pr-create

Create a pull request that follows team conventions. This skill analyses ALL commits on the branch (not just the latest), drafts a conventional commit title, writes a structured description, pushes, and creates the PR.

Mandatory Process

Execute every step in order. Do not skip.

Step 1: Determine Base Branch

Use $ARGUMENTS if provided. Otherwise default to main.

BASE_BRANCH="${ARGUMENTS:-main}"

Verify the base branch exists:

git rev-parse --verify $BASE_BRANCH

Step 2: Verify Branch State

1. Check for uncommitted changes:

   git status --short
   

   If there are uncommitted changes, stop and ask the user whether to commit them first or proceed without them. Do not silently ignore uncommitted work.

2. Check current branch:

   git branch --show-current
   

   If on main (or the base branch), stop. PRs come from feature branches.

3. Check remote tracking:

   git rev-parse --abbrev-ref --symbolic-full-name @{u} 2>/dev/null
   

   Note whether the branch tracks a remote. If not, you will need to push with -u.

Step 3: Analyse ALL Commits

This is the most important step. The PR description must reflect the full scope of changes, not just the last commit.

1. Get the full commit log:

   git log --oneline $BASE_BRANCH..HEAD
   

2. Get the full diff:

   git diff $BASE_BRANCH...HEAD --stat
   

   And for the detailed diff:

   git diff $BASE_BRANCH...HEAD
   

3. Read every changed file in the diff to understand the full picture. Do not skim. If there are 20 changed files, read all 20.

4. Categorise the changes:

   • What is the primary type? (feat, fix, refactor, docs, test, chore, ci, perf, build)
   • Is there a secondary type? (e.g., a feat that also includes test changes)
   • What is the scope? (which module, component, or area)
   • Is there a breaking change?

Step 4: Draft the PR Title

The PR title becomes the squash commit message. It must follow Conventional Commits:

<type>[optional scope]: <description>

Rules:

• Under 70 characters total
• Imperative mood: "Add", "Fix", "Refactor" — not "Added", "Fixes", "Refactoring"
• No period at the end
• Lowercase after the colon (unless a proper noun)
• If breaking: feat!: remove legacy API or note in the footer
• The description captures the WHAT at a high level — details go in the body

Examples of good titles:

• feat(auth): add SSO login with SAML provider
• fix: prevent duplicate webhook delivery on retry
• refactor(api): extract validation middleware from controllers
• docs: add deployment runbook for production

Examples of bad titles:

• Update code (no type, vague)
• feat: Added new feature for user authentication and also fixed some bugs (too long, past tense, multiple concerns)
• fix: Fix bug (redundant, no context)

Step 5: Draft the PR Description

Use this template. Fill every section.

## Summary
- [1-3 bullet points: WHAT changed and WHY]
- [Focus on the motivation and outcome, not the implementation details]
- [If fixing a bug, describe the bug and its impact]

## Changes
- [Grouped by area: API, UI, database, tests, config, etc.]
- [Each bullet: specific file or module and what changed]
- [Include new dependencies, migrations, config changes]

## Test plan
- [How to verify the changes work]
- [Specific commands to run, or manual steps to follow]
- [What to check in CI]
- [Edge cases to test manually]

Additional sections to include when relevant:

## Breaking changes
- [What breaks, who is affected, migration steps]

## Screenshots
[For UI changes — before and after]

## Related issues
Closes #[issue number]

Rules for the description:

• Write in active voice, direct tone
• No filler phrases ("This PR...", "In this change we...")
• Lead each bullet with the action or outcome
• Be specific: "Add retry logic with exponential backoff (max 3 attempts)" not "Improve error handling"
• The test plan must be actionable — someone unfamiliar with the code should be able to follow it

Step 6: Push and Create

1. Push the branch:

   git push -u origin $(git branch --show-current)
   

2. Create the PR:

   gh pr create --title "<title>" --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
   <body content>
   EOF
   )"
   

3. Verify creation:

   gh pr view --json url,title,state
   

Step 7: Report

Share the PR URL and a brief summary:

PR created: <URL>
Title: <title>
Base: <base branch>
Commits: N
Files changed: N

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Describing only the last commit — the PR covers all commits since diverging from base. Read every commit.
2. Vague test plan — "run the tests" is not a test plan. Specify which tests, what commands, what to check.
3. Missing context — the reviewer was not in your head when you wrote the code. Explain the WHY.
4. Too much implementation detail in the title — the title is a summary. Details go in the body.
5. Not checking for uncommitted changes — pushing a branch with local changes not included leads to confusion.
6. Creating from main — always create from a feature branch.

Edge Cases

• Single commit branch: The PR title should match the commit message (it already follows conventional commits if the commit does).
• Many small commits: Summarise the overall change. The individual commit messages inform the description but the PR title captures the whole.
• Draft PRs: If the user says "draft" or "WIP", add --draft to the gh pr create command.
• Cross-repo PRs: If the base is on a different fork, use --repo and --head flags appropriately.

Related Skills

• /code-reviewer:code-review — run a code review before creating the PR to catch issues early.