approve-pr

name	approve-pr
description	Approve a GitHub PR as a maintainer once verify-pr clears it, posting the GitHub approval or declining, with an optional hand-off to ship-pr for the merge.
argument-hint	<pr-number-or-url> [--merge] [--request-changes] [--comment] [--squash|--admin|--delete-branch]

Context

Repository: !gh repo view --json nameWithOwner -q .nameWithOwner 2>/dev/null || echo "unknown" Default branch: !git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD 2>/dev/null | sed 's@refs/remotes/origin/@@' || echo main Current branch: !git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null My login: !gh api user --jq .login 2>/dev/null || echo "unknown"

Instructions

Review a GitHub PR as a maintainer and, when it earns it, post the single GitHub approval; otherwise report and decline. Auto-post only the approval; non-approving writes need an explicit opt-in. Execute immediately without asking.

Delegate the approve-or-decline verdict to verify-pr (consume its recommendation), the unresolved-thread triage to verify-pr-comments, the review body to summarize-review, and the optional post-approval merge to ship-pr (it owns the merge gate and the merge, and validates the merge method). Own only the self-approval guard, the verdict-to-action mapping, and the gh pr review write. Invoke the others by name and act on their output; never inline or reimplement their logic.

Process

1. Parse the PR and flags. The leading positional of $ARGUMENTS is a PR number (e.g. 4621) or a full PR URL; flags follow. The default with no flag is approve-only. --merge hands the PR to ship-pr after a successful approval, forwarding any pass-through merge flags (--squash, --admin, --delete-branch) to it unvalidated; --request-changes and --comment opt into a non-approving write. Derive OWNER and REPO from the Repository probe.

2. Fetch PR state and run the self-approval guard. Read gh pr view <n> --repo <o>/<r> --json number,author,headRefOid,state,reviewDecision. If state is not OPEN, report and stop. Self-approval guard (owned): if author.login equals the My login probe, stop before any write. GitHub rejects approving your own PR (Can not approve your own pull request), so report that it needs a different maintainer, or /ship-pr <n> to drive your own change to merge while it waits for someone else's approval. Record headRefOid for the stale-head recheck in step 5.

3. Run verify-pr as the gate. Invoke /verify-pr <n> and consume its final recommendation verbatim, one of close or redirect, merge as-is, merge after small fixes, or push back. Do not re-derive correctness or necessity.

4. Triage unresolved threads. Count unresolved review threads (reviewThreads is GraphQL-only, not a gh pr view --json field):

   gh api graphql -F owner=<o> -F repo=<r> -F num=<n> -f query='query($owner:String!,$repo:String!,$num:Int!){repository(owner:$owner,name:$repo){pullRequest(number:$num){reviewThreads(first:100){nodes{isResolved}}}}}' --jq '[.data.repository.pullRequest.reviewThreads.nodes[]|select(.isResolved==false)]|length'
   

   If any are unresolved, invoke /verify-pr-comments <n>. A thread that is Fresh and valid (Confirmed or Partial) and unaddressed blocks approval; Resolved, Stale, Refuted, and Out-of-scope threads do not. Branch protection may not enforce thread resolution, so treat this as a policy gate rather than relying on the merge to block.

5. Map the verdict to an action and post. Apply the decision table below. Reach the approval only on merge as-is with no fresh blocking thread: draft the body via /summarize-review <n>, re-read headRefOid, and if it moved since step 2 abort and re-run from step 3 (a stale approval keeps gating code nobody judged). Then resolve your latest prior review:

   gh api repos/<o>/<r>/pulls/<n>/reviews --jq '[.[] | select(.user.login=="<me>")] | last | {id, state}'
   

   If it is already APPROVED, refresh the body in place rather than stacking a duplicate (gh api --method PUT repos/<o>/<r>/pulls/<n>/reviews/<id> -f body="<text>"); otherwise submit a fresh review:

   gh pr review <n> --repo <o>/<r> --approve --body-file - <<'EOF'
   <body>
   EOF
   

   After posting, read reviewDecision; if it is still REVIEW_REQUIRED, report what is outstanding (for example a code-owner review on a protected path).

6. On a decline, write only the opt-in path. When an opt-in flag authorizes a non-approving write (--request-changes for a push back, --comment for a note), post it via --body-file -. Otherwise report verify-pr's recommendation and any blocking thread, and stop without writing.

7. Optional --merge hand-off. Only when --merge was passed and the approval posted, hand the PR number and any pass-through flags to /ship-pr <n> and stop. Never merge directly.

Decision table

Condition (fresh verify-pr verdict + thread state)	Action
PR authored by the My login probe	stop before any write; self-approval is platform-blocked; report it needs a different maintainer
merge as-is, no fresh blocking thread	post the approval (step 5)
merge as-is, but a Fresh valid (Confirmed/Partial) unaddressed thread	do not approve; report the blocking thread
merge after small fixes	do not approve; report the remaining blocking items; --comment only on opt-in
push back	do not approve; report verify-pr's rationale verbatim; --request-changes only on explicit opt-in
close or redirect	do not approve; report the close recommendation verbatim; never execute the close

Rules

• The only state-changing gh pr review this skill posts without an explicit opt-in is the approval. --request-changes and --comment require an opt-in; a close or redirect recommendation is reported, never executed.
• Pass every review body via --body-file - with a quoted heredoc (<<'EOF'), never -b/--body "..."; the summarize-review body carries backticks and code that string interpolation mangles.
• PUT /pulls/<n>/reviews/<id> edits the body text only, never the review state; it cannot upgrade a prior COMMENTED, CHANGES_REQUESTED, or DISMISSED review to APPROVED. Submit a fresh --approve to change state.
• Approval and merge are independent gates: post the approval regardless of check state; the merge stays gated by ship-pr.