| name | pr-lifecycle |
| description | Manages the full PR lifecycle: creation, review comment handling, CI remediation, and user-approved merge |
| argument-hint | branch=feature/{feature-number}-{slug} |
| input | {"properties":{"branch":{"type":"string","description":"Feature branch to create PR for"},"title":{"type":"string","description":"PR title (optional, defaults to branch name)"}},"required":["branch"]} |
PR Lifecycle Skill
Manage the branch-to-merged workflow for a feature or chore branch. This
skill creates or updates the pull request, responds to review feedback,
keeps CI healthy, and stops at the user merge gate unless the user
explicitly approves the merge.
Purpose
Use this skill when implementation work is ready to move through pull
request execution. It centralizes the PR control loop so higher-level
agents can treat review, CI follow-up, and merge approval as one bounded
workflow.
Agent-Intercom Communication
When the agent-intercom capability pack is installed, call ping at
session start. If reachable, broadcast at every step. If unreachable,
warn the operator that visibility is degraded and continue locally.
| Event | Level | Message prefix |
|---|
| Session start | info | [PR-LIFECYCLE] Starting: branch={input.branch} |
| Branch pushed | info | [PR-LIFECYCLE] Branch pushed: {branch} |
| PR created | info | [PR-LIFECYCLE] PR created: {pr_url} |
| PR updated | info | [PR-LIFECYCLE] PR updated: {pr_url} |
| Feedback received | info | [PR-LIFECYCLE] Review feedback: {comment_count} comments |
| Fix applied | info | [PR-LIFECYCLE] Fix applied for: {comment_summary} |
| CI failure | warning | [PR-LIFECYCLE] CI failed — delegating to fix-ci |
| CI green | info | [PR-LIFECYCLE] CI passing |
| Ready for merge | success | [PR-LIFECYCLE] PR ready — awaiting user approval |
| Merged | success | [PR-LIFECYCLE] Merged: {pr_url} |
| Blocked | warning | [PR-LIFECYCLE] Blocked: {reason} |
Inputs
${input:branch}: (Required) Branch name to ship.${input:title}: (Optional) PR title override. When omitted, derive
the title from the branch name or prepared PR description.
Workflow
Step 1: Prepare the branch
- Confirm the branch exists locally and is ready to push.
- Gather or generate the PR title and body before calling GitHub
tooling.
- Push the branch if it is not already available on the remote.
Step 2: Create or update the pull request
- Use the GitHub CLI (
gh pr create or gh pr edit) to create or
refresh the pull request.
- Capture the PR URL, branch, and base branch as the active context.
- Reuse an existing PR when the branch already has one instead of
creating duplicates.
Step 2b: Request automated review
When the repository is hosted on GitHub, request Copilot Review
immediately after PR creation or after pushing new commits:
- Request review per
.github/instructions/github-pr-automation.instructions.md §1.1.
- Poll for review completion using the back-off cadence in §1.2.
- Do not block on review — proceed to CI monitoring in parallel when
possible, but complete the review poll before entering the fix cycle.
Step 3: Handle review feedback
- Monitor PR review comments, especially automated review comments.
- For GitHub-hosted repositories, follow the complete Copilot Review
workflow in
.github/instructions/github-pr-automation.instructions.md Part 1:
categorize comments (§1.3), apply fixes (§1.4), reply to threads
(§1.5), and resolve bot-authored threads via GraphQL (§1.6).
- For non-GitHub repositories, apply bounded fixes directly when they
are clearly actionable.
- Re-run the relevant validation after each fix cycle.
- Keep the PR description and review context aligned with the latest
branch state.
Step 4: Handle CI failures
- If CI fails, invoke the
fix-ci skill with the active PR or branch
context.
- For GitHub-hosted repositories, ensure the fix-ci skill follows the
CI polling protocol in
.github/instructions/github-pr-automation.instructions.md Part 2
for status monitoring, failure extraction, and fix-push-poll loops.
- Let
fix-ci own the remediation loop for failing checks and
unresolved review comments.
- Return to PR monitoring once CI and review status are clean again.
Step 4b: Re-request review after fixes
When fixes were pushed (from either review or CI remediation):
- Re-request Copilot Review per
.github/instructions/github-pr-automation.instructions.md
§1.7.
- Poll for the new review using the same back-off cadence.
- Resolve any remaining bot-authored threads per §1.6.
- Repeat until the review is clean or the review-fix cycle limit is
reached.
Step 5: Merge approval gate
- When the PR is reviewable and checks are green, present the status
to the user.
- Wait for explicit user approval before any merge action.
- Never auto-merge and never treat silence as approval.
- If the user does not approve merge, leave the PR open and report
the ready state.
Step 6: Post-merge cleanup
After a user-approved merge:
- Report the merge result and resulting default-branch state.
- Delete the branch only when that cleanup is requested or already
part of the chosen PR flow.
- Summarize any follow-up items, release notes, or residual risks
that remain after merge.
Completion Criteria
The skill is complete only when one of these outcomes is explicit:
- the PR is open and ready, waiting on user merge approval
- the PR feedback and CI loop is blocked with a clear reason
- the PR was merged after explicit user approval
Stop Conditions
| Counter | Limit | Action |
|---|
| Fix-CI delegation cycles | 5 | Halt, leave PR for manual intervention |
| Review-fix cycles | 3 | Accept remaining as backlog follow-ups |
Model Routing
This skill operates at Tier 2 (Standard) — PR creation and follow-up is routine coordination.
