pr-close

pr-close — Land a PR with full hygiene

Closing a PR is four distinct chores, and the order matters. This skill runs them as one reliable sequence so nothing gets half-done — a merged PR with a dangling branch, or a shipped fix whose issue stays open, is exactly the drift this prevents.

Config

The PR's commits land in the code repo (brain-os-plugin, ai-leaders-vietnam, whatever gh repo view reports). Linked issues usually live in a separate tracker repo — gh_task_repo in ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/brain-os.config.md (default sonthanh/ai-brain). That split is load-bearing for step 4: a bare Closes #N resolves against the code repo and silently does nothing.

The sequence (run in this exact order)

The order is not cosmetic:

• The comment comes first because it reviews the still-open PR — after merge the diff is harder to talk about.
• Squash before branch-delete so the squash commit still references the branch's work.
• Issue-close last because it depends on the squash commit body carrying the close reference.

0. Gather context (read-only)

Run the prep script — it fetches PR metadata and builds the two strings that are easy to get wrong (the verbatim squash subject and the cross-repo close block), emitting them as JSON so the load-bearing logic is centralized + unit-tested, not improvised:

bun "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/pr-close/scripts/pr-close.ts" prepare \
  --pr <N> --tracker <gh_task_repo>
# → { number, title, subject, headRef, linkedIssues:[{repo,num}], closesBlock, ... }

Then read the human-judgment inputs for the review comment:

gh pr diff <N>            # what changed
gh pr checks <N>          # what CI verified (feeds "what was tested")

If linkedIssues is empty (the PR body declared no Closes / Fixes / Resolves), ask the user which tracker issue this lands — don't guess.

Plan preview (before anything irreversible)

Merging is a destructive action on a remote — hard to undo. Show the user the plan and get a quick go-ahead, unless they already said "just merge it":

About to land PR #<N> "<title>":
  1. Comment:  <2-3 line reviewer summary>
  2. Squash-merge → subject "<PR title>", body closes <tracker>#<M>
  3. Delete branch <headRefName>
  4. Close <tracker>#<M> (+ strip status:* labels)
Proceed?

1. Reviewer-summary comment

Post a short review on the still-open PR: what changed (from the diff / commits) and what was tested (from gh pr checks + any testing notes in the PR). This is the durable record of why the merge was safe.

gh pr comment <N> --body "<what changed> · Tested: <what was verified>"

2 + 3. Squash-merge with PR title as subject, and delete the branch

One command does the squash (step 2) and the branch delete (step 3) in the correct order. Use the subject and closesBlock from the prep script — they carry the verbatim title and the cross-repo close reference, so a bare Closes #N (which would no-op against the code repo) can't sneak in:

gh pr merge <N> --squash --delete-branch \
  --subject "<subject from prepare>" \
  --body "<1-line summary>

<closesBlock from prepare>"

Pass --subject so the PR title verbatim becomes the squash subject — without it, gh appends (#N). --delete-branch removes the remote branch only after the merge lands.

4. Close the linked tracker issue(s) — via the central helper, not inline

Cross-repo Closes <repo>#N does not always auto-fire, so closing is not optional cleanup — it is a required step. Use the central close helper; never inline gh issue close (the helper also strips ghost status:* labels that a bare close leaves behind, and is idempotent if the merge already auto-closed the issue):

bash "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/gh-tasks/close-issue.sh" <M>

Run it once per linked issue (use each num from linkedIssues). Note: close-issue.sh is hardwired to the default tracker sonthanh/ai-brain; if your gh_task_repo differs, close with gh issue close <M> --repo <gh_task_repo> --reason completed and strip any status:* labels yourself.

Verify (fail loud)

Confirm each step actually took — a silent half-merge is the failure mode this skill exists to kill:

gh pr view <N> --json state,mergedAt              # state == MERGED
git ls-remote --heads origin <headRefName>        # empty output == branch gone
gh issue view <M> --repo <gh_task_repo> --json state   # state == CLOSED

If any check fails, say so explicitly and stop — do not log pass.

Closing WITHOUT merging (abandon a PR)

If the user is rejecting / abandoning rather than landing: post a comment with the reason, run gh pr close <N> --delete-branch, and leave linked issues open — the work isn't done, so do NOT run close-issue.sh.

Rules

• Order is load-bearing. Comment → squash → branch-delete → issue-close. Don't reorder to "save a step."
• Cross-repo close reference. Closes <gh_task_repo>#N, with the explicit repo prefix — a bare Closes #N targets the code repo and no-ops.
• close-issue.sh is the only close site. It strips status:* labels and is idempotent on already-closed issues. Inlining gh issue close re-leaks the ghost labels it was built to fix.
• Plan preview before the merge unless the user pre-authorized ("just merge"). Merging is the one irreversible step here.
• PR title verbatim as the squash subject — pass --subject so it doesn't drift.

Outcome log

Append one line to {vault}/daily/skill-outcomes/pr-close.log (per skill-spec.md § 11):

{date} | pr-close | merge | {code_repo} | PR#{N} | commit:{squash-hash} | {result} | issue={M} args="{pr-title}"

• result: pass (all four steps verified), partial (merged but a follow-up step — branch delete or issue close — needed a manual retry), fail (merge blocked or PR rejected).
• For the abandon path use action close instead of merge, and issue=none.