diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 48926665..a6d72329 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ jobs:
           node-version: 22
           cache: npm
       - run: npm ci --prefix packages/dashboard
+      - run: npm test --prefix packages/dashboard
       - run: npm run dashboard:build
       - name: Smoke test dashboard workflow build
         run: |
diff --git a/packages/dashboard/workflow/persist-notes.mjs b/packages/dashboard/workflow/persist-notes.mjs
index cd20925f..4cc571c1 100644
--- a/packages/dashboard/workflow/persist-notes.mjs
+++ b/packages/dashboard/workflow/persist-notes.mjs
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { pathToFileURL } from "node:url";
 const DEFAULT_DASHBOARD_NOTES_DIR = ".agentnote-dashboard-notes";
 const DASHBOARD_DIR_NAME = "dashboard";
 const ENV_EVENT_NAME = "EVENT_NAME";
+const ENV_GITHUB_WORKSPACE = "GITHUB_WORKSPACE";
 const ENV_NOTES_DIR = "NOTES_DIR";
 const ENV_PR_NUMBER = "PR_NUMBER";
 const EVENT_PULL_REQUEST = "pull_request";
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@ const NOTES_DIR_NAME = "notes";
 const PERSIST_COMMIT_MESSAGE = "chore: update Dashboard notes";
 const PERSIST_TEMP_DIR_PREFIX = "agentnote-dashboard-persist-";
 const TEXT_ENCODING = "utf-8";
+const workspace = process.env[ENV_GITHUB_WORKSPACE] || process.cwd();
 const notesDir = process.env[ENV_NOTES_DIR] || DEFAULT_DASHBOARD_NOTES_DIR;
 const eventName = process.env[ENV_EVENT_NAME] || "";
 const prNumber = Number(process.env[ENV_PR_NUMBER] || "");
@@ -152,7 +154,7 @@ export function mergeDashboardNotes(snapshotDir, dashboardNotesDir, options = {}
 
 function git(args, options = {}) {
   return execFileSync("git", args, {
-    cwd: options.cwd,
+    cwd: options.cwd ?? workspace,
     stdio: options.stdio || "pipe",
     encoding: TEXT_ENCODING,
   });
diff --git a/packages/dashboard/workflow/restore-notes.mjs b/packages/dashboard/workflow/restore-notes.mjs
index f3977aed..f1c74add 100644
--- a/packages/dashboard/workflow/restore-notes.mjs
+++ b/packages/dashboard/workflow/restore-notes.mjs
@@ -6,12 +6,14 @@ import { pathToFileURL } from "node:url";
 
 const DASHBOARD_DIR_NAME = "dashboard";
 const DEFAULT_DASHBOARD_NOTES_DIR = ".agentnote-dashboard-notes";
+const ENV_GITHUB_WORKSPACE = "GITHUB_WORKSPACE";
 const ENV_NOTES_DIR = "NOTES_DIR";
 const FETCH_HEAD_REF = "FETCH_HEAD";
 const GITHUB_PAGES_BRANCH = "gh-pages";
 const NOTES_DIR_NAME = "notes";
 const RESTORE_TEMP_DIR_PREFIX = "agentnote-dashboard-restore-";
 const TEXT_ENCODING = "utf-8";
+const workspace = process.env[ENV_GITHUB_WORKSPACE] || process.cwd();
 const notesDir = process.env[ENV_NOTES_DIR] || DEFAULT_DASHBOARD_NOTES_DIR;
 
 function copyDirectoryContents(sourceDir, targetDir) {
@@ -41,7 +43,7 @@ export function restoreDashboardNotes(sourceNotesDir, targetNotesDir) {
 
 function git(args, options = {}) {
   return execFileSync("git", args, {
-    cwd: options.cwd,
+    cwd: options.cwd ?? workspace,
     stdio: options.stdio || "pipe",
     encoding: TEXT_ENCODING,
   });
diff --git a/packages/dashboard/workflow/sync-notes.mjs b/packages/dashboard/workflow/sync-notes.mjs
index eb21859f..da2701be 100644
--- a/packages/dashboard/workflow/sync-notes.mjs
+++ b/packages/dashboard/workflow/sync-notes.mjs
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ const ENV_DEFAULT_BRANCH = "DEFAULT_BRANCH";
 const ENV_EVENT_NAME = "EVENT_NAME";
 const ENV_GITHUB_OUTPUT = "GITHUB_OUTPUT";
 const ENV_GITHUB_REPOSITORY = "GITHUB_REPOSITORY";
+const ENV_GITHUB_WORKSPACE = "GITHUB_WORKSPACE";
 const ENV_HEAD_SHA = "HEAD_SHA";
 const ENV_NOTES_DIR = "NOTES_DIR";
 const ENV_PR_HEAD_REPO = "PR_HEAD_REPO";
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@ const PR_STATE_OPEN = "open";
 const TEXT_ENCODING = "utf-8";
 const UNKNOWN_DIFF_PATH = "(unknown)";
 const ZERO_SHA_PATTERN = /^0+$/;
+const workspace = process.env[ENV_GITHUB_WORKSPACE] || process.cwd();
 const notesDir = process.env[ENV_NOTES_DIR] || DEFAULT_DASHBOARD_NOTES_DIR;
 const eventName = process.env[ENV_EVENT_NAME] || "";
 const before = process.env[ENV_BEFORE_SHA] || "";
@@ -46,6 +48,7 @@ export const MAX_DIFF_TOTAL_LINES = 3000;
 
 function run(command, args) {
   return execFileSync(command, args, {
+    cwd: workspace,
     encoding: TEXT_ENCODING,
     stdio: ["pipe", "pipe", "pipe"],
     env: process.env,
@@ -364,10 +367,7 @@ function main() {
   mkdirSync(notesDir, { recursive: true });
 
   try {
-    execFileSync("git", ["fetch", "origin", `${AGENTNOTE_NOTES_REF}:${AGENTNOTE_NOTES_REF}`], {
-      stdio: "pipe",
-      encoding: TEXT_ENCODING,
-    });
+    run("git", ["fetch", "origin", `${AGENTNOTE_NOTES_REF}:${AGENTNOTE_NOTES_REF}`]);
   } catch {
     // A repository may not have Agent Note git notes before the first recorded commit.
   }
diff --git a/packages/dashboard/workflow/sync-notes.test.mjs b/packages/dashboard/workflow/sync-notes.test.mjs
index 650d092b..2af519ac 100644
--- a/packages/dashboard/workflow/sync-notes.test.mjs
+++ b/packages/dashboard/workflow/sync-notes.test.mjs
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { execFileSync } from "node:child_process";
 import {
+  chmodSync,
   existsSync,
   mkdirSync,
   mkdtempSync,
@@ -9,8 +11,9 @@ import {
   writeFileSync,
 } from "node:fs";
 import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
-import { join } from "node:path";
+import { delimiter, join } from "node:path";
 import test from "node:test";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
 import { mergeDashboardNotes, pruneDashboardNotes } from "./persist-notes.mjs";
 import { restoreDashboardNotes } from "./restore-notes.mjs";
 import {
@@ -186,6 +189,106 @@ test("restoreDashboardNotes replaces local notes with the persisted gh-pages not
   }
 });
 
+test("Dashboard note workflows run git in GITHUB_WORKSPACE from an external action path", () => {
+  const tempDir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "agentnote-dashboard-external-action-test-"));
+  const workspaceDir = join(tempDir, "workspace");
+  const actionDir = join(tempDir, "action-package");
+  const binDir = join(tempDir, "bin");
+  const remoteDir = join(tempDir, "remote.git");
+  const notesDir = join(workspaceDir, ".agentnote-dashboard-notes");
+  const fakeGhPath = join(binDir, "gh");
+  const persistScript = fileURLToPath(new URL("./persist-notes.mjs", import.meta.url));
+  const restoreScript = fileURLToPath(new URL("./restore-notes.mjs", import.meta.url));
+  const syncScript = fileURLToPath(new URL("./sync-notes.mjs", import.meta.url));
+
+  try {
+    mkdirSync(workspaceDir, { recursive: true });
+    mkdirSync(actionDir, { recursive: true });
+    mkdirSync(binDir, { recursive: true });
+    mkdirSync(notesDir, { recursive: true });
+    writeFileSync(fakeGhPath, "#!/bin/sh\nprintf '[]\\n'\n");
+    chmodSync(fakeGhPath, 0o755);
+    execFileSync("git", ["init", "--bare", remoteDir]);
+    execFileSync("git", ["init"], { cwd: workspaceDir });
+    execFileSync("git", ["config", "user.email", "test@example.com"], { cwd: workspaceDir });
+    execFileSync("git", ["config", "user.name", "Test"], { cwd: workspaceDir });
+    execFileSync("git", ["remote", "add", "origin", remoteDir], { cwd: workspaceDir });
+    execFileSync("git", ["commit", "--allow-empty", "-m", "init"], { cwd: workspaceDir });
+
+    const sha = execFileSync("git", ["rev-parse", "HEAD"], {
+      cwd: workspaceDir,
+      encoding: "utf-8",
+    }).trim();
+    const shortSha = sha.slice(0, 7);
+    const dashboardNotePath = join(notesDir, `${shortSha}.json`);
+    const persistedNotePath = `gh-pages:dashboard/notes/${shortSha}.json`;
+    const baseEnv = {
+      ...process.env,
+      GITHUB_WORKSPACE: workspaceDir,
+      NOTES_DIR: notesDir,
+      PATH: `${binDir}${delimiter}${process.env.PATH || ""}`,
+    };
+    const runWorkflow = (script, env = {}) => {
+      execFileSync(process.execPath, [script], {
+        cwd: actionDir,
+        env: { ...baseEnv, ...env },
+        stdio: "pipe",
+      });
+    };
+    const writeAgentNote = (model) => {
+      const note = JSON.stringify({
+        v: 1,
+        commit: { sha, short_sha: shortSha },
+        attribution: { ai_ratio: 100, method: "file" },
+        files: [],
+        interactions: [],
+        model,
+      });
+      execFileSync("git", ["notes", "--ref=agentnote", "add", "-f", "-m", note, "HEAD"], {
+        cwd: workspaceDir,
+        stdio: "pipe",
+      });
+      execFileSync("git", ["push", "--force", "--no-verify", "origin", "refs/notes/agentnote"], {
+        cwd: workspaceDir,
+        stdio: "pipe",
+      });
+    };
+    const runSync = () => {
+      runWorkflow(syncScript, {
+        BEFORE_SHA: "0".repeat(40),
+        DEFAULT_BRANCH: "main",
+        EVENT_NAME: "push",
+        GITHUB_REPOSITORY: "example/repository",
+        HEAD_SHA: sha,
+        REF_NAME: "main",
+      });
+    };
+    const readPersistedModel = () => {
+      const note = execFileSync("git", ["--git-dir", remoteDir, "show", persistedNotePath], {
+        encoding: "utf-8",
+      });
+      return JSON.parse(note).model;
+    };
+
+    writeAgentNote("first");
+    runSync();
+    assert.equal(JSON.parse(readFileSync(dashboardNotePath, "utf-8")).model, "first");
+    runWorkflow(persistScript, { EVENT_NAME: "push" });
+    assert.equal(readPersistedModel(), "first");
+
+    rmSync(notesDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    runWorkflow(restoreScript);
+    assert.equal(JSON.parse(readFileSync(dashboardNotePath, "utf-8")).model, "first");
+
+    writeAgentNote("updated");
+    runSync();
+    runWorkflow(persistScript, { EVENT_NAME: "push" });
+    assert.equal(readPersistedModel(), "updated");
+  } finally {
+    rmSync(tempDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }
+});
+
 function writeNote(path, prNumber, shortSha, date = "2026-04-01T00:00:00Z") {
   writeFileSync(
     path,