Babysit

Babysit a PR

Claude Code analog of Cursor's built-in /babysit. The implementation is a loop over gh CLI plus the Claude Code loop skill for pacing.

Platform note. On Codex or another non-Claude runtime, the Claude tool names and Claude built-in skills named below (loop, AskUserQuestion) are Claude defaults. Resolve them via codex-tools.md.

Inside patina-mode, the Babysit playbook (../patina-mode/playbooks/babysit.md) supersedes this skill: it owns mode declaration, the merge frontier, stack safety, and the watch-pr watcher. This skill stays the standalone /babysit entry point for a single PR outside a patina-mode run.

When to use

• There's an open PR and the user explicitly wants it kept green, and you are not already inside a patina-mode run (the playbook owns that case).
• The user invokes /babysit directly.
• A subagent that opens a PR does NOT babysit — return to the parent and let the parent decide.

Steps

1. Fetch PR state.

   gh pr view <number> --json number,title,state,mergeable,reviewDecision,statusCheckRollup,mergeStateStatus,comments,reviews
   

2. Triage in priority order.

   • Merge conflicts (mergeStateStatus == DIRTY): rebase or merge main; resolve; force-push only if the branch is yours and not shared.
   • Failing checks (statusCheckRollup entries with conclusion: FAILURE): pull logs with gh run view <run-id> --log-failed. Root-cause the failure; fix the underlying code or test; commit; push.
   • Review comments from human reviewers (gh pr view --json comments,reviews): act only on feedback you actually agree with. When a comment has a single mechanical answer — a rename, a guard clause, a formatting nit — make the edit and quote the comment in the commit message. When it hinges on a judgement call, or you can't tell what's being asked, don't guess: leave it and reply with what you would have done.
   • Review-bot comments (Bugbot and similar automation): classify as fix, dismiss, or ask before acting, per ../patina-mode/references/bugbot-triage.md. Follow the rubric's Ask by default categories, including security, data, and high-severity findings.

3. Loop. Use the Claude Code loop skill to pace re-checks. Pick the interval from what you're watching:

   • Active CI run: poll gh pr checks --watch (it blocks until checks finish, so no separate loop interval needed).
   • Awaiting reviewer: 20–30 min heartbeat.
   • Idle but want to catch new comments: hourly.

4. When to stop.

   • Build is green, every comment resolved, branch merges cleanly → call it ready.
   • You've run three rounds of fix → push → recheck and it still isn't fully green → stop, summarise what's still broken, and hand control back.
   • The next fix would force a design choice → pause and put it to the user with AskUserQuestion.

5. Report. Summarize fixes applied, comments addressed, comments deferred (with reason), current PR status. Cite each commit by SHA.

Hard rules

• Don't rewrite history on a branch others may have pulled. If a rebase or force-push looks necessary, clear it with the user first.
• Don't tweak a test's expected values just to get a pass. Only change an assertion when the behaviour genuinely changed and the assertion was pinned to the old behaviour.
• Never skip hooks (--no-verify).
• Never bypass a failing check by marking it as not required.
• gh pr ready only when all checks are green and no unresolved review comments remain.

Cross-refs

• patina-mode opens here after a PR is opened.
• Use interrogate before opening if the diff is contested; once open, babysit takes over.
• Use unslop on any prose you write here (PR comments, commit messages, status reports).

Provenance

This is a Claude Code analog of Cursor's /babysit, not a port — Cursor's implementation is closed source. The skill is independently authored, with its own prose and structure; the workflow is informed by Cursor's public /babysit behavior. The only overlap with other PR tools is the gh CLI commands it runs, which are functional invocations rather than copied text.