diff --git a/.github/workflows/gen-configs.yaml b/.github/workflows/gen-configs.yaml
index fbe723b7b4..6f17474240 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/gen-configs.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/gen-configs.yaml
@@ -59,11 +59,14 @@ jobs:
         git status
         OUT=$(git commit -am "Auto-generated configs and docs" 2>&1) || echo "commit failed, finding out why"
         if echo "$OUT" | grep 'nothing to commit'; then
+          echo "headers: looks like nothing to commit"
           echo "::set-env name=NOCOMMIT::true"
           exit 0
         elif echo "$OUT" | grep 'changed'; then
+          echo "headers: looks like something has changed"
           exit 0
         else
+          echo "headers: looks like something unexpected"
           exit 1
         fi
 
@@ -116,11 +119,15 @@ jobs:
         OUT=$(git commit -m "Trigger wheel definitions" unit_tests/triggers.txt 2>&1) || echo "commit failed, finding out why"
         echo "$OUT"
         if echo "$OUT" | grep -E 'nothing to commit|no changes added'; then
+          echo "triggers: looks like nothing to commit"
           echo "::set-env name=NOCOMMIT::true"
           exit 0
         elif echo "$OUT" | grep 'changed'; then
+          echo "::set-env name=NOCOMMIT::false"
+          echo "triggers: looks like something has changed"
           exit 0
         else
+          echo "triggers: looks like something unexpected"
           exit 1
         fi