| name | feature |
| description | Build, enhance, or revive GitHub repos - ship one feature PR per watched repo (watched), make the best single enhancement on one external repo (external), or revive the top dormant repo (dormant). |
| metadata | {"title":"Feature","category":"dev","var":"","mode":"write","commits":true,"permissions":["contents:write","pull-requests:write"],"requires":["GH_GLOBAL?"],"tags":["dev","build","growth"]} |
When the run prompt supplies a Workflow correlation ID, include the exact marker <!-- aeon-dispatch:<ID> --> in every PR body you create. This is a machine-checked chain receipt: do not alter, omit, or place it only in the final response.
${var} — Selector target[:arg] [--fix-issues], target ∈ {watched, external, dormant}. Empty or watched = build a feature on every watched repo (one PR each); external:<owner/repo> = one best enhancement on that external repo; dormant = revive the highest-scoring dormant repo. repair:<owner/repo#N>@<sha> is the dev-loop's bounded repair pass: update only that open PR at that exact reviewed SHA using the consumed review findings. A leading build:<owner/repo | issue-url | free-text instruction> — the shape the Telegram "ship which opportunity?" force-reply sends via repo-scanner's offer — is intercepted first and routed into the external branch on that target/instruction. --fix-issues biases the chosen branch toward fixing an open GitHub issue. Full grammar below.
This skill merges three repo-work modes behind one selector so no capability is lost:
| Branch | Selector | Per run | Repo source | Use it for |
|---|
| watched (§A) | empty / watched | Iterates every watched repo, ships one PR per repo | memory/watched-repos.md | Weekly broad sweep — keep every repo moving |
| external (§B) | external[:owner/repo[#N]] | Single repo per run | memory/topics/repos.md catalog (or ${var} override) | Targeted enhancement / issue fix on one repo |
| dormant (§C) | dormant[:owner/repo] | Single dormant repo per run | memory/watched-repos.md scored by dormancy | Reactivate a stale high-★ repo with one visible fix |
Today is ${today}. Read memory/MEMORY.md and the last 7 days of memory/logs/ before starting — and before notifying, drop anything already reported in the last ~3 days of logs.
Selector
Dev-loop repair interception — check before every normal selector. If ${var}
matches repair:<owner/repo#N>@<40-character-lowercase-sha>, this is the one
bounded repair pass authorized by a verified review receipt. Fetch that exact PR
and fail closed unless it is still open and its current head SHA exactly matches
the supplied SHA. Read the injected pr-review chain context, and require at least
one [CRITICAL] or [ISSUE] finding whose receipt matches the same target and SHA.
Checkout the PR's existing head branch; do not create a new branch or PR. Address
only those actionable findings, run the repository's relevant tests, commit and
push to the existing PR branch. If the target, SHA, receipt, branch permissions,
or requested fix is ambiguous, make no change and report the blocker. One repair
invocation is one pass: never recursively dispatch another agent or claim that a
subsequent review passed.
Telegram force-reply interception — check this immediately after the repair interception, before parsing normal selectors. If ${var} starts with build:, it is the "ship which opportunity?" force-reply that repo-scanner offers (routed here as feature with var="build:<the operator's reply>"). Strip the prefix with ${var#build:} and treat the remainder as an external build target/instruction — route it straight into the external branch (§B), reusing that branch's existing logic (do not run the watched or dormant branches for a build: value, and do not duplicate §B). Normalize the remainder into a §B target:
owner/repo → run §B as if external:owner/repo (B2 "clone that repo").
- an issue URL (
https://github.com/owner/repo/issues/N) or owner/repo#N → run §B as if external:owner/repo#N (B2 "fetch that issue").
- free text like
owner/repo: add retry to the client → run §B on owner/repo, using the trailing text as the explicit enhancement to build (see §B4's "requested enhancement" note — skip the auto-pick).
- anything else with no parseable repo → run §B passing the whole remainder as the enhancement instruction; §B B2/B4 already reason about selecting and scoping a target.
The remainder may itself contain colons — keep them. This is a complete run once §B ships its PR (or cleanly skips); do not then fall through to the normal selector.
Parse ${var} into a target and optional flags:
- Empty or
watched → watched branch (§A): sweep every watched repo, ship one feature PR each.
watched:<feature-spec> → watched branch, but build <feature-spec> on the FIRST watched repo only.
external → external branch (§B): auto-pick one catalog/watched repo and make the best single enhancement.
external:<owner/repo> → external branch on that specific repo.
external:<owner/repo>#N → external branch on that specific issue.
dormant → dormant branch (§C): auto-select the highest-scoring dormant repo and revive it.
dormant:<owner/repo> → dormant branch on that specific repo (skip selection).
- Trailing
--fix-issues (with any target) → bias the branch toward fixing an OPEN GitHub issue rather than a proactive change (see each branch's "with --fix-issues" note).
Example values: `` (empty → watched sweep), watched, watched:add a dark-mode toggle, external, external:acme/api, external:acme/api#42, dormant, dormant:acme/legacy-lib, external --fix-issues, dormant --fix-issues.
Dispatch to exactly one branch. Do not run branches you weren't selected into.
Voice
If soul/SOUL.md and soul/STYLE.md are populated, read both and match the operator's voice in every written output — per-repo notifications (§A), and the revival tweet draft (§C step 5). If they are empty templates or absent, use a clear, direct, neutral tone — short sentences, no hashtags, no emojis, no corporate launch-language.
Config
All branches read operator-controlled files under memory/ (runtime config — reference the paths exactly, never edit them here):
-
memory/watched-repos.md — candidate repo pool. One owner/repo per line (markdown bullets like - owner/repo are fine; comment lines starting with # are ignored). Used by watched and dormant; also the OWNER fallback for external. If missing or empty on the watched branch, log FEATURE_NO_CONFIG and exit cleanly (no notification — empty config is not an error). On dormant, log REPO_REVIVE_NO_CONFIG and exit cleanly.
-
memory/topics/repos.md — full repo catalog with descriptions, stack, and opportunities. Preferred repo source for the external branch; if absent, fall back to memory/watched-repos.md.
-
memory/topics/stale-models.md — stale AI model names and their current replacements. Used only by the dormant branch's stale-model audit. Example shape:
# Stale Models
## Considered stale (flag if a watched repo's README/config still references these)
- gpt-3.5
- claude-2
- claude-instant
- gpt-4 (without version suffix)
- text-davinci
## Current models (suggest these as replacements)
- claude-sonnet-5
- claude-opus-4-8
- gpt-5
- gemini-3
- grok-4.6
If the file is missing, the dormant branch skips the "stale model" fix category entirely (other categories still apply) and logs REPO_REVIVE_NO_MODEL_CONFIG: skipping model audit.
§A — Watched branch (build a feature on every watched repo)
Runs when ${var} is empty or watched[:<feature-spec>]. Ships one PR per watched repo in a single run.
A1. Load the target list
Parse memory/watched-repos.md into a list of owner/repo entries. If the file is missing or empty, log FEATURE_NO_CONFIG and exit cleanly (no notification).
If ${var} is watched:<feature-spec>, restrict the list to the first repo only and use <feature-spec> as the feature spec for it.
A2. For each repo in the list, run steps A3–A10 independently
A failure on one repo must NOT stop the others — catch the failure, log it, continue. Use a fresh working directory per repo (e.g. /tmp/feature-build-${repo-name}).
A3. Pick what to build for this repo
In this priority order:
a. If ${var} is watched:<feature-spec> AND this is the first repo, build that.
b. Check yesterday's repo-actions output in output/articles/repo-actions-*.md (most recent file) for ideas scoped to THIS repo. Pick the highest-impact idea that's autonomously implementable.
c. Check open GitHub issues labelled ai-build on this repo:
gh issue list -R owner/repo --label ai-build --state open
d. Check memory/MEMORY.md for planned features or next priorities tied to this repo.
e. If none of the above yields anything for this repo, log FEATURE_SKIP: <repo> — no suitable feature found and skip to the next repo. Do NOT send a notification for skipped repos.
With --fix-issues: promote step (c) — open ai-build issues — to the top priority ahead of (a)/(b), and only build from an open issue. If this repo has no open ai-build issue, log FEATURE_SKIP: <repo> — no open ai-build issue and skip it.
A4. Clone the repo
Into a per-repo temp directory:
gh repo clone owner/repo /tmp/feature-build-${repo-name}
cd /tmp/feature-build-${repo-name}
A5. Read the codebase
Understand the project structure, README, package.json/config files, recent commits, and the area you'll modify:
git log --oneline -20
Read the area you'll modify in full before changing anything.
A6. Implement the feature
Write clean, complete code. No TODOs or placeholders. Match the existing code style exactly — indentation, naming, patterns. Don't introduce new dependencies unless absolutely necessary. Don't refactor unrelated code — stay focused on one improvement.
Content-filter-sensitive documents. A few standard governance files are built almost entirely from sensitive-term-heavy boilerplate — CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md, abuse/moderation policies, harassment-reporting docs (terms like harassment, sexualized language, violence, abuse). Free-generating that body can trip the model's output content-filter, which aborts the entire run with API Error: Output blocked by content filtering policy (exit 1) even when the work is otherwise done. For these files do NOT free-generate the body:
- Fetch the canonical upstream text straight to disk with
curl so the body never passes through model output — curl -fsSL https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/2/1/code_of_conduct/code_of_conduct.md -o CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md. Don't route it through WebFetch: that pulls the text into context, and you would still have to re-emit the whole body in a Write call — the filter scores generated tokens, so transcribing it can trip the abort just like free-generating it. curl -o writes the file without the model ever emitting the body.
- Then customize only the enforcement-contact line with a single targeted
Edit (that one line is not sensitive); pull the contact convention from the repo's existing SECURITY.md/CONTRIBUTING.md.
- Keep your final
## Summary and every ./notify message descriptive — name the file, say it's the Contributor Covenant, and link the PR. Never paste the document body into the result text; the verbose final output is the most likely filter trigger.
A7. Branch and push
git checkout -b feat/<short-feature-name>
git add -A
git commit -m "feat: <description of what was built>"
git push -u origin feat/<short-feature-name>
A8. Open a PR
gh pr create -R owner/repo \
--title "feat: <short description>" \
--body "## What
<Description of the feature>
## Why
<What triggered this — repo-actions idea, issue, or gap identified>
## Changes
- file1: what changed
- file2: what changed
${AEON_DISPATCH_ID:+<!-- aeon-dispatch:$AEON_DISPATCH_ID -->}"
A9. Update memory
Log what was built (per repo) to memory/logs/${today}.md under the consolidated ### feature heading (see Log below). Include the repo name in every log line so per-repo history stays distinct.
A10. Notify — one per successfully built feature (gated)
For each repo with a shipped PR, send a separate ./notify so the operator gets a detailed per-repo message. The notification should be rich enough that a reader understands exactly what was built, why it matters, and how it works WITHOUT clicking the PR link. Skipped/failed repos send no notification.
Do NOT compress into 1–2 lines. Every section below is REQUIRED.
*Feature Built — ${today} — owner/repo*
<Feature name>
<2–3 sentence description of what the feature does in plain language. Explain it like you're telling a non-technical reader in the community what just got added to the project.>
Why this matters:
<2–3 sentences on why this is relevant to the project RIGHT NOW. What problem did users/developers have before? What triggered this — a repo-actions idea, a GitHub issue, a gap in the codebase? How does it move the project forward?>
What was built:
- <file/component>: <what was added/modified — be specific about the functionality, not just "added endpoint">
- <file/component>: <same level of detail>
- <file/component (if applicable)>: ...
How it works:
<3–4 sentences on the technical implementation. Approach taken and why. Libraries/APIs used. How it integrates with existing code. Any interesting design decisions.>
What's next:
<1–2 sentences on follow-up work or how this connects to the broader roadmap.>
PR: <url>
BAD (too short — do NOT do this):
"Feature Built: Data Export. Users can download results as JSON/CSV. PR: url"
GOOD level of detail:
Per-section answers like the template above. A reader who never clicks the PR should still come away knowing what changed and why.
A11. Final wrap-up
After iterating every repo, end with a ## Summary listing each watched repo and its outcome: PR url, skipped, or failed. If every repo was skipped, do NOT send a notification at all — just log the per-repo skip lines.
§B — External branch (best single enhancement on one repo)
Runs when ${var} starts with external. Ships one enhancement PR to one repo per run. Needs cross-repo access — GH_GLOBAL must be present.
B1. Read context
Read memory/MEMORY.md for current priorities.
B2. Pick a target
-
If ${var} is external:<owner/repo>#N — fetch that issue and work on it.
-
If ${var} is external:<owner/repo> — clone that repo, skip to step B3.
-
If ${var} is external (no arg) — find a repo to improve:
- Read
memory/topics/repos.md for the full repo catalog with descriptions, stack, and opportunities.
- If it doesn't exist, fall back to reading
memory/watched-repos.md for the OWNER, then:
gh repo list ${OWNER} --limit 30 --json name,pushedAt,description,primaryLanguage \
--jq 'sort_by(.pushedAt) | reverse | .[:15]'
- Also check
memory/watched-repos.md if it exists.
Pick a repo that:
- Is listed as active or maintained in the catalog
- Has identified opportunities (TODOs, missing tests, open issues, feature gaps)
- Aligns with topics tracked in MEMORY.md
- Hasn't been enhanced by this skill recently (check last 7 days of logs)
B3. Clone and understand the repo
REPO="owner/repo"
WORK_DIR="/tmp/external-work"
rm -rf "$WORK_DIR"
gh repo clone "$REPO" "$WORK_DIR" -- --depth 50
cd "$WORK_DIR"
Before doing anything, deeply understand the codebase:
- Read README.md, CLAUDE.md, CONTRIBUTING.md if they exist
- Check the project structure, language, framework
- Read
package.json / Cargo.toml / pyproject.toml / go.mod etc.
- Read recent commits:
git log --oneline -20