merge-dependabot-prs

name	merge-dependabot-prs
description	Merge Dependabot PRs intelligently: auto-detect the target repo, merge all green PRs, fix trivial breaking changes, and report non-trivial blockers in a summary table. Triggers on: "merge dependabot PRs", "clean up dependabot", "handle dependabot backlog".

Merge Dependabot PRs

Automate the Dependabot PR backlog: merge everything that's green, fix trivial failures, and surface a clear report of what needs human attention.

Step 0 — Determine Scope

Default: target the current repository.

# Detect the repo you're working in
gh repo view --json nameWithOwner -q .nameWithOwner
# or fallback:
git remote get-url origin

If the user's prompt explicitly names a different scope, use that instead:

Scope	Example prompt	Command
Single repo	"in org/repo"	gh pr list --repo org/repo ...
All repos for a user	"all my repos"	gh repo list <user> --json nameWithOwner
All repos in an org	"all repos in the Acme org"	gh repo list <org> --json nameWithOwner

⚠️ Multi-repo scope must be explicitly requested. Never expand scope beyond the current repo unless the user clearly asks for it.

See references/scope.md for edge cases and disambiguation rules.

Step 1 — List Dependabot PRs

gh pr list --repo <owner/repo> \
  --author app/dependabot \
  --json number,title,headRefName,statusCheckRollup,mergeable,baseRefName \
  --state open

Separate PRs into:

• Green: all required checks passed, mergeable
• Failing / pending: one or more checks failed or still running
• Blocked: merge conflicts or branch protection issues

Step 2 — Merge Green PRs

For each green PR, merge in order (oldest first to reduce rebase churn):

gh pr merge <number> --repo <owner/repo> --merge

If the merge is blocked by branch protection (e.g. requires admin), use:

gh pr merge <number> --repo <owner/repo> --merge --admin

After merging, trigger Dependabot to rebase the remaining open PRs:

gh pr comment <number> --repo <owner/repo> --body "@dependabot rebase"

Wait for Dependabot to finish rebasing (poll gh pr view until headRefOid changes or the PR is no longer in a rebasing state), then re-check CI before merging the next one.

You are only done with Step 2 when all PRs that were green at the start have been merged.

See references/merging.md for retry logic, conflict handling, and rate limits.

Step 3 — Triage Failing PRs

For each PR that is not green, assess whether the failure is trivial or non-trivial.

See references/triage.md for the full decision guide. Quick summary:

Trivial (fix it, commit, wait for green, merge):

• Renamed export / import path that changed in the new version
• Simple type signature change (add a required field, narrow a type)
• Config key renamed (1–5 line change, no logic change)
• Single straightforward API replacement

Non-trivial (add to blocker table, skip):

• Requires understanding library internals
• Hacky workarounds or monkey-patching
• Multi-file refactor touching core logic
• Test failures that aren't obviously related to the dependency change
• CI failures in unrelated jobs (don't fix unrelated breakage)

Making Trivial Fixes

1. Check out the Dependabot branch locally
2. Apply the minimal fix (don't refactor unrelated code)
3. Commit with: fix: resolve <package> breaking change for vX.Y.Z
4. Push; wait for CI to go green
5. Merge using Step 2 logic

Step 4 — Final Report

At the end, output a summary:

## Dependabot PR Summary

### ✅ Merged (N PRs)
- #123 bump lodash from 4.17.20 to 4.17.21
- #124 bump @types/node from 18.0.0 to 20.0.0 (trivial fix applied)

### ❌ Blocked (N PRs)

| PR | Package | Reason | Severity |
|----|---------|--------|----------|
| #125 | webpack 4→5 | Major version, requires config migration | High |
| #126 | react 17→18 | Concurrent mode breaking changes in tests | Medium |

See references/reporting.md for table format details.