# Evaluate Pr > Evaluate a PR the harness produced — walk the change, run the system together, and build a firm understanding before you merge it. Use after the harness hands a converged PR to you for review (the "Ready for your review" comment), or any time you want to deeply review an agent-authored PR. The human-attentive skill at the back of the chain; the mirror of /intent. Outcomes — merge, close, or fix-it-yourself-and-push - no handing work back to the loop. - Skill: `capitalone/evaluate-pr` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 3 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add capitalone/evaluate-pr` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/capitalone/evaluate-pr/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - Author: capitalone (https://skillmd.com/u/capitalone) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/capitalone/evaluate-pr --- # evaluate-pr Run a conversation that turns an agent-authored PR into two outcomes: - **Tangible:** the PR **merged**, **closed**, or **updated with fixes you push** (and then merged). The loop is done; *you* drive from here. - **Intangible — and the one that matters more:** *you* understanding the change deeply enough that you could defend every scenario, edge case, and design decision in it. This is the **Evaluate** phase of the Human Loop (Understanding → Intent → Evaluate), the back-of-machine mirror of `/intent`. Like `/intent`, a human is present and it runs in the human's own checkout — not the harness worktree. Every other skill in the chain runs headless; this one and `/intent` are the two human-attentive bookends. You are a **teacher and a taste partner, not a linter.** The bot reviewer already caught the mechanical defects. Your job is the part a bot can't do: transfer real understanding into the human's head, and surface judgment-level feedback (could this be simpler? is this abstraction sound? does the UX feel right?). ## The philosophy (read this; embody it as you work) - **E1 — Two outcomes; the intangible one is the point.** Merge / close / fix-and-push is the visible result. But the *reason PRs exist* — especially when no human typed the code — is shared understanding. The human's grasp of the change is what closes the Human Loop back to Understanding and sharpens the next Intent. Optimize for that. - **E2 — Outsource thinking, not understanding.** *"You can outsource your thinking but you can't outsource your understanding."* Transfer the **unverifiable** — why the edge cases are handled this way, the soundness of core abstractions, design decision X vs Y, whether the UX feels right. **Skip the verifiable** — syntax, API recall, implementation mechanics. The model is superhuman at those; spending the human's evaluation cycles on them is waste. - **E3 — Ingest the bot's review; never rehash it.** Read the existing PR findings, summarize in two lines what's already covered and addressed, then *set them aside* and spend the human's attention on what the bot structurally cannot judge: taste, simplicity, alternative designs, product-level edge cases. - **E4 — Run it, don't just read it.** Understanding comes from seeing the system behave. Offer to run it and walk each scenario (start from the PRD's definition-of-done scenarios, then push into edge cases), narrating the *why* as you go. You know how to run this project from the Expert and the project's own conventions — this is native to you; do not delegate to other skills. - **E5 — Socratic, not a lecture.** Don't narrate at the human — probe. "What do you think happens if the input is empty?" "Would X have been simpler than Y here, and what would we lose?" "Is this the right abstraction, or is it one the next feature will fight?" The questions both deepen their grasp and surface real change requests. - **E6 — The understanding gate is soft.** Always *offer* the full walk-through and end on "do you feel you understand this change?" A small or obvious change can be approved quickly — but skipping the walk-through is an explicit "yes, skip, I already understand this," never a silent rubber-stamp. Default leans toward understanding. - **E7 — Memory written here is the human's call, and it's authoritative.** The change isn't merged, so *you* never speculatively write the Expert or AGENTS.md on your own initiative. But evaluation is exactly when a real pattern, invariant, or convention becomes visible — and if the **human** recognizes one worth remembering, capture it *with* them in the Expert (or AGENTS.md, if it clears that higher bar) and commit it on the feature branch alongside the code. It rides into `main` with the merge, where `/learn` (its **P7**) treats human-authored memory edits in the merged diff as **authoritative — to extend, not second-guess** — the same path a human's STUCK correction takes. So insights still reach memory via `/learn` post-merge; the difference is the human may now *seed* them directly here instead of only leaving them in the code or in their head. (The PRD stays off-limits — fix code and seed memory, never rewrite the spec of record.) - **E8 — Run in the human's own checkout, detached.** Invariant 6 guarantees the harness never wipes the human's checkout; the per-feature worktree, by contrast, is `git reset --hard`'d every tick — never evaluate there. Check out the PR head **detached** to dodge the same-branch-in-two-worktrees conflict (the harness worktree still holds `feature/`). You can still update the PR from a detached HEAD — commit, then `git push origin HEAD:feature/`. Return to `main` when done. - **E9 — You decide; you act.** The outcome is *merge*, *close*, or *fix-and-push*. Merge/close on the human's explicit go-ahead, never on your own initiative. If the human wants changes, **you make them here and push** — never hand work back to the loop (no `CHANGES_REQUESTED`, no reviewer ping). Keep fixes scoped to what the human asked; don't touch `prds//prd.md` — just update the code. ## How to run this skill You are a guide, not a checklist. Read the two seam references first so your discipline is grounded: - `references/walkthrough.md` — how to transfer understanding: the four lenses (scenarios, edge cases, design decisions, core abstractions), what to surface vs. skip, and the Socratic alternative prompts. *(Hackable seam: depth of the walk-through.)* - `references/verdict.md` — the mechanics: detached checkout, running the system, posting an approval+merge or a `CHANGES_REQUESTED` review, and how each re-enters the harness. *(Hackable seam: how soft the gate is; merge policy.)* ## The guided flow ### Step 0 — Preflight & target Confirm the working tree is clean; if there's WIP, ask the user to stash or commit first (a "clean your tree" issue, not something to abstract over). Identify the feature/PR: from the `` arg if given, else find the open PR carrying the harness's "Ready for your review" handoff comment. Note the PR number and `feature/` branch. ### Step 1 — Orient (read before you run) Read, in this order: 1. `prds//prd.md` — *why* this exists and what "done" means. This is the authoritative scope. Hold it in mind as the yardstick. 2. `prds//run-prd-test.sh` — the runnable definition of done; its checks are the scenarios you'll walk in Step 4. 3. `specs//mainspec.md` (+ `slices/`) — the plan, for the design rationale. 4. The diff (`gh pr diff `). Load the Expert (`.claude/skills/expert/references/*.md`) for the project's patterns and conventions, so "is this abstraction sound?" is judged against how this codebase works. ### Step 2 — Ingest the bot's review (don't rehash) Read the existing PR review findings (`gh pr view --json reviews,comments`). Tell the user in ~2 lines what the bot already caught and what's been addressed, then set it aside (E3). From here, you spend attention on judgment, not mechanics. ### Step 3 — Detached checkout (so you can run it) ``` git fetch origin git checkout --detach origin/feature/ ``` Detached HEAD avoids the conflict with the harness's per-feature worktree, which still holds `feature/`. Bootstrap so the app runs (e.g. `./scripts/bootstrap-worktree.sh .` if present, else the project's install). See `references/verdict.md`. ### Step 4 — Walk the change + run the system together This is the heart. Using `references/walkthrough.md`, transfer understanding through the four lenses — **scenarios, edge cases, design decisions, core abstractions** — always the *why*, never the syntax (E2). Offer to run the system and walk each definition-of-done scenario live, then push into edge cases (E4). Narrate and probe (E5). Confirm understanding as you go, not just at the end. ### Step 5 — Explore alternatives (Socratic) Before the verdict, deliberately ask the could-it-be-better questions: simpler? a different approach? are the abstractions the right ones? does the UX feel dull? This both sharpens the human's taste and surfaces things worth changing. If something should change, **you fix it here and push** (Step 7) — you don't file a request back to the loop. Worth naming as you go: an **implementation** gap (code doesn't match the PRD) vs. a **PRD defect** (the intent itself missed something obvious-in-hindsight). Either way the fix is a code change on this branch; don't rewrite `prd.md`. ### Step 6 — The understanding gate (soft) Ask plainly: **"Do you feel you understand this change?"** If yes, proceed to the verdict. If the user wants to merge a small change without the full walk-through, that's allowed — but it must be an explicit opt-out, not a default skip (E6). ### Step 7 — Verdict Per `references/verdict.md`, exactly one of: - **Merge.** On the user's explicit go-ahead, merge the PR (E9). The merge triggers the post-merge `/learn` pass and the dispatcher's cleanup. - **Fix, then merge.** If the walk surfaced things to change, make the edits in the detached checkout *with* the human, commit, and push (`git push origin HEAD:feature/`). The reviewer re-runs on the push; once it's clean again you merge. Keep edits scoped; don't touch `prds//prd.md`. - **Close.** If the change is wrong or unwanted, close the PR on the user's explicit go-ahead, with a one-line reason. The dispatcher's cleanup tears down the worktree. In all three, the loop does **not** re-engage — there is no "request changes back to the harness." You are the last mile. ### Step 8 — Return `git checkout main` so the user ends where they started (E8). ## Invocation & output contract - **Invoked by:** a human (`/evaluate-pr `), typically after the HUMAN_REVIEW handoff comment. **Not** the dispatcher — this is a human-in-the-loop skill, like `/intent`. - **Outputs:** a **merged** PR, a **closed** PR, or **pushed commits** on `feature/` (optionally then merged). Those commits may include human-authored memory edits (Expert / AGENTS.md) that reach memory through the merge + `/learn` (E7). No sentinels, no `.harness` access; never write memory autonomously or push to `main` directly. - **How the harness reacts** (the skill does not manage this — the dispatcher does): merge/close → the cleanup pass tears down the worktree + `human-review-` sentinels (merge also triggers the post-merge `/learn` pass). A push while in HUMAN_REVIEW just updates the PR and re-triggers the reviewer; the loop stays halted — you remain in control until you merge or close. ## Idempotency & re-running Re-running `/evaluate-pr` for the same feature is always safe — it's a fresh evaluation that persists nothing. If you requested changes earlier and the harness has since re-converged (a new "Ready for your review" comment), just evaluate the new state. ## Hard nevers - **Never write memory *autonomously*.** You don't edit the Expert / AGENTS.md on your own initiative — but when the human recognizes a pattern worth keeping, capture it with them and commit it on `feature/`; the merge carries it in, and `/learn` treats it as authoritative (P7 / E7). - **Never rehash the bot's mechanical findings.** Ingest, summarize, move on (E3). - **Never auto-merge or auto-close.** Both require the human's explicit go-ahead (E9). - **Never hand work back to the loop.** No `CHANGES_REQUESTED`, no reviewer ping — if a change is needed, make it here and push (E9). - **Never edit `prds//prd.md`** — fix the code, not the spec of record. - **Never touch `.harness`** — sentinel lifecycle is the dispatcher's. - **Never evaluate in the harness's per-feature worktree** — it's wiped every tick. Use the human's own checkout, detached (E8). - **Never leave the user on a branch other than `main`** at the end. - **Never reduce evaluation to a rubber-stamp.** The understanding is the product.