PR Babysitter

Reduce the human time spent herding pull requests. Monitors open PRs, identifies what's blocking each one, and takes the smallest action to unblock — or escalates to a human when judgment is needed.

Usage

/pr-babysitter                    # single sweep of all open PRs
/pr-babysitter --author <handle>  # watch only PRs by a specific author
/pr-babysitter --label <label>    # filter by label (e.g. "ready-for-review")
/pr-babysitter --dry-run          # report actions without taking them

Run on a loop for continuous herding:

/loop 5m /pr-babysitter
/loop 10m /pr-babysitter --author @me

Behavior

Step 1 — Discover open PRs

# List open PRs with key metadata
gh pr list --state open --json number,title,author,createdAt,reviewDecision,statusCheckRollup,isDraft \
  --limit 50 | jq '.[] | select(.isDraft == false)'

Skip draft PRs unless --include-drafts is passed.

Step 2 — Triage each PR

For each open PR, classify its blocking state:

# Check CI status for a specific PR
gh pr checks <number> --json name,state,conclusion 2>/dev/null

# Check merge status
gh pr view <number> --json mergeable,mergeStateStatus,reviewDecision

Step 3 — CI failure: diagnose and propose fix

# Get failing check logs
gh run view --log-failed $(gh pr checks <number> --json databaseId --jq '.[0].databaseId') 2>/dev/null | tail -50

Classify the failure:

• Flake: Same test has failed intermittently on other PRs → re-run the check, note as flake
• Regression: New failure introduced by this PR → invoke /minimal-fix with the error
• Env/infra: Missing secret, broken runner → escalate to human immediately
• Unrelated: Failure pre-dates the PR → note and skip (not the PR author's problem)

Cap fix attempts at 3 per PR. After 3 → escalate with full context.

# Re-run a flaky check
gh run rerun <run-id> --failed

Step 4 — Rebase nudge

If the branch is behind main but has no conflicts, comment with the rebase command:

gh pr comment <number> --body "Branch is behind main. To update:
\`\`\`
git fetch origin
git rebase origin/main
git push --force-with-lease
\`\`\`"

Do not auto-rebase unattended — conflicts require human judgment.

Step 5 — Review nudge

If no reviewer has been assigned after N hours (default: 24h):

gh pr edit <number> --add-reviewer <suggested-reviewer>
# or
gh pr comment <number> --body "This PR is awaiting review assignment."

Only assign reviewers if the project has a CODEOWNERS file or a known reviewer rotation.

Step 6 — Changes requested

Surface the blocking review comments to the PR author. Do not attempt to resolve review feedback automatically.

gh pr view <number> --json reviews --jq '.reviews[] | select(.state == "CHANGES_REQUESTED") | .body'

Step 7 — Approved and ready to merge

# Confirm all checks pass + required reviews met
gh pr view <number> --json mergeable,reviewDecision,statusCheckRollup

If mergeable == MERGEABLE and reviewDecision == APPROVED → post a merge-ready comment or merge if auto-merge policy allows.

Default: never auto-merge. Only merge automatically if --auto-merge flag is explicitly passed AND the PR is in the allow list (no denylist files changed).

Step 8 — Age alert

Flag PRs open longer than the threshold without activity:

# PRs with no commits, comments, or review activity in N days
gh pr list --state open --json number,title,updatedAt | \
  jq --arg cutoff "$(date -d '7 days ago' -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)" \
  '.[] | select(.updatedAt < $cutoff)'

Post a comment asking for status update. Do not close — human decides.

Step 9 — Run report

Output a summary after each sweep:

PR BABYSITTER — sweep complete (2026-06-30 10:45 UTC)

CI Red (2)
  #1241  fix/auth-refresh        → minimal-fix proposed (attempt 1/3)
  #1238  feat/search-v2          → env failure, escalated to human

Awaiting Review (1)
  #1245  docs/api-update         → 26h with no reviewer, reviewer assigned

Aging (1)
  #1230  refactor/legacy-model   → 9 days no activity, comment posted

Approved + Ready (1)
  #1243  fix/typo                → ready to merge (awaiting /pr-babysitter --auto-merge)

Nothing blocking (3): #1240, #1242, #1244

Edge Cases

• No open PRs: Report "Nothing to watch" and exit cleanly.
• No CI configured: Skip CI checks; focus on review state and aging.
• Rate limits on gh: Back off and note in report.
• PR with blocked label: Skip entirely — do not comment, do not attempt fix.

Token Optimization

Expected range: 400–1,200 tokens per sweep; 50–100 tokens (no open PRs, early exit)

Patterns used: Bash for gh CLI queries, progressive disclosure (summary then per-PR detail), early exit (no PRs = immediate exit), attempt cap (max 3 fix attempts per PR)

Caching: Stores per-PR attempt counts in .claude/cache/pr-babysitter/attempts.json (reset when PR is closed or merged).

Early exit: If gh pr list --state open returns 0 results → report and exit immediately.