cherry-pick-pr

name	cherry-pick-pr
description	Cherry-pick a merged pull request onto a release branch with Prow-style branch naming, manual conflict resolution, targeted validation, and GitHub PR creation. Use when the user wants to backport a PR, cherry-pick a commit to a release branch, or mentions cherry-pick, backport, or porting a fix to an older release.

Cherry-Pick Pull Requests

When To Use

Use this skill when you need to cherry-pick a merged PR onto a release branch and want the agent to handle the git and GitHub workflow while keeping conflict resolution and test decisions in the loop.

Workflow

Replace <SKILL_DIR> with the path to this skill directory.

1. Run a dry-run first:

python3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/cherry_pick_pr.py pick \
  --pr <number> \
  --target-branch <release-X.Y> \
  --dry-run

2. Start the cherry-pick from a clean working tree:

python3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/cherry_pick_pr.py pick \
  --pr <number> \
  --target-branch <release-X.Y>

3. If pick exits with code 3, inspect the conflicted files from the output, read the source diff with gh pr diff <number>, resolve the conflicts, stage the files with git add, then continue:

python3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/cherry_pick_pr.py continue

4. Run targeted validation after a clean cherry-pick:

python3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/cherry_pick_pr.py test

5. Create the PR only after test reports success:

python3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/cherry_pick_pr.py create-pr

6. Abandon a failed or stale attempt with:

python3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/cherry_pick_pr.py abort

Notes

• The script refuses to start pick from a dirty working tree.
• The script refuses to start a new attempt while .git/cherry-pick-pr.json exists. Run abort first.
• The state file lives under .git/ intentionally so it stays untracked.
• continue runs git cherry-pick --continue non-interactively.
• test records passed, failed, or build_failed so the agent can tell the difference between test failures and target-branch compatibility issues.
• create-pr reads .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md at runtime and fails if required anchors drift.
• create-pr expects the source PR to already carry a kind/... label. If it does not, fix that first or update the source PR metadata before creating the cherry-pick PR.
• Use --chain <branch>... on pick when you want the resulting PR body to append a follow-up /cherrypick ... command for later serialized backports.