update-pr

name	update-pr
description	Update a pull request description. Use when asked to update PR description, edit PR body, or refresh PR details.

Update Pull Request Description

Update an existing PR's description, working around sandbox heredoc limitations.

Instructions

1. Get current PR info

# View current PR (assumes on feature branch)
gh pr view --json number,title,body

# Or specify PR number
gh pr view 123 --json number,title,body

2. Write the new body to a temp file

Use printf to avoid heredoc issues:

printf '%s\n' \
  '## Problem' \
  '' \
  'Description of the problem...' \
  '' \
  '## Solution' \
  '' \
  'Description of the solution...' \
  > /tmp/claude/pr-body.md

For longer content, build it incrementally:

# Start fresh
> /tmp/claude/pr-body.md

# Add sections
printf '%s\n' '## Problem' '' >> /tmp/claude/pr-body.md
printf '%s\n' 'The issue is...' '' >> /tmp/claude/pr-body.md
printf '%s\n' '## Solution' '' >> /tmp/claude/pr-body.md
printf '%s\n' 'We fixed it by...' >> /tmp/claude/pr-body.md

3. Update the PR

# Using body-file (may show GraphQL warning but still works)
gh pr edit 123 --body-file /tmp/claude/pr-body.md

# If that fails, use the API directly
gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/123 --method PATCH \
  -f body="$(cat /tmp/claude/pr-body.md)"

4. Verify the update

gh pr view 123 --json body -q '.body' | head -20

5. Clean up

rm /tmp/claude/pr-body.md

Common Issues

GraphQL Projects (classic) warning: This warning appears but the update usually still succeeds. Verify with gh pr view.

Heredoc fails: Expected in sandbox mode. Use printf approach.

Body too long for single printf: Build the file incrementally with append (>>).

Special characters: Use single quotes. For apostrophes: 'Don'\''t'

PR Body Structure

Follow this template for consistency. The prose is the high-level summary; the full implementation plan stays collapsed in the <details> block at the end (branch plans are never committed — .claude/plans/ is gitignored).

## Problem

[What issue exists?]

## Solution

[High-level approach]

### Key design decisions

**1. [Decision]**
[Explanation]

## Files changed

| File           | Change      |
| -------------- | ----------- |
| `path/file.ts` | Description |

## Test plan

- [ ] Test item

<details>
<summary>📋 Full implementation plan</summary>

[Full plan. Use `/sync-plan` to compose/refresh it.]

</details>

---

🤖 _PR by [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)_

Preserve the plan block when editing. If the current body already has a <summary>📋 Full implementation plan</summary> block, keep it (or refresh it with /sync-plan) — don't drop it when you rewrite the prose sections. To regenerate the plan content itself, prefer /sync-plan, which locates and replaces the block in place.

Examples

Quick body update:

printf '%s\n' '## Problem' '' 'Users cannot login' '' '## Solution' '' 'Fixed auth token validation' '' '---' '🤖 _PR by [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)_' > /tmp/claude/pr-body.md
gh pr edit 123 --body-file /tmp/claude/pr-body.md

Using API fallback:

gh api repos/myorg/myrepo/pulls/123 --method PATCH \
  -f body="$(cat /tmp/claude/pr-body.md)"