respond-to-comment

name	respond-to-comment
description	Triage and respond to comments on a PR. Fix if actionable, reply either way. Load repo-setup first.
license	Apache-2.0
metadata	{"audience":"autonomous-agents"}

Respond to Comment

Triage a comment on a PR the bot is involved in. Load repo-setup first.

Self-loop guard

If the comment author equals your identity ($ME — see agent identity setup), stop: SKIPPED: own comment.

Triage

• Actionable: real bug, missing test, valid concern → fix it
• Not actionable: style preference, out of scope, already handled → reply with reason
• Approval thumbs-up (short body, no code refs): don't reply, stop

Workflow

1. Check PR authorship — only push to your own PR's branch.
2. If actionable on your own PR: implement the fix, load deslop, commit, push, then reply on the thread with the commit SHA and resolve the thread (see below). After all fixes, re-request review.
3. If actionable on someone else's PR: reply with a suggestion block or description. Don't push.
4. If not actionable: reply on the thread with the reason and leave it open for a human to resolve.

Replying to comments

There are two kinds of comments — reply to each in its own channel. Never use gh pr comment to answer an inline review comment; that posts a top-level PR comment that isn't attached to the thread.

Inline review comment (pull_request_review_comment, or a comment inside a pull_request_review) — reply on the thread via the replies endpoint:

gh api -X POST \
  "repos/<OWNER>/<REPO>/pulls/<N>/comments/<COMMENT_ID>/replies" \
  -f body="Fixed in <SHA>."

<COMMENT_ID> is the review comment's id from the event payload (use the top-level comment of the thread — the one with in_reply_to_id unset).

Top-level PR comment (issue_comment on a PR, not tied to a line) — reply with:

gh pr comment <N> --body "..."

Resolving a thread (only after you fixed it)

Resolve a review thread only when you pushed a code change that addresses it. Leave won't-fix / not-actionable threads open with an explanatory reply.

1. Find the thread node id for the comment you addressed:

   THREAD_ID=$(gh api graphql -f query='
     query($owner: String!, $repo: String!, $pr: Int!) {
       repository(owner: $owner, name: $repo) {
         pullRequest(number: $pr) {
           reviewThreads(first: 100) {
             nodes { id isResolved comments(first: 1) { nodes { databaseId } } }
           }
         }
       }
     }' -f owner=<OWNER> -f repo=<REPO> -F pr=<N> \
     --jq '.data.repository.pullRequest.reviewThreads.nodes[]
            | select(.comments.nodes[0].databaseId == <COMMENT_ID>) | .id')
   

2. Resolve it:

   gh api graphql -f query='
     mutation($threadId: ID!) {
       resolveReviewThread(input: { threadId: $threadId }) {
         thread { isResolved }
       }
     }' -f threadId="$THREAD_ID"
   

Re-requesting review

After pushing fixes for a reviewer's feedback, re-request their review so they see the PR is ready again:

gh api -X POST "repos/<OWNER>/<REPO>/pulls/<N>/requested_reviewers" \
  -f "reviewers[]=<REVIEWER_LOGIN>"

Keep replies concise and natural — write like a teammate, not a support bot. No filler phrases, no emoji unless the thread uses them.

Don't push to others' branches. Don't force-push. Don't merge.