merge-dependabot-prs

name	merge-dependabot-prs
description	**WORKFLOW SKILL** — Approve and squash-merge all open Dependabot PRs in parallel, requesting rebase for conflicts and triaging failures. WHEN: "merge dependabot PRs", "auto-merge dependabot", "process dependabot updates", "bulk merge dependabot", "dependabot batch merge", "dependabot sweep", "approve dependabot PRs". INVOKES: runSubagent for parallel processing, GitHub MCP tools. FOR SINGLE OPERATIONS: use GitHub MCP directly.
argument-hint	Optionally provide owner/repo (e.g., PlagueHO/plagueho.skills). Defaults to the current repository.

Merge Dependabot PRs

Merge all open Dependabot pull requests in a repository in parallel. Each PR is evaluated for build status and merge conflicts, then handled according to its state. Produces a structured status report at the end.

Prerequisites

• Required MCP tools: github (pull request read/write access)
• Required permissions: Write access to the repository (merge, review, comment)
• Enable MCP: Run /mcp add github if not enabled

MCP Tools Used

Step	Tool	Method	Purpose
1	github	list_pull_requests	Find open Dependabot PRs
2	github	get_pull_request	Load PR details and mergeable state
2	github	get_pull_request_status	Check CI/check suite status
2	github	get_pull_request_files	List changed files for review
3a	github	create_pull_request_review	Submit approval review
3a	github	add_issue_comment	Comment :lgtm: on the PR
3a	github	merge_pull_request	Squash merge the PR
3b	github	add_issue_comment	Comment @dependabot rebase
3c	github	add_issue_comment	Comment with failure triage

CLI Fallback (if MCP unavailable):

gh pr list --author "app/dependabot" --state open --json number,title,mergeable,statusCheckRollup
gh pr view <number> --json mergeable,statusCheckRollup,files
gh pr review <number> --approve
gh pr comment <number> --body ":lgtm:"
gh pr merge <number> --squash
gh pr comment <number> --body "@dependabot rebase"

Process

Step 1 — Discover Dependabot PRs

1. Determine the target repository:

   • If an owner/repo argument was provided, use it.
   • Otherwise, detect the current repository from the workspace Git remote.
   • If neither works, ask: "Which repository should I process? (owner/repo)"

2. List all open pull requests authored by app/dependabot or dependabot[bot]:

   list_pull_requests(owner, repo, state: "open")
   

   Filter the results to only PRs where the author login is dependabot[bot] or the user type is Bot with the name containing dependabot.

3. If no Dependabot PRs are found, report that there are no open Dependabot PRs and stop.

4. Display the list of discovered PRs to the user before proceeding: "Found N open Dependabot PRs. Processing in parallel..."

Step 2 — Evaluate Each PR (Parallel)

Launch a runSubagent (or /fleet in Copilot CLI) for each Dependabot PR to evaluate it in parallel. Each subagent performs the following for its assigned PR:

2a. Retrieve PR State

Load the PR details to determine:

• Mergeable state: Is the PR mergeable, conflicting, or unknown?
• CI status: Are all required status checks passing?

Use get_pull_request to get the mergeable field and get_pull_request_status (or the statusCheckRollup field) to determine CI outcome.

2b. Classify the PR

Based on the retrieved state, classify into one of three categories:

CI Status	Merge Conflicts	Classification
Passing	None	ready-to-merge
Passing	Has conflicts	needs-rebase
Failing	Any	build-failing
Pending	Any	ci-pending

Step 3 — Act on Each PR (Parallel)

Each subagent acts on its PR based on the classification from Step 2:

3a. Ready to Merge (build passing, no conflicts)

1. Get the list of changed files using get_pull_request_files.
2. Submit an approving review using create_pull_request_review with:
   • event: "APPROVE"
   • Mark all files as reviewed in the review body.
3. Add a comment :lgtm: using add_issue_comment.
4. Squash merge the PR using merge_pull_request with:
   • merge_method: "squash"

Record result: merged.

3b. Needs Rebase (build passing, merge conflicts)

1. Add a comment @dependabot rebase using add_issue_comment. This triggers Dependabot to rebase the PR and resolve conflicts.
2. Do not attempt to merge.

Record result: rebase-requested.

Report to the user: "PR #N has merge conflicts. Commented @dependabot rebase. Wait approximately 5 minutes for Dependabot to rebase, then run this skill again to merge."

3c. Build Failing

1. Retrieve the failing check details from the status checks or check runs to identify which checks failed and why.
2. Triage the failure:
   • Read the PR title to identify the dependency and version bump.
   • Determine if the failure is likely caused by a breaking change in the dependency, a flaky test, or an infrastructure issue.
   • If possible, identify the specific failing test or build step.
3. Add a comment to the PR summarizing the failure and triage analysis.
4. Do not attempt to merge.

Record result: build-failing with triage details.

3d. CI Pending

1. Do not act on the PR — checks are still running.
2. Record result: ci-pending.

Report to the user: "PR #N has CI checks still running. Run this skill again once checks complete."

Step 4 — Generate Status Report

After all subagents complete, compile the results into a status report using the template in assets/report-template.md.

The report includes:

1. Summary — total PRs processed, counts by outcome.
2. PR Status Table — one row per PR with number, title, dependency, classification, action taken, and result.
3. Build Failures — detailed triage for each failing PR.
4. Next Steps — actionable guidance for remaining items.

Present the report to the user.

Edge Cases

• No Dependabot PRs: Report that none were found and stop.
• Merge fails after approval: Record the error, report it in the status table, and continue processing other PRs.
• Rate limiting: If GitHub API rate limits are hit, pause and report the remaining PRs that were not processed.
• Branch protection rules: If squash merge is blocked by branch protection, report the specific protection rule blocking the merge.
• Stale PR (unknown mergeable state): GitHub sometimes returns UNKNOWN for the mergeable state. Treat this as needs-rebase and comment @dependabot rebase.
• Large number of PRs: If there are more than 20 Dependabot PRs, process them in batches of 10 to avoid overwhelming the API.

Validation

After completing the process, verify:

• Every discovered Dependabot PR appears in the status report
• All merged PRs were squash merged (not regular or rebase merge)
• All merged PRs received an approving review and :lgtm: comment
• All conflict PRs received a @dependabot rebase comment
• All failing PRs have triage details in the report
• Summary counts match the rows in the status table

Guidelines

• Never force merge — if a PR cannot be cleanly squash merged, do not bypass protections.
• Preserve commit history — always use squash merge to keep the main branch clean.
• Be idempotent — running the skill multiple times is safe. Already-merged PRs will not appear in the open PR list.
• Respect CI — never merge a PR with failing or pending checks.
• Batch awareness — after requesting rebases, advise the user to wait ~5 minutes before running the skill again so Dependabot can complete the rebase operations.