PR Review Helper

Overview

Create pull requests with an interactive review workflow that allows users to edit the PR description before submission. This skill analyzes all commits since diverging from the base branch and generates a comprehensive PR summary for user review.

Workflow

Follow these steps sequentially when creating a pull request:

1. Gather Git Context

Collect all necessary git information to understand the full scope of changes:

Current git status: git status
All changes since diverging from main: git diff main...HEAD
Current branch name: git branch --show-current
All commits on this branch: git log main..HEAD
Remote tracking status: git status -b --porcelain | head -1
Check if current branch tracks a remote: git rev-parse --abbrev-ref @{upstream} 2>/dev/null || echo "No upstream tracking"

Execute these commands in parallel for efficiency.

2. Analyze Changes and Draft PR Description

Based on the gathered context:

Analyze ALL commits that will be included in the pull request (not just the latest commit)
Review the full diff to understand the complete scope of changes
Draft a comprehensive PR summary that includes:
- Clear, descriptive title
- Summary section with 1-3 bullet points covering the main changes
- Test plan section with a bulleted markdown checklist of testing TODOs

3. Write Description to File for Review

Use the write_pr_description.py script to write the PR description to a deterministic location in docs/prs/:

python scripts/write_pr_description.py "PR Title" "## Summary

- Main change point 1
- Main change point 2
- Main change point 3

## Test plan

- [ ] Test item 1
- [ ] Test item 2
- [ ] Test item 3"

The script will:

Create the docs/prs/ directory if it doesn't exist
Write the description to a timestamped file (e.g., docs/prs/pr_20250129_143022.md)
Display the file path for the user to review

Inform the user where the PR description has been written and ask them to review and edit it before creating the PR.

4. Wait for User Approval

After writing the description file, explicitly wait for the user to indicate they have reviewed and approved the description. Do not proceed to creating the PR until the user confirms they are ready.

5. Create the Pull Request

Once the user approves, use the create_pr.py script to create the PR:

# Ensure current branch is pushed to remote with upstream tracking if needed
git push -u origin $(git branch --show-current)

# Create the PR from the most recent description file
python scripts/create_pr.py

Optionally, specify a particular PR description file or base branch:

# Use a specific PR description file
python scripts/create_pr.py docs/prs/pr_20250129_143022.md

# Use a different base branch
python scripts/create_pr.py docs/prs/pr_20250129_143022.md develop

The script will:

Read the PR description file (uses the most recent one if not specified)
Parse the title and body
Create the PR using gh pr create
Display the PR URL
Clean up by deleting the PR description file

Return the PR URL to the user.

Important Notes

Always analyze ALL commits in the branch, not just the most recent one
The PR description should reflect the complete scope of changes since diverging from the base branch
Never skip the user review step - this is a critical part of the workflow
If the user provides additional notes or context as arguments, incorporate them into the PR description
The scripts handle file I/O and git operations deterministically, reducing errors
PR description files are stored in docs/prs/ with timestamps for easy tracking

Scripts Reference

write_pr_description.py

Creates a PR description file in docs/prs/ with a timestamp.

Usage:

python scripts/write_pr_description.py <title> <body>

Arguments:

title: The PR title (required)
body: The PR body content with summary and test plan (required)

create_pr.py

Creates a GitHub PR from a description file in docs/prs/ and cleans up the file after.