Bmad Autopilot Skill

BMAD Autopilot Skill

This skill provides autonomous development capabilities following the BMAD (Breakthrough Method for Agile Development) methodology.

When to Use

Activate this skill when the user wants to:

• Automatically process BMAD epics end-to-end
• Develop stories following TDD principles
• Create and manage pull requests automatically
• Handle CI feedback and code reviews
• Run the full BMAD development pipeline

BMAD Workflow Phases

CHECK_PENDING_PR → FIND_EPIC → CREATE_BRANCH → DEVELOP_STORIES
       ↓                                              ↓
   (resume)                                    CODE_REVIEW
                                                     ↓
DONE ← MERGE_PR ← WAIT_COPILOT ← CREATE_PR ← (approved)
       ↓              ↓
    BLOCKED      FIX_ISSUES

Essential Commands

Start BMAD Autopilot

# Initialize claude-threads
ct init

# Create BMAD workflow thread
ct thread create bmad-main \
  --mode automatic \
  --template bmad-autopilot.yaml \
  --context '{"epic_pattern": "", "base_branch": "main"}'

# Start the thread
ct thread start bmad-main

Process Specific Epics

# Single epic with isolated worktree
ct thread create bmad-7a \
  --template bmad-developer.md \
  --worktree \
  --context '{"epic_id": "7A"}'

# Multiple epics in parallel (each gets own worktree)
ct thread create bmad-7a --template bmad-developer.md --worktree --context '{"epic_id": "7A"}'
ct thread create bmad-8a --template bmad-developer.md --worktree --context '{"epic_id": "8A"}'
ct thread create bmad-10b --template bmad-developer.md --worktree --context '{"epic_id": "10B"}'

# Pattern matching
ct thread create bmad-all-10 \
  --template bmad-autopilot.yaml \
  --context '{"epic_pattern": "10.*"}'

Monitor Progress

# Check thread status
ct thread status bmad-main

# View logs
ct thread logs bmad-main -f

# List all BMAD events
ct event list --type "EPIC_*,STORY_*,PR_*"

# List active worktrees
ct worktree list

Agent Threads

The BMAD workflow spawns specialized agent threads:

Review Process

The BMAD workflow includes two review stages:

Internal Code Review (CODE_REVIEW Phase)

After all stories in an epic are implemented, the Reviewer agent performs an internal code review before creating a PR.

Review Checklist:

Code Quality

• Code follows project style guide
• No unused imports or variables
• Functions are small and focused
• Error handling is appropriate
• No hardcoded values that should be config

Testing

• Tests cover the main functionality
• Edge cases are tested
• Tests are readable and maintainable
• No flaky tests introduced

BMAD Compliance

• Story requirements are fully implemented
• Acceptance criteria are met
• Documentation is updated if needed
• Breaking changes are documented

Security

• No sensitive data exposed
• Input validation present
• No SQL injection vulnerabilities
• Authentication/authorization correct

Performance

• No obvious performance issues
• Database queries are optimized
• No N+1 query patterns
• Caching used appropriately

Review Outcomes:

• Approved: Code meets all criteria → proceeds to CREATE_PR
• Changes Requested: Issues found → transitions to FIX_ISSUES phase

The reviewer publishes a REVIEW_COMPLETED event with status and any issues found.

External Review (WAIT_COPILOT Phase)

After PR creation, the workflow waits for:

• GitHub Copilot review
• CI checks to pass
• All review threads resolved

Auto-Approval Conditions:

PRs are auto-approved when:

1. 10+ minutes since last push
2. Copilot review exists
3. All review threads resolved
4. All CI checks passed

Review Commands:

# View all changes
gh pr diff <pr_number>

# View specific file
gh pr diff <pr_number> -- path/to/file

# Check CI status
gh pr checks <pr_number>

# View PR details
gh pr view <pr_number>

Event Types

Events published during BMAD execution:

Configuration

In .claude-threads/config.yaml:

bmad:
  epic_pattern: ""          # Process all, or specify "7A 8A"
  base_branch: main
  auto_merge: true          # Merge when approved
  max_concurrent_prs: 2     # Limit parallel PRs
  check_interval: 300       # PR check interval (seconds)

worktrees:
  enabled: true             # Enable worktree isolation
  max_age_days: 7           # Auto-cleanup after N days
  auto_cleanup: true        # Cleanup when thread completes
  default_base_branch: main # Default base for new worktrees
  auto_push: true           # Push changes on completion

pr_shepherd:
  max_fix_attempts: 5       # Max fix attempts per PR
  ci_poll_interval: 30      # CI check interval
  auto_merge: false         # Auto-merge when approved

Story File Locations

BMAD stories are typically in:

• _bmad-output/stories/epic-{id}/
• docs/stories/{id}/

Commit Message Format

feat(epic-{id}): implement story X.Y

Story {id}.{story}:
- Change description
- Another change

Handling Blocked State

If autopilot becomes blocked:

# Check why
ct thread status bmad-main --verbose

# View recent events
ct event list --source bmad-main --limit 20

# Check logs
ct thread logs bmad-main

# Resume manually
ct thread resume bmad-main

GitHub Integration

For automatic PR status updates:

# Start webhook server
ct webhook start --port 31338

# GitHub webhook settings:
# URL: http://your-server:31338/webhook
# Events: Pull requests, Check runs, Reviews

Auto-Approval Workflow

The project has an auto-approve.yml workflow that handles PR approval automatically.

Triggering Auto-Approval

# Trigger auto-approve for a specific PR
gh workflow run auto-approve.yml -f pr_number=<PR_NUMBER>

# Or use the manual approve-pr workflow with options
gh workflow run approve-pr.yml -f pr_number=<PR_NUMBER> [-f skip_ci_check=false] [-f comment="Optional message"]

Auto-Approval Conditions

PRs are auto-approved when:

1. 2+ minutes since last push
2. Copilot review exists (at least 1 review from copilot-pull-request-reviewer)
3. All review threads resolved (0 unresolved)
4. All CI checks passed (both check runs and commit statuses)

Proactive Review State Detection

IMPORTANT: Do NOT wait passively for review comments. Proactively check:

# Check for unresolved review threads IMMEDIATELY after Copilot review
gh api graphql -f query='query {
  repository(owner: "hanibalsk", name: "property-management") {
    pullRequest(number: <PR_NUMBER>) {
      reviewThreads(first: 100) {
        nodes { isResolved path comments(first: 1) { nodes { body } } }
      }
    }
  }
}' | jq '[.data.repository.pullRequest.reviewThreads.nodes[] | select(.isResolved == false)]'

# If unresolved > 0, spawn review-comment-handler agent immediately
# DO NOT wait for the auto-approve workflow to fail

Quick PR Status Check

# Combined status check for a PR
gh pr view <PR_NUMBER> --json mergeable,mergeStateStatus,reviewDecision,statusCheckRollup | jq '{
  mergeable,
  mergeStateStatus,
  reviewDecision,
  ci_in_progress: [.statusCheckRollup[] | select(.status == "IN_PROGRESS")] | length,
  ci_failures: [.statusCheckRollup[] | select(.conclusion == "FAILURE")] | length
}'

Parallel vs Sequential Mode

Sequential (default):

• One epic at a time
• Simpler state management
• Good for small teams

Parallel (with worktrees):

• Multiple epics concurrently
• Each thread gets isolated git worktree
• No conflicts between parallel development
• Higher throughput
• Configure with max_concurrent_prs

# Parallel development with worktrees
ct thread create epic-7a --mode automatic --template bmad-developer.md --worktree --context '{"epic_id": "7A"}'
ct thread create epic-8a --mode automatic --template bmad-developer.md --worktree --context '{"epic_id": "8A"}'
ct orchestrator start

# Each thread works in isolation
ct worktree list

PR Shepherd Integration

The PR Shepherd automatically handles CI failures and review comments with worktree isolation:

# Watch a PR - creates isolated worktree for fixes
ct pr watch 123

# Shepherd automatically:
# - Creates worktree for PR branch
# - Spawns fix threads when CI fails
# - Fix threads work in isolated worktree
# - Pushes fixes from worktree
# - Cleans up worktree when PR merges

ct pr status 123
ct pr daemon  # Run as background service