| name | watch-mr |
| description | Babysit one open GitLab MR: unresolved threads, failing CI, conflicts, approvals, draft status. Prefer GitLab MCP. Never merge or approve without explicit ask; commit/push/undraft only when ship-authorized. Use for tier-3 MR maintenance laps. |
| disable-model-invocation | true |
Watch MR
Babysit one open GitLab merge request. Gather signals, classify, propose
(or fix only under the action rules below), report, stop. Not a merge bot.
Loop contract:
.agents/context/development-loop.md.
When to use
| Trigger | Examples |
|---|
| Launch Invoke | Brief says Invoke: watch-mr |
| Operator names an MR | "babysit !42", paste MR URL / IID |
| Unattended tier-3 | find-work ranked a maintain-eligible open MR first |
Skip when:
- GitLab MCP (
user-gitlab) unavailable / unauthenticated
- MR is merged or closed
- Hot-MR lock is foreign and still fresh (see locks)
- Tiers 1–2 work is still eligible (debt-first: clear prod/correctness first)
CRITICAL — never ship the MR
This skill maintains; it does not land the MR unless the operator named
that exact action.
| Action | Allowed? |
|---|
| Read MR / pipelines / discussions / approvals | Yes |
| Reply on a thread | Only if operator asked |
| Resolve a thread | Only if operator asked |
| Retry / play a failed job | Only if operator asked |
| Approve | Never unless operator asked for that approve |
| Merge | Never unless operator asked for that specific act |
Undraft / mark ready / git push / git commit | Ship-authorized for this lap only — soft ship language or explicit commit/push (constraints.md#commit-and-ship); not on a bare "ready the MR" / "undraft" ask alone |
| Cluster mutate | Never without explicit ask |
Default posture: read + report. Mutating GitLab or git only when the
operator (or a Launch brief that explicitly authorizes that action) said so.
Tools
Prefer user-gitlab MCP over glab / raw API.
- Discover tool schemas (
GetMcpTools / server inspect) before any mutate.
- Read-only first: resolve MR, list discussions, pipeline status, approvals.
- If MCP is missing or auth fails → report skip and stop. Do not invent a
CLI deep-dive to fake the skill.
CLI is a last resort for reads when MCP is down and the operator still wants a
signal dump — still no merge/approve/push without ask.
Workflow
- [ ] 1. Resolve MR (IID / URL / Launch brief source)
- [ ] 2. Lock check — read `.scratch/watch-mr/locks/!{iid}.lock`
- [ ] 3. Acquire lock (or skip if foreign+fresh; stale takeover OK)
- [ ] 4. Get signals (threads, CI, conflicts, approvals, draft)
- [ ] 5. Classify maintain-eligible vs ready/drop
- [ ] 6. Propose fixes; act only under CRITICAL rules
- [ ] 7. Emit pasteable report
- [ ] 8. Release lock (delete on clean stop)
- [ ] 9. Stop — one MR per lap; do not chain the next IID
Maintain-eligible signals
| Signal | Maintain-eligible when | Notes |
|---|
| Unresolved threads | Open discussions need reply/resolve | Do not resolve unless asked |
| Failing CI | Pipeline/jobs red on the MR | Retry only if asked |
| Conflicts | Cannot merge cleanly | Report; do not force-push |
| Approvals | Missing required approvals | Never self-approve unless asked |
| Draft | Still marked draft / WIP | Undraft only if asked |
| Ready | No threads, green CI, no conflicts, approvals OK, not draft | Drop tier-3 — not maintain work |
If ready → say so and stop. find-work should not keep re-queuing it as tier-3.
Hot-MR locks
Coordination file (local only, not SoT):
Path: .scratch/watch-mr/locks/!{iid}.lock
mr_iid: 42
url: https://gitlab.example/group/project/-/merge_requests/42
session_id: <agent/session id>
held_at: 2026-07-22T04:00:00Z
expires_at: 2026-07-22T06:00:00Z
intent: watch-mr
| Situation | Action |
|---|
No lock / expired (expires_at) | Acquire (write lock, TTL 2h) |
Same session_id | Refresh / continue |
| Foreign + fresh | Skip this MR; report lock holder |
| Foreign + stale | Takeover OK; overwrite lock |
| Clean stop | Delete the lock file |
Convention doc: .scratch/watch-mr/README.md (gitignored; not a link target).
Output contract
Pasteable block; keep chat the index.
## watch-mr — !{iid}
**URL:** <mr url>
**State:** open | merged | closed | skip (<why>)
**Lock:** acquired | skipped foreign | takeover stale | released
**Signals:**
- Threads: <n unresolved> — …
- CI: green | red (<job>) | running | unknown
- Conflicts: yes | no
- Approvals: <have>/<need> | n/a
- Draft: yes | no
**Classification:** maintain-eligible | ready (drop tier-3) | skip
**Actions taken:** <none | list; must match CRITICAL>
**Proposed next:** <operator-facing; no silent merge>
**Stop:** one MR; lock released | held (<why>)
How find-work consumes this
find-work lists maintain-eligible MRs (tier 3)
via a shallow scout.- This skill executes the lap for one named MR.
- find-work must not deep-dive threads/CI/approvals the way this skill
does — scout = eligibility signal; watch-mr = maintenance pass.
Homelab constraints
- Merge / approve: never unless the operator explicitly asked for that
specific action.
git commit / push / undraft / mark ready: ship-authorized for this lap
only — soft ship language or explicit commit/push; see
constraints.md#commit-and-ship.- Ask before cluster mutate — this skill does not apply or reconcile.
- Protected paths: do not expand MR fixes into unconfirmed protected edits.
- Advice ≠ implement: consultative language → options only until asked.
- Stop-loss: 3 identical failures of the same approach → surface and stop.
- Secrets stay out of reports and lock files.
Related
