# Gh Ghent

> Structured GitHub PR state for AI coding agents. Use for PR readiness, CI failure diagnosis, unresolved review threads, bounded review waiting, bot-review triage, and safe stale-review dismissal. Trigger immediately after PR creation and again after every review-fix push. Default path is `gh ghent status --await-review --logs --format json --no-tui`; only drop to narrower commands when status already tells you what to do next.

- Skill: `indrasvat/gh-ghent` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 6 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add indrasvat/gh-ghent`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/indrasvat/gh-ghent/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: indrasvat (https://skillmd.com/u/indrasvat)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/indrasvat/gh-ghent

---


# gh-ghent — Agentic PR Monitoring

**Prerequisite:** `gh extension install indrasvat/gh-ghent`

**All commands require:** `--pr <N> --format json --no-tui`

Get PR number: `gh pr view --json number -q .number`

## First Command After PR Creation Or Review-Fix Push

```bash
PR=$(gh pr view --json number -q .number)
gh ghent status --pr $PR --await-review --solo --logs --format json --no-tui
```

This is the **single blessed command** for PR review handling.
Use it:

- immediately after PR creation
- again after **every push** that addresses review or CI feedback

Use narrower commands (`comments`, `checks`, `resolve`, `reply`, `dismiss`) only when:

- the user asked for a narrow operation directly
- `status` already identified the next specific action
- `status` failed and you need targeted fallback inspection

It waits for CI, performs bounded review monitoring, and returns everything in one response:

- threads with `is_bot`
- checks with log excerpts
- reviews
- `review_monitor`
- `is_merge_ready`

**Drop `--solo`** for org repos with required review policies.
**Always include `--await-review`** when review comments may still arrive.
`--await-review` understands Codex-owned PR body review signals when Codex is enabled on the
repo: eyes means the reviewer is still active, thumbs up can end the wait early, and the final
status fetch still checks all threads, reviews, stale blockers, and CI. Without Codex, it keeps
the conservative thread/review polling behavior.
**Do not switch to bare `--watch`** after the first cycle if review comments still matter — `--watch` is CI-only and can miss follow-up bot comments.
**Drop `--logs`** only on narrow re-checks where CI failure detail is definitely not needed.

## Response Shape (status)

```json
{
  "is_merge_ready": false,
  "comments": {
    "threads": [{"id": "PRRT_...", "path": "foo.go", "line": 42,
                  "comments": [{"author": "coderabbitai", "is_bot": true, "body": "..."}]}],
    "unresolved_count": 2,
    "bot_thread_count": 2,
    "unanswered_count": 1
  },
  "checks": {
    "overall_status": "pass",
    "checks": [{"name": "CI", "conclusion": "success", "annotations": [], "log_excerpt": ""}]
  },
  "reviews": [{"author": "alice", "state": "APPROVED"}],
  "stale_reviews": [{"id": "PRR_...", "author": "coderabbitai", "state": "CHANGES_REQUESTED", "commit_id": "abc123", "is_stale": true}],
  "review_monitor": {
    "phase": "settled",
    "confidence": "high",
    "activity_count": 3,
    "wait_seconds": 154
  }
}
```

## Decision Order

Act on the **first matching** condition — fix it, then re-run status:

1. **Exit code 2** → auth / rate limit / not-found error. Fix credentials.
2. **`checks.overall_status == "failure"`** → Fix CI. Log excerpts and annotations are inline.
3. **`checks.overall_status == "pending"`** → Re-run the **same** `status --await-review` command. Do not switch to `--watch` while review comments may still appear.
4. **`comments.unanswered_count > 0`** → Bot sweep (see below).
5. **`stale_reviews | length > 0`** → Dismiss only those stale blockers: `gh ghent dismiss --pr <N> --message "superseded by current HEAD"` (optionally `--bots-only`).
6. **`comments.unresolved_count > 0`** → `gh ghent resolve --pr <N> --all`
7. **`review_monitor.phase == "timeout"` or `review_monitor.confidence == "low"`** → Treat result as provisional. If you just pushed fixes, re-run the **same** `status --await-review` command after the push settles.
8. **`is_merge_ready == true` and `review_monitor.confidence != "low"`** → Merge / stop.

## Anti-Footgun Rule

When review comments may still arrive:

- use `gh ghent status --await-review ...`
- after every fix push, use `gh ghent status --await-review ...` again
- do **not** start with `comments` or `checks` if a full PR-state decision is needed
- do **not** switch to `gh ghent checks --watch`
- do **not** switch to `gh ghent status --watch`

Bare `--watch` is only for CI-only waiting when review state is irrelevant.

## Bot Sweep (when `unanswered_count > 0`)

The `status` result already contains the full threads. Do not make a second
`comments` call unless you need a narrower filtered view.

1. Read threads from `comments.threads[]` where `comments[0].is_bot == true`
2. Fix code → push
3. Per thread: `gh ghent reply --pr <N> --thread PRRT_... --body "Fixed" --resolve`
4. Re-check with the **same** command: `gh ghent status --pr <N> --await-review --solo --logs --format json --no-tui`
5. Repeat until `is_merge_ready == true` and `review_monitor.confidence != "low"`

## Solo Mode

Add `--solo` only when the repo owner is the authenticated user on a personal (non-org) repo.
Never auto-add for org repos. If merge readiness is false only because approval is missing
on a personal repo, retry with `--solo`.

## Commands

| Command | Purpose | Key Flags |
|---------|---------|-----------|
| `status` | Full PR status + merge readiness | `--logs`, `--watch`, `--await-review`, `--quiet`, `--compact`, `--solo` |
| `comments` | Unresolved review threads | `--bots-only`, `--humans-only`, `--unanswered`, `--group-by` |
| `checks` | CI status + annotations | `--logs`, `--watch` |
| `resolve` | Resolve/unresolve threads | `--thread`, `--all`, `--file`, `--author`, `--unresolve`, `--dry-run` |
| `reply` | Reply to a thread | `--thread`, `--body`, `--body-file`, `--resolve` |
| `dismiss` | Dismiss stale blocking reviews only | `--review`, `--author`, `--bots-only`, `--message`, `--dry-run` |

Default for agents: start with `status`, not `comments` or `checks`.

## Exit Codes

| Command | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---------|---|---|---|---|---|
| `status` | merge-ready | not ready | error | — | — |
| `comments` | no unresolved | has unresolved | error | — | — |
| `checks` | all pass | failure | error | pending | — |
| `resolve` | all success | partial failure | total failure | — | — |
| `reply` | posted | thread not found | error | — | reply ok, resolve failed |
| `dismiss` | all dismissed / no-op / dry-run success | partial dismissal failure | total dismissal failure | — | — |

Exit 2 = auth failure, rate limit, or resource not found.

## Other Patterns

```bash
# Merge-readiness gate (silent exit 0 if ready, exit 1 + full output if not)
gh ghent status --pr <N> --quiet --solo

# Drill-down: bot threads only
gh ghent comments --pr <N> --bots-only --unanswered --format json --no-tui

# Group by file for batch fixing
gh ghent comments --pr <N> --group-by file --format json --no-tui

# Compact status (minimal tokens for polling loops)
gh ghent status --pr <N> --compact --format json --no-tui

# Clear stale blocking bot reviews after a superseding push
gh ghent dismiss --pr <N> --bots-only --message "superseded by current HEAD" --format json --no-tui
```

## References

- [Command Reference](references/command-reference.md) — all flags, full output schemas
- [Agent Workflows](references/agent-workflows.md) — step-by-step patterns
- [Exit Codes](references/exit-codes.md) — branching logic
- [Review Cycle Example](examples/review-cycle.md) — read, fix, resolve, reply walkthrough
- [CI Monitor Example](examples/ci-monitor.md) — watch CI, extract errors, fix, re-check