Babysit Pr

Babysit PR

Continuous PR lifecycle management: monitor CI, retry flaky checks, resolve merge conflicts, and enable auto-merge. Inspired by Thariq's CI/CD & Deployment pattern from Anthropic's internal playbook.

When to Activate

• User says "babysit my PRs", "check PR status", "monitor PRs"
• User says "why is CI failing", "what's blocking my PRs"
• User says "merge my PRs", "auto-merge when ready"
• After a batch PR creation session (e.g., 10+ PRs in a day)
• When CI is flaky and user wants automatic retries

Modes

Single PR Mode

Monitor one specific PR by number or URL.

babysit-pr #4105
babysit-pr https://github.com/your-org/your-repo/pull/4105

Steps:

1. Parse PR number from input (strip URL if needed)
2. Run scripts/check-pr-status.sh <repo> <pr-number>
3. Analyze CI failures against references/ci-patterns.md
4. Take action or report findings

Batch Mode

Scan all open PRs by the current user across a repo.

babysit-pr your-org/your-repo
babysit-pr --all

Steps:

1. Run scripts/batch-check.sh <repo> (defaults to current repo's origin)
2. Sort PRs by urgency: failing CI > merge conflicts > pending review > green
3. Present summary table
4. Offer to act on each issue

PR Health Checks

For each PR, check all of the following:

1. CI Status

gh pr checks <number> --repo <repo>

• Map each check to pass/fail/pending
• Cross-reference failures with references/ci-patterns.md
• Distinguish required checks from optional/informational

2. Review Status

gh pr view <number> --repo <repo> --json reviews,reviewRequests

• Approved: ready to merge
• Changes requested: needs author action
• Pending: waiting on reviewers

3. Merge Conflicts

gh pr view <number> --repo <repo> --json mergeable,mergeStateStatus

• MERGEABLE: no conflicts
• CONFLICTING: needs rebase/conflict resolution
• UNKNOWN: GitHub still computing (wait and retry)

4. Branch Staleness

gh pr view <number> --repo <repo> --json baseRefName,headRefName,updatedAt

• If behind base by 10+ commits, suggest updating branch
• If no activity for 7+ days, flag as stale

Auto-Actions

Retry Flaky CI

When a check fails and references/ci-patterns.md marks the pattern as retryable:

# Re-run failed GitHub Actions workflows
gh run rerun <run-id> --failed --repo <repo>

Rules:

• Max 2 retries per check
• Only retry if the failure pattern matches a known flaky pattern
• Log each retry attempt
• If still failing after 2 retries, report as real failure

Update Branch

When PR is behind base branch and has no merge conflicts:

# GitHub API branch update (no force push)
gh api repos/<owner>/<repo>/pulls/<number>/update-branch \
  --method PUT \
  --field expected_head_sha="<sha>"

Rules:

• Only update if mergeable state is clean
• Never force-push
• Report the update to the user

Enable Auto-Merge

When CI is green and reviews are approved:

gh pr merge <number> --repo <repo> --auto --squash

Rules:

• Always ask before enabling auto-merge
• Only enable if: CI passing + reviews approved + no conflicts
• Default to squash merge
• Never force-merge or bypass required checks

Safety Rules

1. Never force-merge a PR under any circumstances
2. Never dismiss reviews or bypass review requirements
3. Always report before acting on merge conflicts; let the user decide
4. Ask before enabling auto-merge; present the PR state first
5. Never push code to resolve conflicts without explicit user approval
6. Respect branch protection rules; do not circumvent them
7. Log all actions taken so the user has a clear audit trail

Output Format

Single PR Report

PR #4105: Fix recommendation form validation
  CI:       2/3 passing (vercel/preview-deploy pending - 1m ago)
  Reviews:  Approved (2/2)
  Merge:    Clean, no conflicts
  Branch:   3 commits behind main
  Action:   Update branch? [y/n]

Batch Summary

your-org/your-repo - 14 open PRs by @your-github-handle

 #   | Title                          | CI      | Reviews  | Merge     | Action
-----|--------------------------------|---------|----------|-----------|--------
4105 | Fix form validation            | Passing | Approved | Clean     | Auto-merge?
4103 | Update i18n strings            | Failing | Approved | Clean     | Retry CI (flaky playwright)
4101 | Refactor search component      | Passing | Pending  | Conflicts | Report conflicts
4099 | Add landscape mode support     | Pending | Pending  | Clean     | Wait

Actions available:
1. Retry flaky CI on #4103
2. Enable auto-merge on #4105
3. Show conflict details for #4101

Gotchas

• Vercel preview deploys take 2-3 minutes; do not declare failure before 3 minutes have elapsed. Check the updatedAt timestamp on pending checks.
• gh pr checks shows ALL checks including optional/informational ones. Cross-reference with branch protection rules to identify which are required.
• Some repos have required reviewers; auto-merge will not work without the required number of approvals, even if CI is green.
• GitHub mergeable state can be UNKNOWN for up to 30 seconds after a push. If UNKNOWN, wait 10 seconds and retry once.
• Rate limits: gh CLI shares GitHub API rate limits. Batch mode across many repos can hit limits. Space requests if checking 20+ PRs.
• Forked PRs have different permissions; CI retry may not work on PRs from external contributors.

Scripts

• scripts/check-pr-status.sh <repo> <pr-number> : Single PR status as JSON
• scripts/batch-check.sh [repo] : All open PRs by current user with status

References

• references/ci-patterns.md : Known CI failure patterns and retry policy