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jhesch merged 1 commit into from
Jul 29, 2026
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Polish README introduction #405

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24 changes: 17 additions & 7 deletions README.md
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Expand Up @@ -10,15 +10,25 @@ Dirty Bits is a GitHub action that identifies the parts of a repository
that need to be built, tested, deployed, etc. depending on which files
have changed.

Maybe you have a monorepo and a slick CI/CD system. Maybe you want to be
able to tweak the frontend without having to build and test the backend
unnecessarily. Maybe the indexer shouldn't be deployed when the only
thing that changed since the last release is the task worker.
In a monorepo with multiple components, CI/CD workflows can use Dirty
Bits to limit work to the areas affected by a change. For example, a
frontend-only update can skip backend builds and tests, and an indexer
deployment can be skipped when only the task worker has changed since
the last release.

Using Dirty Bits for change detection within a workflow that runs for
every pull request allows conditional jobs to be configured as
[required status checks](https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/configuring-branches-and-merges-in-your-repository/managing-protected-branches/about-protected-branches#require-status-checks-before-merging)
in a branch protection rule or branch ruleset. Jobs for affected
components must pass, while jobs for unaffected components are skipped
and report success. This keeps the merge gate consistent without running
unnecessary work and avoids the pending required checks that result when
GitHub skips an entire workflow because of a
[`paths` filter](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/workflows-and-actions/workflow-syntax#onpushpull_requestpull_request_targetpathspaths-ignore).

Like the [dirty bit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_bit) that marks
a memory block as modified and signals that the block needs to
processed, Dirty Bits identifies the parts of a repository that have
been modified and signals that they need to be processed.
a modified memory block for processing, Dirty Bits identifies which
parts of a repository have changed and require further work.

## TL;DR

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