watch-ci

Watch CI

Monitor GitHub PR CI checks in the background, notify on completion via macOS system notification. Also supports watching CI on the merge target branch when a PR is already merged.

The polling itself is a pure shell loop (gh CLI + jq) launched via Bash with run_in_background: true. No subagent is spawned — token cost is paid only at launch and at completion, not on every poll cycle.

Scripts

• scripts/notify.sh — macOS notification helper
• scripts/poll-pr-checks.sh <pr-number> [max-min] — poll an open PR's checks until terminal, then notify
• scripts/poll-runs.sh <branch> <commit-sha> [max-min] — poll workflow runs on a branch+commit until terminal, then notify

All scripts default to a 60-minute cap and a 30-second poll interval.

Workflow

Step 1: Identify the PR

Determine which PR to watch:

# If user provides a PR number or URL, use it directly
# Otherwise, detect from current branch
gh pr view --json number,title,url,headRefName,baseRefName,state,mergeCommit --jq '{number,title,url,headRefName,baseRefName,state,mergeCommit}'

If no PR is found for the current branch, inform the user and stop.

Check the PR state:

• If state is "OPEN" → proceed to Step 2 (normal PR watch)
• If state is "MERGED" → proceed to Step 2b (merged PR: watch target branch CI)
• If state is "CLOSED" (not merged) → inform the user the PR was closed without merging and stop

Step 2: Show Initial Status (Open PR)

Show the current state:

gh pr checks <PR_NUMBER> --json name,state,bucket,workflow

Report to the user: PR number/title, total checks, current status breakdown (passed/pending/failed).

If all checks already passed or failed, skip to Step 4 or Step 5 respectively. Otherwise proceed to Step 3.

Step 2b: Merged PR — Switch to Target Branch CI

When the PR is already merged:

1. Get the base branch and merge commit SHA from Step 1 output

2. Inform the user: "PR #123 is already merged into main. Watching CI on main for merge commit abc1234..."

3. Show initial status:

   gh run list --branch <base-branch> --commit <merge-commit-sha> --json databaseId,name,status,conclusion --limit 20
   

   If no runs found with commit SHA, retry without it:

   gh run list --branch <base-branch> --json databaseId,name,status,conclusion --limit 10
   

4. Proceed to Step 3.

Step 3: Launch Background Poll (CLI-only, no subagent)

Do NOT launch a subagent. Use the Bash tool with run_in_background: true to run the polling shell script. The script polls gh directly, exits when checks reach a terminal state, fires a macOS notification, and prints a final RESULT: line.

For an open PR:

bash $HOME/.claude/skills/watch-ci/scripts/poll-pr-checks.sh <PR_NUMBER>

For a merged PR:

bash $HOME/.claude/skills/watch-ci/scripts/poll-runs.sh <BASE_BRANCH> <MERGE_SHA>

Behaviour:

• Polls every 30 seconds (open PR: gh pr checks; merged PR: gh run list --branch ... --commit ...)
• On success: notify.sh success (Glass sound) + RESULT: PASSED to stdout, exit 0
• On failure: notify.sh error (Basso sound) with failed check names + RESULT: FAILED (<names>), exit 1
• On timeout (default 60 min): notify.sh warning (Purr sound) + RESULT: TIMEOUT, exit 2

After launching, tell the user: "Watching CI in background. You'll be notified when it completes."

When the background task completes you'll be notified automatically. Read its output file to see the RESULT: line, report to the user, and — if FAILED — proceed to Step 5's investigation steps.

Step 4: All Checks Passed (Foreground Fast Path)

If checks already passed at Step 2/2b (no polling needed):

1. Send notification:

   bash $HOME/.claude/skills/watch-ci/scripts/notify.sh success "All CI checks passed! PR #<number>"
   

2. Report the final status summary.

Step 5: CI Check Failed (Foreground Fast Path)

If checks already failed at Step 2/2b:

1. Send notification:

   bash $HOME/.claude/skills/watch-ci/scripts/notify.sh error "CI check failed: <check-name>. PR #<number>"
   

2. Investigate the failure:

   gh pr checks <PR_NUMBER> --json name,state,bucket,link --jq '[.[] | select(.bucket == "fail" or .bucket == "cancel")]'
   gh run list --branch <branch> --status failure --limit 5 --json databaseId,name,conclusion
   gh run view <run-id> --log-failed
   

3. Analyze and report. For open PRs: offer to fix. For merged PRs: report only, do NOT auto-fix on the target branch.

Notes

• Polling is a pure shell loop run via Bash run_in_background: true — no subagent, no per-cycle token cost. The main conversation only pays at launch and at completion.
• System notifications use macOS osascript via notify.sh
• The gh CLI must be authenticated and have access to the repository
• 30-second polling interval balances responsiveness with API rate limits
• Default cap 60 minutes; override with the optional [max-min] arg to either script
• For merged PRs, watches workflow runs on the target branch filtered by merge commit SHA
• The script's stdout (progress lines + final RESULT: line) is captured by the background task — read the output file when you get the completion notification