diff --git a/.github/workflows/smoke-test.yml b/.github/workflows/smoke-test.yml
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+---
+name: smoke-test
+
+# This workflow serves as a simple verification that GitHub Actions is working
+# It can be manually triggered in forks to verify Actions are enabled
+# This is particularly useful since many workflows in this repo use triggers
+# that don't work in forks (pull_request_target, issues, schedule, etc.)
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      message:
+        description: 'Optional test message'
+        required: false
+        default: 'GitHub Actions is working!'
+        type: string
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+jobs:
+  smoke-test:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Verify Actions is working
+        run: |
+          echo "✅ GitHub Actions is successfully enabled and working!"
+          echo "Message: ${{ inputs.message }}"
+          echo "Repository: ${{ github.repository }}"
+          echo "Triggered by: ${{ github.actor }}"
+          echo "Workflow: ${{ github.workflow }}"
+          echo "Run ID: ${{ github.run_id }}"
+          echo "Run Number: ${{ github.run_number }}"
+
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+
+      - name: Verify checkout
+        run: |
+          echo "✅ Repository checked out successfully"
+          echo "Current directory: $(pwd)"
+          ls -la | head -10
+
+      - name: Test basic commands
+        run: |
+          echo "✅ Testing basic shell commands"
+          echo "Hostname: $(hostname)"
+          echo "User: $(whoami)"
+          echo "Date: $(date)"
+
+      - name: Summary
+        run: |
+          echo "━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━"
+          echo "🎉 Smoke test completed successfully!"
+          echo "━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━"
+          echo ""
+          echo "This confirms that:"
+          echo "  ✅ GitHub Actions is enabled in this repository"
+          echo "  ✅ Workflows can be triggered via workflow_dispatch"
+          echo "  ✅ Jobs can checkout code and run commands"
+          echo "  ✅ Basic CI/CD functionality is operational"
+          echo ""
+          echo "For fork users: If you see this message, Actions"
+          echo "is working correctly in your fork!"
diff --git a/GITHUB_ACTIONS_FORK_DIAGNOSIS.md b/GITHUB_ACTIONS_FORK_DIAGNOSIS.md
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+++ b/GITHUB_ACTIONS_FORK_DIAGNOSIS.md
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+# GitHub Actions Fork Visibility Diagnosis
+
+## Issue Summary
+GitHub Actions workflows are not visible in the Actions tab of repository forks. This is expected behavior due to how GitHub handles workflows in forked repositories.
+
+## Root Cause Analysis
+
+### 1. Fork Actions Behavior
+- **GitHub disables Actions by default in forks** for security reasons
+- Users must manually enable Actions in their fork: Settings → Actions → "Allow all actions and reusable workflows"
+- Even when enabled, many workflow triggers don't work in forks
+
+### 2. Workflow Trigger Compatibility
+
+After analyzing all 18 workflows in `.github/workflows/`, here's the breakdown:
+
+#### ❌ Fork-Incompatible Triggers (14 workflows)
+These workflows **will not appear or run** in forks:
+
+**pull_request_target** (4 workflows):
+- `backport-active.yml` - only triggers on PRs to upstream `main`
+- `docs-build.yml` - targets upstream branches only
+- `docs-cleanup.yml` - targets upstream PRs
+- `github-commands-comment.yml` - targets upstream PRs
+
+**issues events** (4 workflows):
+- `logstash_project_board.yml` - issue events don't trigger in forks
+- `platform_ingest_docs_project_board.yml` - issue events don't trigger in forks
+- `platform_logstash_project_board.yml` - issue events don't trigger in forks
+- `project-board-assigner.yml` - issue events don't trigger in forks
+
+**schedule events** (2 workflows):
+- `bump-java-version.yml` - scheduled workflows disabled in forks
+- `update-compose.yml` - scheduled workflows disabled in forks
+
+**push to specific branches** (4 workflows):
+These only trigger when pushing to upstream branches (main, version branches):
+- `pre-commit.yml` - triggers on push to main, 8.19, 9.*
+- `docs-build.yml` - triggers on push to main, \d+.\d+
+- `lint_docs.yml` - triggers on PRs to main
+
+**pull_request with branch restrictions** (3 workflows):
+These only trigger on PRs targeting specific upstream branches:
+- `catalog-info.yml` - only PRs to main
+- `mergify-labels-copier.yml` - only PRs to upstream
+
+#### ✅ Fork-Compatible Triggers (5 workflows)
+These workflows **can** work in forks if manually triggered:
+
+- `bump-java-version.yml` - has `workflow_dispatch`
+- `bump-logstash.yml` - has `workflow_dispatch` 
+- `critical_vulnerability_scan.yml` - has `workflow_dispatch`
+- `gen_release_notes.yml` - has `workflow_dispatch`
+- `update-compose.yml` - has `workflow_dispatch`
+- `version_bumps.yml` - has `workflow_dispatch`
+
+### 3. Validation Status
+All workflow files are:
+- ✅ Properly formatted YAML
+- ✅ Use correct `.yml` extension
+- ✅ Located in correct `.github/workflows/` directory
+- ✅ Have valid `on:` trigger syntax
+- ✅ Are syntactically valid
+
+## Why Workflows Don't Appear in Fork Actions Tab
+
+### Primary Reasons:
+1. **Actions disabled in fork** - User must manually enable in Settings
+2. **No applicable triggers** - Without push/PR to fork branches or workflow_dispatch, workflows have no way to run
+3. **Event filtering** - GitHub filters out events that don't apply to the fork's context
+
+### What Users See:
+- Empty Actions tab or "No workflows found"
+- Even with Actions enabled, workflows that only trigger on upstream events won't appear
+- Only workflows with `workflow_dispatch` or triggers matching fork activity will show
+
+## Recommended Solutions
+
+### Option 1: Add Simple Smoke Test Workflow (Minimal Change)
+Create a minimal workflow with `workflow_dispatch` that forks can use to verify Actions are working:
+
+```yaml
+name: smoke-test
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+jobs:
+  test:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - run: echo "GitHub Actions is working!"
+```
+
+**Pros:**
+- Minimal change to repository
+- Provides immediate verification method
+- No impact on existing workflows
+- Can be manually triggered in any fork
+
+**Cons:**
+- Doesn't make other workflows visible
+- Users still need to enable Actions manually
+
+### Option 2: Add workflow_dispatch to Existing Workflows
+Add `workflow_dispatch:` trigger to commonly-used workflows like `pre-commit.yml`:
+
+**Pros:**
+- Makes useful workflows testable in forks
+- Minimal code change
+
+**Cons:**
+- Could allow unintended manual triggering
+- Each workflow needs individual assessment
+
+### Option 3: Documentation Only
+Add `.github/FORK_ACTIONS_README.md` explaining:
+- How to enable Actions in forks
+- Which workflows will/won't work
+- Why this is expected behavior
+
+**Pros:**
+- Zero code changes
+- Educational for contributors
+
+**Cons:**
+- Doesn't solve the visibility issue
+- Requires users to find documentation
+
+## Recommended Action
+
+**Implement Option 1** - Add a simple smoke-test workflow:
+- Minimal change to repository
+- Provides immediate diagnostic capability
+- Helps fork users verify Actions are enabled
+- Can serve as a template for fork-specific testing
+
+## Fork User Instructions
+
+### To Enable and Verify Actions in Your Fork:
+
+1. **Enable Actions**
+   - Go to your fork → Settings → Actions → General
+   - Select "Allow all actions and reusable workflows"
+   - Click "Save"
+
+2. **Verify Actions are Working**
+   - After smoke-test workflow is added, go to Actions tab
+   - Select "smoke-test" workflow (if available)
+   - Click "Run workflow" → "Run workflow"
+   - Verify successful execution
+
+3. **Understanding Workflow Visibility**
+   - Only workflows with applicable triggers will appear
+   - Most workflows in this repo target upstream events (issues, upstream PRs)
+   - For fork development, consider adding `workflow_dispatch` to workflows you need
+
+4. **For PR Testing**
+   - Workflows with `pull_request:` (not `pull_request_target:`) will work for PRs within your fork
+   - Push events will only trigger for branches you configure in the workflow
+
+## Additional Notes
+
+- This is **expected GitHub behavior**, not a bug
+- Fork restrictions exist for security (preventing malicious workflow execution)
+- Upstream repository workflows are designed for the main repository's workflow
+- Fork users developing features should consider adding fork-specific workflows