PR Review Workflow (gh)

Use this skill when you need to create a PR, pull review comments, fix them incrementally, and reply to each comment individually using gh.

Quick Workflow

1. Create/update PR

• gh pr create --fill --body-file /tmp/pr_body.txt
• gh pr edit --body-file /tmp/pr_body.txt

2. Fetch review comments

• Summary/comments: gh pr view <PR> --comments
• Structured data: gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/<PR>/comments
• Pagination (recommended for large threads): add --paginate
• Skip resolved threads by ignoring any comment that already has a reply (a matching in_reply_to_id exists) or that is marked resolved in the UI.
• Unresolved-only JSON (ignore replied-to threads):

python - <<'PY'
import json, subprocess
raw = subprocess.check_output(
    ["gh", "api", "--paginate", "repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/<PR>/comments"],
    text=True,
)
comments = json.loads(raw)
replied_to = {c.get("in_reply_to_id") for c in comments if c.get("in_reply_to_id")}
unresolved = [
    {
        "id": c.get("id"),
        "html_url": c.get("html_url"),
        "path": c.get("path"),
        "body": c.get("body"),
    }
    for c in comments
    if c.get("in_reply_to_id") is None and c.get("id") not in replied_to
]
print(json.dumps(unresolved, indent=2))
PY

• Unresolved-only JSON (jq):

gh api --paginate repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/<PR>/comments \
  | jq '[. as $all
    | ($all | map(select(.in_reply_to_id != null) | .in_reply_to_id) | unique) as $replied
    | $all[]
    | select(.in_reply_to_id == null and (.id | IN($replied[]) | not))
    | {id, html_url, path, body}]'

3. Fix review notes commit-by-commit

• For each comment:
  • identify the target commit (use commit_id from the review payload, or git log -- <file>/git blame)
  • start git rebase -i <base> and mark the target commit edit
  • apply the fix
  • run validation before committing (normally make lint, make unit, and any relevant itests)
  • if the change affects scripts or build tooling, lint/unit may need to be omitted; ask the user and follow their direction
  • git add <files>
  • git commit -m "! <short change>"
  • continue the rebase, resolving conflicts if needed
  • repeat until all notes addressed
• Ensure fixes land in the commit the reviewer commented on:
  • Keep the fix commit directly after the original commit.
  • Confirm the diff for the addressed commit is updated.

4. Test after fixes

• Run extensive tests after applying fixes to ensure correctness.
• Prefer make lint and relevant unit/integration tests.
• Run per-fix validation before committing each change.
• After all fixes, run a final validation pass on the full branch.
• Note any tests not run in the PR response.

5. Reply to each comment individually (draft replies only)

• Always create or reuse a pending review and attach draft replies to it.
• Create a pending review (omit event to keep it draft):
  • gh api -X POST repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/<PR>/reviews -F body='Draft replies'
• Add a draft reply to the pending review with GraphQL (supports replies):
  • gh api graphql -f query='mutation($pullRequestId:ID!,$pullRequestReviewId:ID!,$inReplyTo:ID!,$body:String!){addPullRequestReviewComment(input:{pullRequestId:$pullRequestId,pullRequestReviewId:$pullRequestReviewId,inReplyTo:$inReplyTo,body:$body}){comment{url body}}}' \ -f pullRequestId=<PR_NODE_ID> \ -f pullRequestReviewId=<REVIEW_NODE_ID> \ -f inReplyTo=<COMMENT_NODE_ID> \ -f body='Acked; updated to ...'
• If a pending review already exists, reuse it; do not submit the review.
• Reply content: describe what changed and how, without referencing commit hashes, rebases, or internal workflow mechanics. Example:
  • “Fixed by changing the default case to return FailedState with an explicit reason, so we fail closed on unexpected statuses.”

Comment Formatting Rules

• Use real newlines, not literal \n.
• For multi-line replies, prefer a heredoc:

gh api -X POST repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/<PR>/comments \
  -F in_reply_to=<COMMENT_ID> \
  -F body=@- <<'EOF'
Applied fix:
- updated X
- refactored Y
EOF

• Keep replies concise and specific to the change made.

Fetch and Respond Example

1. Find comment IDs: gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/<PR>/comments

2. Reply: gh api -X POST repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/<PR>/comments \ -F in_reply_to=<COMMENT_ID> \ -F body='Updated sh() to use argv lists and removed shell=True.'

Notes

• gh pr view <PR> --comments is quick for a read-only pass.
• Use gh api .../pulls/<PR>/comments to get id values for replies.
• Keep each review response tied to its specific thread.