pr-thread-reply

Reply to PR Review Thread

Post a reply to an inline review comment thread on a GitHub pull request.

Prerequisites

• gh (GitHub CLI) installed and authenticated
• jq for JSON parsing

No extensions required - uses native gh api commands.

Why Use This Skill

Native GitHub CLI (gh pr comment) only supports general PR comments, not inline review comments. This skill uses the GitHub REST API via gh api to reply to specific inline review threads with proper threading support.

Prefer this over:

• gh pr comment (doesn't support inline comment replies)
• Manual gh api calls (this skill handles URL parsing and error handling)
• Manual web browsing (not automatable)

Quick Start

Reply using comment URL (most common - extracts thread ID automatically):

${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/pr-thread-reply/reply-pr-thread.sh \
  "https://github.com/tal/repo/pull/123517#discussion_r2721565974" \
  "Thanks, fixed in the latest commit!"

Reply using comment ID directly:

${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/pr-thread-reply/reply-pr-thread.sh \
  --comment-id 456789 \
  --pr 12345 \
  --repo owner/repo \
  "Your reply message here"

Interactive mode (prompts for inputs):

${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/pr-thread-reply/reply-pr-thread.sh

Usage

Multiple input formats accepted for flexibility:

Option 1: Comment URL (Recommended)

Provide the full GitHub PR comment URL and the reply message:

reply-pr-thread.sh "<comment-url>" "<reply-message>"

Example:

reply-pr-thread.sh \
  "https://github.com/tal/repo/pull/123517#discussion_r2721565974" \
  "Good catch! I've updated the error handling."

Option 2: Comment ID with Flags

Provide comment ID and other details explicitly:

reply-pr-thread.sh \
  --comment-id <comment-id> \
  --pr <pr-number> \
  --repo <owner/repo> \
  "<reply-message>"

Example:

reply-pr-thread.sh \
  --comment-id 456789 \
  --pr 12345 \
  --repo tal/repo \
  "Fixed as suggested, thanks!"

Option 3: Interactive Mode

Run without arguments to be prompted:

reply-pr-thread.sh

Flags

• --comment-id <id>: The comment database ID to reply to (numeric)
• --pr <number>: The PR number
• --repo <owner/repo>: The repository in owner/repo format
• -v, --verbose: Enable verbose output for debugging

Getting Comment IDs

Comment IDs are extracted automatically from comment URLs, but they can also be obtained manually:

From the URL: The comment ID is the numeric part after #discussion_r in the URL:

https://github.com/owner/repo/pull/123#discussion_r456789
                                                    ^^^^^^ <- comment ID is 456789

Using get-pr-feedback skill:

${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/get-pr-feedback/get-pr-comments.sh -a

The output lists comment URLs which contain the comment IDs.

Output

On success, the skill outputs:

✓ Reply posted successfully to thread PRRT_...
URL: https://github.com/owner/repo/pull/123#discussion_r456

On error, diagnostic information is printed to stderr.

Common Use Cases

1. Reply to Specific Comment After Code Changes

After addressing a reviewer's inline comment:

1. Get the comment URL from GitHub or from the user
2. Reply with what changed:

reply-pr-thread.sh \
  "https://github.com/tal/repo/pull/123#discussion_r456" \
  "Fixed in commit abc123 - now using error wrapping as suggested"

2. Acknowledge Feedback

Quick acknowledgment of a comment:

reply-pr-thread.sh \
  "https://github.com/tal/repo/pull/123#discussion_r456" \
  "Good point, will address this in a follow-up PR"

3. Batch Reply to Multiple Comments

After addressing multiple review comments:

1. Use get-pr-feedback to list all unresolved threads
2. For each addressed thread, post a reply explaining the changes
3. Helps reviewers track what's been fixed

4. Discussion on Implementation Approach

When a comment starts a technical discussion:

reply-pr-thread.sh \
  "https://github.com/tal/repo/pull/123#discussion_r456" \
  "I considered that approach but went with X because Y. Happy to discuss alternatives if you have concerns."

Integration with get-pr-feedback

This skill pairs well with the get-pr-feedback skill:

# 1. Get all actionable feedback
${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/get-pr-feedback/get-pr-comments.sh -a

# 2. Make code changes to address comments

# 3. Reply to each thread explaining what you did
${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/pr-thread-reply/reply-pr-thread.sh \
  "https://github.com/.../discussion_r123" \
  "Fixed in commit abc123"

Troubleshooting

Authentication error:

Error: gh is not authenticated

Run gh auth login to authenticate.

Comment not found:

Error: Comment not found or you don't have access

• Verify the comment ID is correct
• Confirm write access to the repository
• Note: Only top-level review comments accept replies — replies to replies are not supported

Comment URL not recognized: The URL must contain #discussion_r followed by a number. Example: https://github.com/owner/repo/pull/123#discussion_r456789

gh CLI not installed:

Error: gh CLI is not installed

Install from: https://cli.github.com/

Notes

• Requires gh CLI installed and authenticated
• Uses native GitHub REST API via gh api (no extensions needed)
• Replies are posted immediately and cannot be edited via this tool
• Comment IDs are numeric database IDs extracted from the URL
• The skill extracts comment IDs from URLs automatically
• Supports multi-line messages (quote them properly in bash)
• Can only reply to top-level review comments, not replies to replies