Freeze

The freeze step is a dividing line in your workflow. It separates steps that can auto-fix your code from steps that must leave the code untouched.

How It Works

Add freeze to your workflow with:

- name: freeze
  run: airlock exec freeze

When this step runs, it:

1. Commits any pending changes from previous steps (linter auto-fixes, formatter patches)
2. Locks the worktree — no more direct file modifications allowed
3. Sets the AIRLOCK_FROZEN environment variable to true for all subsequent steps

Pre-Freeze Steps

Steps before freeze can modify files freely. This is where you run linters and formatters that auto-fix issues:

steps:
  - name: lint
    uses: airlock-hq/airlock/defaults/lint@main # Can modify files

  - name: freeze
    run: airlock exec freeze

Patches from pre-freeze steps are applied directly to the worktree and committed as part of the freeze.

Post-Freeze Steps

Steps after freeze cannot modify the worktree directly. If a post-freeze step produces file changes, those changes are captured as patches and queued for review in the Push Request's Patches tab.

- name: freeze
  run: airlock exec freeze

- name: test
  uses: airlock-hq/airlock/defaults/test@main # Worktree is locked

- name: review
  run: 'true'
  require-approval: true

This ensures no surprise mutations happen after the code has been reviewed.

The AIRLOCK_FROZEN Environment Variable

After freeze runs, AIRLOCK_FROZEN=true is available to all subsequent steps. Custom steps can check this variable to adjust their behavior:

if [ "$AIRLOCK_FROZEN" = "true" ]; then
  echo "Worktree is frozen — running in read-only mode"
fi

Typical Placement

A standard workflow places freeze after linting/formatting but before testing and review:

steps:
  - name: lint # Pre-freeze: auto-fix
    uses: airlock-hq/airlock/defaults/lint@main
  - name: freeze # Lock the worktree
    run: airlock exec freeze
  - name: describe # Post-freeze: generate description
    uses: airlock-hq/airlock/defaults/describe@main
  - name: test # Post-freeze: run tests
    uses: airlock-hq/airlock/defaults/test@main
  - name: review # Post-freeze: human approval
    run: 'true'
    require-approval: true
  - name: push
    uses: airlock-hq/airlock/defaults/push@main

Related

• Workflows — How workflows and steps are structured
• Artifacts — How patches from post-freeze steps appear as artifacts