries a context property indicating where the reference was found:

• with — inside a with: input block of a uses: action step
• env — inside the step’s env: block
• run — inline within a run: shell script

Edge Schema

Source	Destination	Traversable
GH_WorkflowJob	GH_EnvironmentVariable	false
GH_WorkflowJob	GH_OrgVariable	false
GH_WorkflowJob	GH_RepoVariable	false
GH_WorkflowStep	GH_EnvironmentVariable	false
GH_WorkflowStep	GH_OrgVariable	false
GH_WorkflowStep	GH_RepoVariable	false

Diagram