Verify Census variable metadata during PR review
Turn a new review into a quick metadata check, so data definitions and valid values are easier to confirm before merging.
Trigger
Pull Request Review Submitted
Triggers when a new review is submitted for a GitHub pull request. Emits an event for each newly submitted review on the monitored pull request, covering all review types: APPROVED, CHANGES_REQUESTED, COMMENTED, and DISMISSED.
Action
Get Variable Details
Tool to retrieve metadata for a specific variable in a census dataset for a given year. use when you need the label, concept, data type, attribute codes, and valid-value constraints.
Why this helps
Reviewers can lose time checking whether a Census variable means what a code change or analysis says it means.
- Surfaces variable labels and concepts for review.
- Helps catch mismatched data types or invalid value assumptions.
- Keeps metadata checks close to the review that raised the question.
Setup
Build it in a few focused steps.
- 1Connect GitHub and Census bureau once in the Notis portal.
- 2Create an automation in Automations, New Automation, and provide a name and prompt.
- 3Tell Notis to identify Census variable references in a submitted review and retrieve their metadata for the relevant dataset and year.
- 4Pick the Pull Request Review Submitted trigger and choose where run reports go.
- 5Test with one real review that mentions a Census variable.
Questions about this workflow
What information does this action retrieve?
It retrieves metadata for a specified Census variable and dataset year, including label, concept, data type, attribute codes, and valid-value constraints.
Can it verify every variable automatically?
The prompt and review context must identify the variable and the applicable Census dataset and year.
When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
Supported Triggers and Actions
Notis builds workflows that link GitHub to Census bureau. A trigger fires from one place; an action lands in another.
GitHub triggers
Census bureau actions
Recurring trigger
Notis starts this workflow on a schedule, such as daily, weekly, or during business hours.
Get ACS 1-Year Estimates
Tool to retrieve 1-year american community survey (acs) estimates for a specified geography. use when you need the most recent annual acs data for a given area.
Webhook trigger
Notis starts this workflow when an external tool or custom backend sends an HTTP request.
Get ACS 5-Year Estimates
Tool to retrieve 5-year american community survey estimates for a specified year. use when detailed acs data by geography and variables is required.
New Workflow Artifact Created
Triggers when a new workflow artifact is created in a GitHub repository. Monitors for newly created GitHub Actions workflow artifacts. Optionally filters by artifact name to restrict monitoring to specific artifacts.
Get American Business Survey
Tool to retrieve annual business survey (abs) data for a specified year and endpoint.
Branch Changed
Triggers when a GitHub branch changes. Monitors a specific branch for: - New commits pushed (head commit SHA changes) - Protection status toggled (branch becomes protected or unprotected) - Protection settings changed, including: required status checks and their enforcement level, admin enforcement, required pull request reviews (dismiss stale reviews, code owner reviews, approving review count, last push approval), required linear history, force push allowance, deletion allowance, conversation resolution, branch locking, and fork syncing.
Get Community Resilience Estimates
Tool to retrieve community resilience estimates for a specified year. use after selecting variables and geography to get cre data for analysis.
New Branch Created
Triggers when a new branch is created in a GitHub repository. Detects newly created branches. Deleted branches do not fire events.
Get County Business Patterns
Tool to retrieve county business patterns (cbp) data for a specified year. use when you need county-level business establishment and employment statistics filtered by industry and geography.
Check Run Status / Conclusion Changed
Triggers when a specific GitHub check run changes its status or conclusion. Monitors a single check run for changes to: status (queued, in_progress, completed, etc.), conclusion (success, failure, neutral, cancelled, skipped, timed_out, action_required), started_at, and completed_at.
Get Decennial Census Data
Tool to retrieve decennial census data for a specified vintage and dataset. use when you need census variables for a given geography.
Check Suite Status / Conclusion Changed
Triggers when a GitHub check suite changes its status or conclusion for a given ref. Monitors all check suites associated with a git reference (branch, tag, or commit SHA) for changes to status (queued, in_progress, completed, etc.) and conclusion (success, failure, neutral, cancelled, skipped, timed_out, action_required, startup_failure, stale). Optionally filters by GitHub App ID.
Get Population Estimates
Tool to retrieve population estimates program (pep) data for a specified vintage and dataset. use when you need population or demographic estimates for specific geographies.
New Code Scanning Alert Created
Triggers when a new code scanning alert is created in a repository. Fires an event for each newly created code scanning alert detected in the configured repository. Alerts can be filtered by Git reference, scanning tool, state, and severity. The payload includes the alert number, rule details, tool information, state, severity, and the location of the most recent instance.
Get Variable Details
Tool to retrieve metadata for a specific variable in a census dataset for a given year. use when you need the label, concept, data type, attribute codes, and valid-value constraints.
Connect any two apps with Notis in the middle.
GitHub and Census bureau, or any other combination from 1,000+ integrations.
When this happens · Trigger
Do this · Action
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