watch-mr

name	watch-mr
description	Babysit one open GitLab MR: unresolved threads, failing CI, conflicts, approvals, draft status. Prefer GitLab MCP. Never merge or approve without explicit ask; commit/push/undraft only when ship-authorized. Use for tier-3 MR maintenance laps.
disable-model-invocation	true

Watch MR

Babysit one open GitLab merge request. Gather signals, classify, propose (or fix only under the action rules below), report, stop. Not a merge bot.

Loop contract: .agents/context/development-loop.md.

When to use

Trigger	Examples
Launch Invoke	Brief says Invoke: watch-mr
Operator names an MR	"babysit !42", paste MR URL / IID
Unattended tier-3	find-work ranked a maintain-eligible open MR first

Skip when:

• GitLab MCP (user-gitlab) unavailable / unauthenticated
• MR is merged or closed
• Hot-MR lock is foreign and still fresh (see locks)
• Tiers 1–2 work is still eligible (debt-first: clear prod/correctness first)

CRITICAL — never ship the MR

This skill maintains; it does not land the MR unless the operator named that exact action.

Action	Allowed?
Read MR / pipelines / discussions / approvals	Yes
Reply on a thread	Only if operator asked
Resolve a thread	Only if operator asked
Retry / play a failed job	Only if operator asked
Approve	Never unless operator asked for that approve
Merge	Never unless operator asked for that specific act
Undraft / mark ready / git push / git commit	Ship-authorized for this lap only — soft ship language or explicit commit/push (constraints.md#commit-and-ship); not on a bare "ready the MR" / "undraft" ask alone
Cluster mutate	Never without explicit ask

Default posture: read + report. Mutating GitLab or git only when the operator (or a Launch brief that explicitly authorizes that action) said so.

Tools

Prefer user-gitlab MCP over glab / raw API.

1. Discover tool schemas (GetMcpTools / server inspect) before any mutate.
2. Read-only first: resolve MR, list discussions, pipeline status, approvals.
3. If MCP is missing or auth fails → report skip and stop. Do not invent a CLI deep-dive to fake the skill.

CLI is a last resort for reads when MCP is down and the operator still wants a signal dump — still no merge/approve/push without ask.

Workflow

- [ ] 1. Resolve MR (IID / URL / Launch brief source)
- [ ] 2. Lock check — read `.scratch/watch-mr/locks/!{iid}.lock`
- [ ] 3. Acquire lock (or skip if foreign+fresh; stale takeover OK)
- [ ] 4. Get signals (threads, CI, conflicts, approvals, draft)
- [ ] 5. Classify maintain-eligible vs ready/drop
- [ ] 6. Propose fixes; act only under CRITICAL rules
- [ ] 7. Emit pasteable report
- [ ] 8. Release lock (delete on clean stop)
- [ ] 9. Stop — one MR per lap; do not chain the next IID

Maintain-eligible signals

Signal	Maintain-eligible when	Notes
Unresolved threads	Open discussions need reply/resolve	Do not resolve unless asked
Failing CI	Pipeline/jobs red on the MR	Retry only if asked
Conflicts	Cannot merge cleanly	Report; do not force-push
Approvals	Missing required approvals	Never self-approve unless asked
Draft	Still marked draft / WIP	Undraft only if asked
Ready	No threads, green CI, no conflicts, approvals OK, not draft	Drop tier-3 — not maintain work

If ready → say so and stop. find-work should not keep re-queuing it as tier-3.

Hot-MR locks

Coordination file (local only, not SoT):

Path: .scratch/watch-mr/locks/!{iid}.lock

mr_iid: 42
url: https://gitlab.example/group/project/-/merge_requests/42
session_id: <agent/session id>
held_at: 2026-07-22T04:00:00Z
expires_at: 2026-07-22T06:00:00Z
intent: watch-mr

Situation	Action
No lock / expired (expires_at)	Acquire (write lock, TTL 2h)
Same session_id	Refresh / continue
Foreign + fresh	Skip this MR; report lock holder
Foreign + stale	Takeover OK; overwrite lock
Clean stop	Delete the lock file

Convention doc: .scratch/watch-mr/README.md (gitignored; not a link target).

Output contract

Pasteable block; keep chat the index.

## watch-mr — !{iid}

**URL:** <mr url>
**State:** open | merged | closed | skip (<why>)
**Lock:** acquired | skipped foreign | takeover stale | released

**Signals:**
- Threads: <n unresolved> — …
- CI: green | red (<job>) | running | unknown
- Conflicts: yes | no
- Approvals: <have>/<need> | n/a
- Draft: yes | no

**Classification:** maintain-eligible | ready (drop tier-3) | skip

**Actions taken:** <none | list; must match CRITICAL>
**Proposed next:** <operator-facing; no silent merge>

**Stop:** one MR; lock released | held (<why>)

How find-work consumes this

• find-work lists maintain-eligible MRs (tier 3) via a shallow scout.
• This skill executes the lap for one named MR.
• find-work must not deep-dive threads/CI/approvals the way this skill does — scout = eligibility signal; watch-mr = maintenance pass.

Homelab constraints

• Merge / approve: never unless the operator explicitly asked for that specific action.
• git commit / push / undraft / mark ready: ship-authorized for this lap only — soft ship language or explicit commit/push; see constraints.md#commit-and-ship.
• Ask before cluster mutate — this skill does not apply or reconcile.
• Protected paths: do not expand MR fixes into unconfirmed protected edits.
• Advice ≠ implement: consultative language → options only until asked.
• Stop-loss: 3 identical failures of the same approach → surface and stop.
• Secrets stay out of reports and lock files.

Related

• .agents/context/development-loop.md
• find-work
• draft-commit
• run-loop (when present — lap orchestrator)
• .agents/context/tools.md