triage-prs

Triage Pull Requests

Triage open pull requests on the docker/docker-agent repository: classify them with area/* and kind/* labels, flag those with merge conflicts, clear the conflict flag once it is resolved, flag PRs with unsigned commits, and clear that flag once every commit is verified.

This skill is designed to run unattended on a recurring schedule (every ~30 minutes). It is written to be agent-agnostic — use whatever GitHub access you have (CLI, REST, GraphQL, an MCP server). Two properties matter more than the mechanism and must hold no matter how you talk to GitHub:

1. Idempotency is critical. The skill runs repeatedly. A given PR must never be re-drafted, re-labeled, or re-commented if it is already in the desired state. Re-running over the same PRs must produce zero changes and, ideally, zero write calls.
2. Minimize GitHub API calls. Read once, decide everything in memory, then make the smallest possible number of writes — see API budget.

Scope

Process open pull requests (including author-created drafts) whose last update was within the past 60 minutes.

Out of scope — skip entirely:

• Closed and merged PRs.
• PRs untouched in the last 60 minutes.

The 60-minute window against the ~30-minute cadence intentionally gives every PR two chances to be processed, so a single missed or failed run is harmless.

⚠️ Never trust GitHub's search index for decisions. is:pr label:… search filters (and the gh --label / search/issues APIs that back them) are stale: they return PRs that no longer carry a label and miss PRs that do. Before acting on any PR, read that PR's live, per-item fields (labels, draft state, mergeable state). Use search only as a coarse pre-filter, never as the source of truth for a mutation.

API budget

1. One read pass. Fetch the in-scope candidate set in a single batched query (GraphQL is ideal). For each PR retrieve everything all five rules need at once:
   • updatedAt, isDraft, and mergeable state (MERGEABLE / CONFLICTING / UNKNOWN)
   • the current set of labels (live)
   • title, body, and linked issues via closingIssuesReferences, including each linked issue's labels and native issue type
   • the changed files / paths (to infer area/*)
   • per-commit signature verification data: commits(last: 100) { nodes { commit { oid signature { isValid } } } } (signature is null for unsigned commits; isValid is false for commits signed with an unrecognised or invalid key)
   • whether a previous run already posted the conflict comment and whether a previous run already posted the unsigned-commits comment (two separate bot-comment checks — one gate per rule)
2. Decide fully in memory. For each PR, compute the complete set of mutations for all five rules before issuing any write.
3. One grouped label mutation per PR. Fold every label change for a PR — adding area/*, adding kind/*, adding or removing status/needs-rebase, and adding or removing status/needs-signed-commits — into a single label update call. Never issue one call per label.
4. No-op means no call. If a PR needs no change, make zero write calls for it.
5. UNKNOWN mergeable → do nothing this run. GitHub computes mergeability asynchronously. If the state is UNKNOWN, skip the conflict rules for that PR; it will be re-evaluated next run once GitHub finishes. (You may still apply Rule 1 labels and Rule 4/5 signed-commit checks, which do not depend on mergeability.)

Label taxonomy

Use only labels that already exist in the repository. Never invent a label. If the appropriate label does not exist or the correct value is genuinely ambiguous, leave that dimension alone (optionally apply status/needs-triage) rather than guessing.

kind/* — the change type (exactly one on a PR)

• kind/feat — adds a new feature (Conventional-Commit feat:).
• kind/fix — fixes a bug (Conventional-Commit fix:).
• kind/docs — documentation-only change.
• kind/chore — maintenance, deps, CI, tooling (chore:).
• kind/refactor — refactor with no behavior change (refactor:).
• kind/test — test-only change (test:).
• kind/security — security fix or hardening.

kind/feat and kind/fix are the canonical labels — they map to the repo's feat: / fix: commit convention. The older kind/feature and kind/bug labels have been deleted; never apply them.

kind/* is for pull requests only. Issues use GitHub's native issue type field (Task, Bug, Enhancement, Epic, Initiative) and must never carry a kind/* label. When a linked issue informs a PR's kind (see Rule 1), read its native issue type, not a kind/* label.

area/* — the part of the codebase touched (one or more on a PR)

Infer from the changed paths. Valid values (do not invent others):

area/a2a, area/agent, area/api, area/ci, area/cli, area/config, area/core, area/deps, area/distribution, area/docs, area/gateway, area/mcp, area/models, area/providers, area/providers/anthropic, area/providers/bedrock, area/providers/docker-model-runner, area/providers/gemini, area/providers/openai, area/rag, area/registry, area/runtime, area/security, area/sessions, area/skills, area/telemetry, area/testing, area/tools, area/tui.

For Docker Model Runner work, use area/providers/docker-model-runner. The legacy top-level area/docker-model-runner has been deleted; never apply it.

Path-hint examples: pkg/config/** → area/config; TUI code → area/tui; .github/workflows/** → area/ci; MCP server/tooling → area/mcp or area/tools; provider integrations → the matching area/providers/*; docs/markdown → area/docs.

status/*

• status/needs-rebase — the PR has merge conflicts / is out of date with the base branch. Applied and removed by this skill (Rules 2 and 3).
• status/needs-signed-commits — the PR contains one or more commits that are not signed and verified by GitHub. Applied and removed by this skill (Rules 4 and 5).
• status/needs-triage — optional fallback when a PR's kind/* or area/* cannot be determined with confidence.

Rule 1 — Apply area/* and kind/*

Trigger: an in-scope PR missing an area/* label and/or a kind/* label.

Skip if: the PR already has at least one area/* and one kind/* label (consider it triaged for those dimensions).

Action — add only the missing dimension:

• kind/* (a PR should have exactly one), inferred in this priority order:
  1. If the PR closes/links an issue, use that issue's native issue type to guide the kind: Bug → kind/fix; Enhancement → kind/feat. (Use the PR's own signals below to refine, e.g. a docs-only PR closing an Enhancement is still kind/docs.)
  2. Otherwise infer from the Conventional-Commit prefix in the PR title (feat: → kind/feat, fix: → kind/fix, docs: → kind/docs, chore: → kind/chore, refactor: → kind/refactor, test: → kind/test), and from the PR title/body intent.
• area/* — infer one or more from the files/paths the PR changes.

Guard rails:

• Add only the missing dimension. Never remove or overwrite an area/* or kind/* label that a human already set.
• Use only existing repository labels (see taxonomy); never invent one.
• If kind/* or area/* is genuinely ambiguous, leave that dimension unset (optionally add status/needs-triage) rather than guessing.
• Fold these label additions into the PR's single grouped label mutation, together with any status/needs-rebase or status/needs-signed-commits change from Rules 2–5.

Rule 2 — Flag merge conflicts

Trigger: an in-scope PR whose live mergeable state is CONFLICTING.

Idempotency gate (critical): if the PR already has status/needs-rebase, do nothing for this rule — do not re-draft, do not post another comment.

Action (first time only):

1. Convert the PR to draft — skip this step if the PR is already a draft (the isDraft field from the read pass tells you; converting an already-draft PR is a no-op write and violates the "no-op means no call" budget rule).

2. Add status/needs-rebase (in the same grouped label mutation as any Rule 1 labels).

3. Post one comment addressed to the author, for example:

   👋 This PR has merge conflicts with the base branch. Please rebase or merge the latest base branch and resolve them. I've moved it to draft and added status/needs-rebase; it'll be picked back up automatically once the conflicts are cleared.

Because the label, the draft conversion, and the comment are always applied together, the presence of status/needs-rebase is a reliable signal that the comment was already posted — use it as the gate to avoid duplicate comments.

Rule 3 — Clear resolved conflicts

Trigger: a PR that currently has status/needs-rebase whose live mergeable state is now MERGEABLE.

Action: remove status/needs-rebase (fold into the PR's single grouped label mutation).

Do not:

• trigger on UNKNOWN mergeable state — only MERGEABLE clears the label. If the state is UNKNOWN, leave status/needs-rebase in place and re-evaluate next run (see the API budget UNKNOWN rule); never treat UNKNOWN as resolved,
• mark the PR ready for review (leave the draft/ready state to the author), and
• post any comment.

Rule 4 — Flag unsigned commits

Trigger: an in-scope PR where at least one commit has signature.isValid ≠ true (either unsigned — signature is null — or signed with an unrecognised or invalid key).

Idempotency gate (critical): if the PR already has status/needs-signed-commits, do nothing for this rule — do not post another comment.

Action (first time only):

1. Add status/needs-signed-commits (fold into the same grouped label mutation as any Rule 1 / Rule 2 changes).

2. Post one comment addressed to the author that:

   • lists the short SHAs (7 chars) of the non-verified commits,
   • explains what "signed and verified by GitHub" means (GPG or SSH key registered in their GitHub account),
   • links to https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/managing-commit-signature-verification/signing-commits,
   • notes that the label will be removed automatically once all commits carry a valid GitHub-verified signature.

   Example comment:

   👋 Some commits in this PR are not signed and verified by GitHub. Please sign your commits with a GPG or SSH key registered in your GitHub account, then force-push.

   Commits that are not verified: abc1234, def5678

   See GitHub's guide on signing commits for setup instructions. I've added status/needs-signed-commits; it will be removed automatically once every commit in this PR carries a valid GitHub-verified signature.

Because the label and the comment are always applied together, the presence of status/needs-signed-commits is a reliable gate — use it to avoid duplicate comments.

Rule 5 — Clear resolved signed-commits flag

Trigger: a PR that currently has status/needs-signed-commits whose commits now all have signature.isValid == true.

Action: remove status/needs-signed-commits (fold into the PR's single grouped label mutation).

Do not:

• post any comment,
• change draft/ready state.

Execution summary

For each in-scope PR, in one read-then-write cycle:

1. Read its live fields (labels, isDraft, mergeable, linked-issue types, changed paths, prior bot comments — one check for the conflict comment, one for the unsigned-commits comment — and per-commit signature verification data).
2. Compute the combined set of changes from Rules 1–5 in memory:
   • missing kind/* / area/* to add (Rule 1),
   • status/needs-rebase to add + draft + comment if newly CONFLICTING and not already flagged (Rule 2),
   • status/needs-rebase to remove if flagged and now MERGEABLE (Rule 3),
   • status/needs-signed-commits to add + comment if any commit is unverified and not already flagged (Rule 4),
   • status/needs-signed-commits to remove if flagged and all commits are now verified (Rule 5).
3. Apply one grouped label mutation for all label changes, plus at most one draft conversion (only if newly drafting a not-already-draft PR) and at most one comment per rule that fires for the first time. Skip every PR that needs nothing.

Report

After the run, output a concise summary of what changed:

• PRs newly labeled, with the area/* / kind/* added per PR.
• PRs newly flagged status/needs-rebase (drafted + commented).
• PRs cleared of status/needs-rebase.
• PRs newly flagged status/needs-signed-commits (with the list of unsigned commit SHAs per PR).
• PRs cleared of status/needs-signed-commits.
• PRs skipped because mergeable state was UNKNOWN (to be retried next run).
• Any PR left for human triage (ambiguous kind/* / area/*).

If nothing changed, say so explicitly — for an idempotent run over already-triaged PRs, "no changes" is the expected and correct outcome.