GitHub PR Context Skill

Overview

This skill provides tools to retrieve comprehensive context about GitHub Pull Requests. Use this skill when you need to:

• Understand a PR before reviewing: Get the full picture of what changed, why, and how
• Plan task delegation: Know which files changed to assign subagents appropriately
• Analyze merge readiness: Check mergeable status, conflicts, and CI state
• Extract specific metadata: Get author, branch names, labels, reviewers

Output

Each script produces structured output for different PR analysis needs:

All JSON outputs are pretty-printed and can be piped to jq for filtering.

Instructions

Follow these numbered steps to retrieve and analyze GitHub PR context:

1. Verify prerequisites are met

   • Run gh auth status to confirm GitHub CLI authentication
   • Run python3 --version to confirm Python 3.8+ is available
   • Ensure you have read access to the target repository

2. Identify which information you need

   • Need full PR overview? → Use eia_get_pr_context.py
   • Need only changed files list? → Use eia_get_pr_files.py
   • Need actual code diff? → Use eia_get_pr_diff.py

3. Run the appropriate script with required parameters

   • Always provide --pr NUMBER (the PR number)
   • Optionally provide --repo OWNER/REPO (defaults to current directory's repo)
   • For diffs, optionally add --stat for summary or --files for specific files

4. Parse the output based on your task

   • For JSON outputs: pipe to jq or parse in your code
   • For diff outputs: analyze unified diff format or statistics
   • Check exit codes (0 = success, 1-4 = various errors)

5. Handle errors appropriately

   • Exit code 1: Fix invalid parameters
   • Exit code 2: Verify PR number and repository
   • Exit code 3: Check network, retry if rate limited
   • Exit code 4: Re-authenticate with gh auth login

6. Extract specific information as needed

   • For metadata fields, see references/pr-metadata.md
   • For diff analysis, see references/diff-analysis.md

Checklist

Copy this checklist and track your progress:

• Verify GitHub CLI is authenticated (gh auth status)
• Verify Python 3.8+ is available
• Confirm read access to the target repository
• Identify which information is needed (context/files/diff)
• Run the appropriate script with --pr NUMBER parameter
• Parse the JSON or diff output
• Check exit codes and handle any errors
• Extract specific metadata or diff information as needed

When to Use This Skill

Decision Tree: Which Script to Use

Need PR information?
├── Need full context (metadata + files + status)?
│   └── Use: eia_get_pr_context.py
│
├── Need only the list of changed files?
│   └── Use: eia_get_pr_files.py
│
├── Need to see the actual code diff?
│   ├── Want summary statistics only?
│   │   └── Use: eia_get_pr_diff.py --stat
│   ├── Want diff for specific files?
│   │   └── Use: eia_get_pr_diff.py --files file1.py file2.py
│   └── Want full diff?
│       └── Use: eia_get_pr_diff.py

Prerequisites

1. GitHub CLI (gh) must be installed and authenticated
2. Python 3.8+ available in PATH
3. Repository access - you must have read access to the repository

Verify prerequisites:

# Check gh is authenticated
gh auth status

# Check Python version
python3 --version

Script Reference Table

Exit Codes (Standardized)

All scripts use standardized exit codes for consistent error handling:

Examples

Get Full PR Context

# Get context for PR #123 in current repo
python3 eia_get_pr_context.py --pr 123

# Get context for PR in specific repo
python3 eia_get_pr_context.py --pr 456 --repo owner/repo-name

List Changed Files

# List files changed in PR #123
python3 eia_get_pr_files.py --pr 123

# Include patch/diff for each file
python3 eia_get_pr_files.py --pr 123 --include-patch

Get Diff

# Get full diff
python3 eia_get_pr_diff.py --pr 123

# Get statistics summary only
python3 eia_get_pr_diff.py --pr 123 --stat

# Get diff for specific files only
python3 eia_get_pr_diff.py --pr 123 --files src/main.py tests/test_main.py

Reference Documents

PR Metadata Reference

For detailed information about PR metadata fields and how to extract specific information, see:

references/pr-metadata.md

Contents:

• 1. PR Metadata JSON Structure
  • 1.1 Core identification fields (number, title, state)
  • 1.2 Author and assignee information
  • 1.3 Branch and merge information
  • 1.4 Labels, milestones, and projects
  • 1.5 Review and approval status
• 2. Extracting Specific Fields
  • 2.1 Getting PR title and description
  • 2.2 Finding the source and target branches
  • 2.3 Checking mergeable status and conflicts
  • 2.4 Listing reviewers and their decisions
• 3. Common Metadata Queries
  • 3.1 Is this PR ready to merge?
  • 3.2 Who needs to approve this PR?
  • 3.3 What labels are applied?

Diff Analysis Reference

For detailed information about interpreting PR diffs and analyzing changes, see:

references/diff-analysis.md

Contents:

• 1. Understanding Diff Output
  • 1.1 Unified diff format explanation
  • 1.2 File headers and hunks
  • 1.3 Addition, deletion, and context lines
• 2. File-Level Analysis
  • 2.1 Identifying file types by extension
  • 2.2 Detecting rename and copy operations
  • 2.3 Binary file changes
• 3. Change Statistics
  • 3.1 Lines added vs deleted
  • 3.2 Files by change type (added, modified, deleted)
  • 3.3 Estimating review complexity
• 4. Filtering and Focusing
  • 4.1 Filtering by file path patterns
  • 4.2 Ignoring generated files
  • 4.3 Focusing on specific directories

Integration with Integrator Agent

When delegating PR review tasks, use this skill to gather context first:

1. Get PR context with eia_get_pr_context.py
2. Analyze which files changed with eia_get_pr_files.py
3. Delegate file-specific reviews to subagents based on file types
4. Aggregate results and post review summary

Error Handling

For additional troubleshooting, run scripts with --verbose flag for detailed logging.

Resources

• references/pr-metadata.md - PR metadata JSON structure and field extraction
• references/diff-analysis.md - Understanding and analyzing PR diffs