PR Workflow Manager

PR Workflow Manager

Purpose

Provide Claude with best practices for creating and managing pull requests with proper upstream tracking, ensuring consistent PR workflows and preventing common git configuration issues.

Activation cues

• Requests to create a PR, pull request, or merge request
• Questions about git upstream tracking or remote branch configuration
• Follow-up after pushing branches or creating PRs
• Troubleshooting PR-related git issues
• Team workflow standardization requests

Primary commands

Scenario	Command
Create PR with upstream	gh pr create && git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/$(git branch --show-current)
Set upstream for existing PR	git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/$(git branch --show-current)
Check upstream status	git branch -vv
Create PR from issue	gh issue develop <number> --checkout && git push -u origin HEAD
View PR status	gh pr view
List all PRs	gh pr list

Automation helper

Use the bundled script for complete PR creation with all best practices:

skills/pr_workflow_manager/scripts/create_pr_with_upstream.sh [--title "PR Title"] [--body "PR Description"]

The script:

1. Validates current branch is not main/master
2. Pushes branch with upstream tracking (-u flag)
3. Creates PR using gh pr create
4. Verifies upstream tracking is set
5. Displays PR URL and branch status

Decision guide

1. Creating new PR → Use automation script OR git push -u origin HEAD && gh pr create
2. PR already created but no upstream → git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/$(git branch --show-current)
3. Fixing PR after comments → Commit changes, git push (upstream already set)
4. Checking PR status → gh pr view or gh pr checks
5. Creating PR from issue → gh issue develop <number> --checkout && git push -u origin HEAD && gh pr create

Critical Rules

• 🚨 ALWAYS set upstream tracking: Use git push -u origin HEAD OR manually set with git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/BRANCH_NAME
• 🚨 NEVER push without -u on first push: Prevents "no tracking information" errors
• 🚨 CHECK upstream after PR creation: Run git branch -vv to verify tracking is configured
• 🚨 USE automation script for consistency: Ensures all steps are followed

Upstream Tracking Benefits

• ✅ git push and git pull work without arguments
• ✅ Git status shows "ahead/behind" information
• ✅ gh pr commands work correctly
• ✅ Prevents accidental pushes to wrong branch
• ✅ Enables git push --force-with-lease safety

Common Issues & Solutions

Issue: "fatal: The current branch has no upstream branch"

Solution: git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/$(git branch --show-current)

Issue: PR created but git status doesn't show tracking

Solution: Run upstream setup command above, then git branch -vv to verify

Issue: Want to change PR base branch

Solution: gh pr edit --base new-base-branch

Issue: Multiple commits, want to squash

Solution: git rebase -i HEAD~N (where N is number of commits), then git push --force-with-lease

PR Description Best Practices

Include in every PR description:

1. Summary: What does this PR do?
2. Changes: Bullet list of specific changes
3. Benefits: Why is this valuable?
4. Test Plan: How was this tested?
5. Related Issues: Link to issues/tickets

Workflow Integration

This skill integrates with:

• /pr command - Complete PR workflow automation
• /push command - Branch pushing with PR creation
• /pushl command - Push with automatic labeling
• Build/test/lint autopilot - Pre-PR validation

PR Branch Verification (MANDATORY)

CRITICAL: Always verify the correct PR remote branch before working on merge conflicts or PR operations.

Forbidden Actions

• Guessing or assuming PR branch names
• Using branch names that "look like" they match the PR number
• Working on branches without verifying they're the actual PR branch

Required Steps

1. Verify PR branch name:
   • gh pr view <number> --json headRefName
   • Or: git log --oneline --all --grep="<PR-number>"
2. Fetch the correct remote branch: git fetch origin <actual-branch-name>
3. Reset to the correct branch: git reset --hard origin/<actual-branch-name>
4. Verify before proceeding: git log --oneline -5

Example

# WRONG - Don't guess
git fetch origin pull/3096/head:pr-3096

# CORRECT - Verify first
gh pr view 3096 --json headRefName  # Returns actual branch name
git fetch origin claude/byok-settings-feature-0WgQP
git reset --hard origin/claude/byok-settings-feature-0WgQP

Root Cause Prevention: Multiple branches may exist with similar names. Always verify from PR metadata.

Reporting expectations

• Confirm upstream tracking is set: git branch -vv output
• Display PR URL after creation
• Show current branch status and tracking information
• Highlight any issues with upstream configuration
• Provide next steps if PR creation partially fails