reviewing-prs

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Translated

Agent-powered GitHub PR reviews with smart semantic triage. Categorizes changes as MECHANICAL (skip), NEW LOGIC (read), or BEHAVIORAL (verify) — so agents never waste tokens reading lock files or formatting diffs. Includes remote file reading, text/AST search across PR or full repo, and comment posting. No local clone needed. Use when asked to review a PR, check a pull request, look at PR changes, or given a PR number/URL to review.

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Sourceataraxy-labs/gh-agent
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NPX Install

npx skill4agent add ataraxy-labs/gh-agent reviewing-prs

Tags

Translated version includes tags in frontmatter
gh-agentpr-reviewgithub-apicode-triageimpact-analysis

SKILL.md Content

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PR Review with gh-agent

Works from any directory — everything is fetched from GitHub API.

Install gh-agent

bash
brew install ataraxy-labs/tap/gh-agent
Requires 
GITHUB_TOKEN
env var or GitHub CLI authenticated via 
gh auth login
.

Workflow

1. Triage → 
gh-agent pr view --repo OWNER/REPO N --smart
Categorizes changes into MECHANICAL (skip), NEW LOGIC (read), BEHAVIORAL (verify inline).
2. Diffs → 
gh-agent pr diff --repo OWNER/REPO N --smart-files
Gets diffs for non-mechanical files only. Lock/generated/minified files excluded by default.
3. Impact analysis — after reading diffs, search for breakage outside the PR:
Identify removed/renamed exports, changed signatures, deleted types, or modified public APIs from the diff. Then search 
--repo-wide
for each:
bash
# Find callers of a removed/renamed symbol
gh-agent pr grep --repo OWNER/REPO N --pattern "removedFunction" --repo-wide

# Find references to a deleted type or enum variant
gh-agent pr grep --repo OWNER/REPO N --pattern "DeletedTypeName" --repo-wide

# Find consumers of a changed interface/config
gh-agent pr grep --repo OWNER/REPO N --pattern "changedOption" --repo-wide --path src/

# Structural search for removed prop usage
gh-agent pr ast-grep --repo OWNER/REPO N --pattern 'oldPropName={$$$}' --repo-wide
Search for:
  • Deleted exports/types — still imported elsewhere?
  • Removed function parameters — callers updated?
  • Changed constants/config — validators, serializers, tests in sync?
  • Removed attributes/flags — renderers, parsers, importers still reference them?
4. Context — when diffs or impact results need more detail:
bash
# Read full file at PR branch
gh-agent pr file --repo OWNER/REPO N --path PATH

# Search PR changed files (fast, default)
gh-agent pr grep --repo OWNER/REPO N --pattern "functionName"
gh-agent pr ast-grep --repo OWNER/REPO N --pattern 'useCallback($$$)'
--repo-wide
uses GitHub Code Search + always includes PR files at head ref. PR results win on overlap. 
--base
searches the base branch instead.
5. Review — you are an expert senior engineer with deep knowledge of software engineering best practices, security, performance, and maintainability. Perform a thorough code review of the collected diffs and impact results:
  1. Generate a high-level summary of the changes in the diff.
  2. Go file-by-file and review each changed hunk.
  3. Comment on what changed in that hunk (including the line range) and how it relates to other changed hunks and code, reading any other relevant files. Also call out bugs, hackiness, unnecessary code, or too much shared mutable state.
  4. Flag any 
    --repo-wide
    hits from impact analysis that indicate broken callers, stale references, or missing updates outside the PR.
  5. Categorize findings by severity: CRITICAL, HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW.
6. Post (only when user asks):
bash
# Post comments (line must appear in diff — use --json to check)
gh-agent pr review --repo OWNER/REPO N --comments-file /tmp/review.json
gh-agent pr diff --repo OWNER/REPO N --json   # commentable lines map

# Post suggestion
gh-agent pr suggest --repo OWNER/REPO N --file F --line-start S --line-end E --replacement "code"

Commands

CommandPurpose
pr view --repo R N --smart
Smart triage — always start here
pr view --repo R N --json
PR metadata as JSON
pr diff --repo R N --smart-files
Diffs for non-mechanical files only
pr diff --repo R N --file F
Diff for specific file(s) (substring match, repeatable)
pr diff --repo R N --stat
File stat table
pr diff --repo R N --json
Commentable lines map
pr file --repo R N --path P
Read file at PR branch
pr grep --repo R N -p PAT
Text search PR changed files
pr grep --repo R N -p PAT --repo-wide
Text search full codebase
pr ast-grep --repo R N -p PAT
Structural search PR changed files
pr ast-grep --repo R N -p PAT --repo-wide
Structural search full codebase
pr review --repo R N -c F
Post review from JSON
pr suggest --repo R N ...
Post suggestion comment

Rules

  1. --smart
    first    . Never read all diffs blindly.
  2. --smart-files
    for diffs    . One call, no manual file list.
  3. Skip MECHANICAL. Don't read or comment on them.
  4. NEVER use local files. Always use 
    pr file
    , 
    pr grep
    , or 
    pr ast-grep
    .
  5. Always do impact analysis. After reading diffs, 
    --repo-wide
    grep for every deleted/renamed export, removed type, and changed public API. This catches broken callers outside the PR.
  6. Search incrementally. PR files first → 
    --repo-wide
    only if needed for additional context.
  7. Review in-skill. Do not hand off to external review tools. Summarize, go hunk-by-hunk, flag bugs and stale references, and categorize by severity.
  8. Post only when asked. Present findings in chat; user decides when to post.