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
• •
  1. •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
• •
  1. •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
• •
  1. •File-Level Analysis
  • •2.1 Identifying file types by extension
  • •2.2 Detecting rename and copy operations
  • •2.3 Binary file changes
• •
  1. •Change Statistics
  • •3.1 Lines added vs deleted
  • •3.2 Files by change type (added, modified, deleted)
  • •3.3 Estimating review complexity
• •
  1. •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