CI Watchdog

CI Watchdog

Monitor a GitHub PR's CI checks continuously, automatically fix failures, and loop until everything passes.

Quick Start

# Watch current PR until all checks pass (auto-fix enabled)
gh pr checks --watch --fail-fast

# Watch with auto-fix loop
ci-watchdog --fix --loop

Core Workflow

The CI watchdog follows this loop:

1. Monitor - Watch PR checks until they complete or fail
2. Detect - Identify which checks failed
3. Diagnose - Fetch logs and understand the failure
4. Fix - Apply appropriate fixes to the codebase
5. Commit - Stage, commit, and push fixes
6. Repeat - Go back to monitoring until all pass

Usage Patterns

Basic Watch Mode

Just monitor without fixing:

gh pr checks --watch

Auto-Fix Loop (Recommended)

Monitor and automatically fix issues:

LOOP:
  1. Run: gh pr checks --watch --fail-fast
  2. IF checks pass → DONE
  3. IF checks fail:
     a. Identify failed check names
     b. Fetch logs: gh run view <run-id> --log-failed
     c. Analyze error patterns
     d. Apply fixes to codebase
     e. Commit and push
     f. GOTO LOOP

Failure Patterns & Fixes

Type Errors / Lint Errors

Detection: typecheck, lint, check, pyright, tsgo failures

Common fixes:

• Read the specific file and line from error output
• Fix the type mismatch or syntax error
• Remove references to deleted/renamed properties
• Add missing imports or type annotations

Example flow:

# Check failed with pyright errors in file X
python -m pyright src/path/to/file.py 2>&1 | head -30
# → Shows specific line/column errors
# → Fix the issues
# → Commit and push

Test Failures

Detection: test check failures

Common fixes:

• Read the failing test file
• Update test assertions to match new behavior
• Remove obsolete test cases
• Fix test data/setup issues

Example flow:

# Tests failed
# Read the test file mentioned in error
# Update assertions or remove obsolete tests
# Commit and push

Build Failures

Detection: build, bundle, compile failures

Common fixes:

• Check for missing dependencies
• Fix import errors
• Resolve circular dependencies
• Update build configuration

Missing References

Detection: Errors about missing attributes, properties, or imports

Example:

error: Cannot access attribute "name" for class "X"
Attribute "name" is unknown

Fix:

1. Find all references to the removed/renamed attribute
2. Remove or update those references
3. Check related files (processors, handlers, tests)

Reference: GitHub CLI Commands

Check Status

# List current checks
gh pr checks

# Watch until complete (blocks)
gh pr checks --watch

# Watch and exit immediately on failure
gh pr checks --watch --fail-fast

View Logs

# View failed check logs
gh run view <run-id> --log-failed

# View specific job
gh run view --job=<job-id>

PR Operations

# View current PR
gh pr view

# Push changes
gh push

# Create PR (if needed)
gh pr create --draft --title "..." --body "..."

Iteration Guidelines

When fixing CI failures:

1. Fix minimal changes - Don't over-fix; address just the reported error
2. Commit after each fix - Keep commits atomic and focused
3. Use Conventional Commits - fix(scope): description or test(scope): description
4. Watch for cascading failures - One fix may reveal new failures
5. Know when to stop - If stuck after 3-5 iterations, ask the user

Common CI Check Names

Typical checks to watch for:

• check / lint - General linting
• typecheck / type-check - TypeScript/Python type checking
• test / tests - Test suite
• build - Build verification
• knip - Dead code detection
• format - Code formatting

Example Session

User: "Watch this PR and fix any issues until CI passes"

→ Start: gh pr checks --watch --fail-fast
→ Wait for completion...
→ FAILED: pyright errors in latitude_span_processor.py

→ Read the failing file
→ Identify: references to removed 'name' attribute
→ Fix: Remove the name handling code
→ Commit: "fix(telemetry): remove name handling from processor"
→ Push

→ Restart: gh pr checks --watch --fail-fast
→ Wait...
→ FAILED: test failures in capture_test.py

→ Read test file
→ Identify: tests checking ctx.name which no longer exists
→ Fix: Remove ctx.name assertions
→ Commit: "test(telemetry): update tests for removed name field"
→ Push

→ Restart: gh pr checks --watch --fail-fast
→ Wait...
→ ALL PASSED ✓
→ Done!

Edge Cases

CI Taking Too Long

• Some checks run for 10+ minutes
• Use --watch to avoid polling manually
• The --fail-fast flag exits immediately on first failure

Intermittent Failures

• Flaky tests may pass on retry
• If same failure repeats 3+ times, it's likely real

Required vs Optional Checks

• Some checks may be "required" for merge
• Others may be informational only
• Focus on fixing required checks first

No Write Access

• If you can't push fixes, report issues to user instead
• Provide specific fix suggestions with code snippets

Safety Guidelines

• Never force push (--force) unless explicitly requested
• Never rewrite history on shared branches
• Always create new commits for fixes (don't amend)
• If stuck on a failure you can't fix, ask the user for help
• Don't merge the PR yourself unless explicitly asked