Copilot Review

Copilot Review

A single-pass check-fix cycle for Copilot review comments. Designed to be called repeatedly via /loop:

/loop 2m /copilot-review

Each invocation runs one iteration: check for unresolved comments → fix → push → resolve → re-trigger review. When no comments remain, stop the loop.

Prerequisites

• gh CLI v2.88.0+
• Authenticated: gh auth status

Steps

1. Detect the PR

If the user provides a PR number and repo, use those directly. Otherwise, auto-detect from the current branch:

gh pr view --json number,url,headRepository -q '
  "PR #\(.number) — \(.headRepository.owner.login)/\(.headRepository.name)\n\(.url)"
'

If no PR is found on the current branch, ask the user for the PR number and repo.

Extract and store:

• OWNER — repository owner
• REPO — repository name
• PR_NUM — pull request number

2. Check Copilot review status

Before acting on comments, confirm two things: (a) Copilot has finished reviewing, and (b) the review covers the latest push. Without the timing check, a common race condition occurs: after fixing and re-triggering, the next cycle sees the old review (state = COMMENTED), finds all old threads resolved, and falsely concludes "no unresolved comments" — stopping the loop before Copilot's new review arrives.

IMPORTANT: Use GraphQL (not gh pr view --json reviews) to fetch reviews. The REST API returns author.login as "copilot", but GraphQL returns "copilot-pull-request-reviewer". Using GraphQL consistently avoids mismatches.

Use a single GraphQL query to get the latest Copilot review (with body), the latest commit timestamp, and all unresolved threads:

gh api graphql -f query='
  query($owner: String!, $repo: String!, $pr: Int!) {
    repository(owner: $owner, name: $repo) {
      pullRequest(number: $pr) {
        reviews(last: 20) {
          nodes {
            author { login }
            state
            submittedAt
            body
          }
        }
        commits(last: 1) {
          nodes { commit { committedDate } }
        }
        reviewThreads(first: 100) {
          nodes {
            id
            isResolved
            comments(first: 10) {
              nodes {
                body
                author { login }
                path
                line
                originalLine
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
' -F owner="${OWNER}" -F repo="${REPO}" -F pr="${PR_NUM}" \
  --jq '{
    review: ([.data.repository.pullRequest.reviews.nodes[]
      | select(.author.login == "copilot-pull-request-reviewer")]
      | sort_by(.submittedAt) | .[-1]
      | {state, submittedAt, body}),
    latestCommit: .data.repository.pullRequest.commits.nodes[-1].commit.committedDate,
    unresolvedThreads: [.data.repository.pullRequest.reviewThreads.nodes[]
      | select(.isResolved == false)
      | select(.comments.nodes[0].author.login == "copilot-pull-request-reviewer")
      | {
          threadId: .id,
          path: .comments.nodes[0].path,
          line: (.comments.nodes[0].line // .comments.nodes[0].originalLine),
          comment: .comments.nodes[0].body
        }]
  }'

Apply the following decision logic in order:

1. No Copilot review exists yet — report "No Copilot review found, triggering one..." → run gh pr edit ... --add-reviewer "@copilot" → stop, wait for next cycle.
2. review.submittedAt < latestCommit — Copilot has not reviewed the latest push. Report "Waiting for Copilot to review latest push..." and stop.
3. Parse review.body — Copilot's review summary always contains a line like:
   • "generated no new comments" → Copilot reviewed and found nothing. Report "Copilot review passed (no new comments) — ready for human review" and stop the loop.
   • "generated N comments" (N > 0) → Copilot found issues. Proceed to Step 3.
   • If the body doesn't match either pattern (e.g., first overview-only review), proceed to Step 3 to check for unresolved threads anyway.

3. Process unresolved Copilot review comments

The unresolvedThreads array from the Step 2 query already contains all unresolved threads authored by Copilot.

If unresolvedThreads is empty and review.body contains "generated no new comments", report "All Copilot comments resolved — ready for human review" and stop the loop.

If unresolvedThreads is empty but review.body contains "generated N comments" (N > 0), this means all threads from that review were already resolved. Stop the loop — ready for human review.

If unresolvedThreads is not empty, proceed to fix each comment.

4. Fix the code

For each unresolved comment:

1. Read the referenced file and line.
2. Understand the suggestion — evaluate whether it makes sense in the project context.
3. Apply the fix.

Do not blindly accept every suggestion. Copilot may repeat already-resolved comments or suggest changes that conflict with project architecture. If a suggestion is incorrect or irrelevant, skip it and note the reason.

5. Run tests

Run the project's test suite before committing. A fix that breaks other things is worse than the original issue.

If tests fail:

• Diagnose and fix the test failure.
• If the fix conflicts with the Copilot suggestion, revert that suggestion and note it as skipped.
• Re-run tests until they pass.

6. Commit and push

Use the commit-message skill (/commit-message) to generate a proper conventional commit message for the fixes.

After committing, push the changes:

git push

7. Resolve fixed threads

After pushing, resolve each thread that was successfully addressed by inlining its ID:

gh api graphql -f query='
  mutation {
    resolveReviewThread(input: {threadId: "<THREAD_NODE_ID>"}) {
      thread { isResolved }
    }
  }
'

8. Re-trigger Copilot review

gh pr edit ${PR_NUM} --repo ${OWNER}/${REPO} --add-reviewer "@copilot"

The next /loop cycle will check for new comments from this re-review.

Usage

/loop 2m /copilot-review

Or with a specific PR:

/loop 2m Check Copilot review on PR #123 (owner/repo) using /copilot-review

gh Command Reference

Trigger Copilot Review

gh pr edit <PR_NUM> --repo <OWNER/REPO> --add-reviewer "@copilot"

Fetch Copilot Review Comments (REST)

For quick inspection without thread IDs — useful for a summary view:

gh api "repos/${OWNER}/${REPO}/pulls/${PR_NUM}/comments" \
  --jq '.[] | select(.user.login | test("copilot"; "i"))
    | "### \(.path):\(.line // .original_line)\n\(.body)\n"'

Important Notes

• Cap at 10 iterations. Beyond that usually signals an architectural disagreement — stop and ask the user to review manually.
• Copilot reviews are "Comment" type — they never Approve or Block merge.
• Author login mismatch: REST API returns author.login as "Copilot", but GraphQL returns "copilot-pull-request-reviewer". Always use GraphQL with exact match == "copilot-pull-request-reviewer" for reliable detection.
• Review body is the source of truth for completion: "generated no new comments" means Copilot is done with no issues. "generated N comments" means there are comments to address. Do NOT rely solely on unresolved thread count — threads from previous reviews may all be resolved while a new review hasn't arrived yet.
• Free for open-source repos. No Copilot subscription required.
• Add .github/copilot-instructions.md to guide Copilot's review behavior (coding style, conventions, etc.).