create-pr

name	create-pr
description	Create pull requests following Sentry conventions. Use when opening PRs, writing PR descriptions, or preparing changes for review. Follows Sentry's code review guidelines.
risk	safe
source	https://github.com/getsentry/skills/tree/main/plugins/sentry-skills/skills/create-pr
date_added	2026-02-27

Create Pull Request

Create pull requests following Sentry's engineering practices.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Opening pull requests
• Writing PR descriptions
• Preparing changes for review
• Following Sentry's code review guidelines
• Creating PRs that follow best practices

Requires: GitHub CLI (gh) authenticated and available.

Prerequisites

Before creating a PR, ensure all changes are committed. If there are uncommitted changes, run the sentry-skills:commit skill first to commit them properly.

# Check for uncommitted changes
git status --porcelain

If the output shows any uncommitted changes (modified, added, or untracked files that should be included), invoke the sentry-skills:commit skill before proceeding.

Process

Step 1: Verify Branch State

# Detect the default branch
BASE=$(gh repo view --json defaultBranchRef --jq '.defaultBranchRef.name')

# Check current branch and status
git status
git log $BASE..HEAD --oneline

Ensure:

• All changes are committed
• Branch is up to date with remote
• Changes are rebased on the base branch if needed

Step 2: Analyze Changes

Review what will be included in the PR:

# See all commits that will be in the PR
git log $BASE..HEAD

# See the full diff
git diff $BASE...HEAD

Understand the scope and purpose of all changes before writing the description.

Step 3: Write the PR Description

Use this structure for PR descriptions (ignoring any repository PR templates):

<brief description of what the PR does>

<why these changes are being made - the motivation>

<alternative approaches considered, if any>

<any additional context reviewers need>

Do NOT include:

• "Test plan" sections
• Checkbox lists of testing steps
• Redundant summaries of the diff

Do include:

• Clear explanation of what and why
• Links to relevant issues or tickets
• Context that isn't obvious from the code
• Notes on specific areas that need careful review

Step 4: Create the PR

gh pr create --draft --title "<type>(<scope>): <description>" --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
<description body here>
EOF
)"

Title format follows commit conventions:

• feat(scope): Add new feature
• fix(scope): Fix the bug
• ref: Refactor something

PR Description Examples

Feature PR

Add Slack thread replies for alert notifications

When an alert is updated or resolved, we now post a reply to the original
Slack thread instead of creating a new message. This keeps related
notifications grouped and reduces channel noise.

Previously considered posting edits to the original message, but threading
better preserves the timeline of events and works when the original message
is older than Slack's edit window.

Refs SENTRY-1234

Bug Fix PR

Handle null response in user API endpoint

The user endpoint could return null for soft-deleted accounts, causing
dashboard crashes when accessing user properties. This adds a null check
and returns a proper 404 response.

Found while investigating SENTRY-5678.

Fixes SENTRY-5678

Refactor PR

Extract validation logic to shared module

Moves duplicate validation code from the alerts, issues, and projects
endpoints into a shared validator class. No behavior change.

This prepares for adding new validation rules in SENTRY-9999 without
duplicating logic across endpoints.

Issue References

Reference issues in the PR body:

Syntax	Effect
Fixes #1234	Closes GitHub issue on merge
Fixes SENTRY-1234	Closes Sentry issue
Refs GH-1234	Links without closing
Refs LINEAR-ABC-123	Links Linear issue

Guidelines

• One PR per feature/fix - Don't bundle unrelated changes
• Keep PRs reviewable - Smaller PRs get faster, better reviews
• Explain the why - Code shows what; description explains why
• Mark WIP early - Use draft PRs for early feedback

Editing Existing PRs

If you need to update a PR after creation, use gh api instead of gh pr edit:

# Update PR description
gh api -X PATCH repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/PR_NUMBER -f body="$(cat <<'EOF'
Updated description here
EOF
)"

# Update PR title
gh api -X PATCH repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/PR_NUMBER -f title='new: Title here'

# Update both
gh api -X PATCH repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/PR_NUMBER \
  -f title='new: Title' \
  -f body='New description'

Note: gh pr edit is currently broken due to GitHub's Projects (classic) deprecation.

References

• Sentry Code Review Guidelines
• Sentry Commit Messages

Pre-flight Checks

Before creating a PR, check for uncommitted changes:

1. Run git status to check for uncommitted changes (staged, unstaged, or untracked files)
2. If uncommitted changes exist, use the Skill tool to run the git:commit command first:

   Skill: git:commit
   

3. This ensures all your work is committed before creating the PR

Creating a New Pull Request

1. First, prepare your PR description following the template in @.github/pull_request_template.md

2. Use the gh pr create --draft command to create a new pull request:

   # Basic command structure
   gh pr create --draft --title "✨(scope): Your descriptive title" --body "Your PR description" --base main 
   

   For more complex PR descriptions with proper formatting, use the --body-file option with the exact PR template structure:

   # Create PR with proper template structure
   gh pr create --draft --title "✨(scope): Your descriptive title" --body-file .github/pull_request_template.md --base main
   

Best Practices

1. Language: Always use English for PR titles and descriptions

2. PR Title Format: Use conventional commit format with emojis

   • Always include an appropriate emoji at the beginning of the title
   • Use the actual emoji character (not the code representation like :sparkles:)
   • Examples:
     • ✨(supabase): Add staging remote configuration
     • 🐛(auth): Fix login redirect issue
     • 📝(readme): Update installation instructions

3. Description Template: Always use our PR template structure from @.github/pull_request_template.md:

4. Template Accuracy: Ensure your PR description precisely follows the template structure:

   • Don't modify or rename the PR-Agent sections (pr_agent:summary and pr_agent:walkthrough)
   • Keep all section headers exactly as they appear in the template
   • Don't add custom sections that aren't in the template

5. Draft PRs: Start as draft when the work is in progress

   • Use --draft flag in the command
   • Convert to ready for review when complete using gh pr ready

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Using Non-English Text: All PR content must be in English
2. Incorrect Section Headers: Always use the exact section headers from the template
3. Adding Custom Sections: Stick to the sections defined in the template
4. Using Outdated Templates: Always refer to the current @.github/pull_request_template.md file

Missing Sections

Always include all template sections, even if some are marked as "N/A" or "None"

Additional GitHub CLI PR Commands

Here are some additional useful GitHub CLI commands for managing PRs:

# List your open pull requests
gh pr list --author "@me"

# Check PR status
gh pr status

# View a specific PR
gh pr view <PR-NUMBER>

# Check out a PR branch locally
gh pr checkout <PR-NUMBER>

# Convert a draft PR to ready for review
gh pr ready <PR-NUMBER>

# Add reviewers to a PR
gh pr edit <PR-NUMBER> --add-reviewer username1,username2

# Merge a PR
gh pr merge <PR-NUMBER> --squash

Using Templates for PR Creation

To simplify PR creation with consistent descriptions, you can create a template file:

1. Create a file named pr-template.md with your PR template
2. Use it when creating PRs:

gh pr create --draft --title "feat(scope): Your title" --body-file pr-template.md --base main

Related Documentation

• PR Template
• Conventional Commits
• GitHub CLI documentation