| name | dependabot-babysit |
| description | Loop until all Dependabot/Renovate PRs are merged and main branches are passing. Runs verify → main health check → review → fix cycles at a configurable interval. Asks for confirmation before each fix attempt. Stops automatically when done. Invoke with: /dependabot-babysit [interval] [scope]
|
/dependabot-babysit
Drive all Dependabot/Renovate PRs to merged state with healthy main branches.
Runs in a loop — invoke once and it keeps cycling until everything is done.
Requires: the /loop built-in skill must be available in the current Claude Code
session. If it is not present, stop and report: "Error: /loop skill not found. /dependabot-babysit requires the bundled loop skill."
Step 0: Parse arguments
Parse ARGUMENTS (text after the skill name). Extract two optional values:
| Variable | Type | Description |
|---|
interval | string | null | Loop interval passed to /loop (e.g. 5m, 30m, 1h). Default: 5m. |
scope | string | null | Scope forwarded to each cycle (host, org, org/repo, etc.). null = all hosts. |
Parsing rules
Scan tokens in ARGUMENTS left to right:
- A token matching
^\d+[smhd]$ (digits followed by s/m/h/d) → interval (first match only; subsequent matching tokens are treated as part of scope)
- All remaining tokens joined with a space →
scope (or null if nothing remains)
Examples:
| ARGUMENTS | interval | scope |
|---|
| (empty) | 5m | null |
30m | 30m | null |
20m myorg | 20m | myorg |
github.com/myorg | 5m | github.com/myorg |
1h myorg/myrepo | 1h | myorg/myrepo |
Step 1: Write state file
Write ~/.claude/dependabot-babysit-state.json with initial state:
{
"blocked_prs": [],
"blocked_repos": [],
"iteration": 0,
"start_time": "<current ISO 8601 timestamp>",
"scope": "<scope or null>"
}
Use the current wall-clock time for start_time.
If the file already exists (a previous babysit session for the same scope), read it and
preserve blocked_prs, blocked_repos, and start_time. Reset iteration to 0 only
if scope has changed. This allows resuming an interrupted session. If scope has changed,
also clear blocked_prs and blocked_repos — blocked state from a different scope is not applicable.
Step 2: Launch loop
Invoke the /loop skill:
/loop <interval> /dependabot-babysit-cycle <scope>
Where:
<interval> is the value from Step 0 (default 5m)<scope> is the scope from Step 0, appended only if non-null
Examples:
/loop 5m /dependabot-babysit-cycle
/loop 30m /dependabot-babysit-cycle myorg
/loop 1h /dependabot-babysit-cycle github.com/myorg
After invoking the loop, print:
Babysit started. Cycling every <interval>.
State file: ~/.claude/dependabot-babysit-state.json
Stop condition: all eligible PRs merged + all main branches passing.
To stop early: cancel the /loop manually.
The /loop skill takes over from here. Each cycle runs /dependabot-babysit-cycle.
