PR Merge Checklist

PR Merge Checklist

When asked to "action", "merge", or "complete" a PR, follow this checklist BEFORE merging:

Pre-Merge Validation

1. Check Review Status

gh pr view $PR_NUMBER --json reviews,reviewDecision

CRITICAL: Do NOT merge if:

• There are unresolved review comments (use /fix-pr instead)
• Review decision is "CHANGES_REQUESTED"
• Review decision is "REVIEW_REQUIRED" (unless explicitly told to override)

2. Check CI Status

gh pr checks $PR_NUMBER

CRITICAL: Do NOT merge if:

• Any required checks are failing
• Checks are still running (wait for completion)

3. Review Comment Analysis

If there ARE review comments, parse them to determine if they require action:

gh pr view $PR_NUMBER --json comments,reviews

For each review comment:

• Requesting changes? → Use /fix-pr to address them
• Approved with optional suggestions? → Can merge if author wants
• Discussion/questions only? → Can merge if resolved

Decision Tree

"Can you action this PR?"
  ↓
Are there review comments? → YES → Run `/fix-pr $PR_NUMBER` instead
  ↓ NO
Are CI checks passing? → NO → Fix CI first, then merge
  ↓ YES
Merge the PR ✓

Common Mistakes to Avoid

❌ WRONG: Immediately merging when seeing "action this" ✅ RIGHT: Check review comments and CI status first

❌ WRONG: Ignoring review comments that request changes ✅ RIGHT: Use /fix-pr to address all review feedback

❌ WRONG: Merging a PR with failing CI ✅ RIGHT: Fix CI failures before merging

Example Workflow

# User says: "@policyengine can you action this"

# Step 1: Check for reviews
gh pr view $PR_NUMBER --json reviews,comments --jq '.reviews'

# Step 2: If reviews found with changes requested
echo "Found unresolved review comments. Running /fix-pr instead..."
# Use /fix-pr to address them

# Step 3: If no reviews or approved
gh pr checks $PR_NUMBER
# If passing, proceed to merge

# Step 4: Merge
gh pr merge $PR_NUMBER --squash

When to Use /fix-pr vs Direct Merge

Remember

The /fix-pr command exists specifically to handle review comments and validation issues. Use it when there's ANY indication that the PR needs improvements before merging.

Default assumption: If review comments exist, they should be addressed before merging unless explicitly told otherwise.