PR Comment Triage - Evaluate → Decide → Act

Philosophy

Replies are SECONDARY to addressing concerns.

• Important issue? FIX IT → reply with commit ref → resolve
• Not important? RESOLVE SILENTLY → no reply needed
• Don't reply to every comment - that's noise

The Workflow

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│         EVALUATE → DECIDE → ACT             │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                             │
│  1. FETCH UNREPLIED (metadata only)         │
│     → Get root comments without replies     │
│     → ~100 bytes/comment, paginated         │
│                                             │
│  2. EVALUATE each comment                   │
│     → Fetch body only if path looks important│
│     → Skip: metadata files, style nits      │
│     → Check: security, correctness, tests   │
│                                             │
│  3. DECIDE action                           │
│     → FIX: implement change, reply, resolve │
│     → RESOLVE: close silently, no reply     │
│     → DEFER: create cell, resolve           │
│                                             │
│  4. ACT                                     │
│     → Fix issues in code                    │
│     → Resolve threads (not reply)           │
│     → Reply ONLY when you fixed something   │
│                                             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Decision Matrix

Comment Type	Action	Reply?
Security/correctness bug	FIX → reply with commit	✅ Yes
Valid improvement, in scope	FIX → reply with commit	✅ Yes
Valid but out of scope	Create cell → resolve	❌ No
Style/formatting nit	Resolve silently	❌ No
Metadata file (.jsonl, etc)	Resolve silently	❌ No
Already fixed	Reply with commit → resolve	✅ Yes
Disagree with suggestion	Resolve silently	❌ No

SDK Commands

# Get unreplied root comments (start here)
bun run scripts/pr-comments.ts unreplied owner/repo 42

# Evaluate: fetch body for specific comment
bun run scripts/pr-comments.ts expand owner/repo 123456

# Act: resolve without reply (preferred)
bun run scripts/pr-comments.ts resolve owner/repo 42 123456

# Act: reply then resolve (only when you fixed something)
bun run scripts/pr-comments.ts reply owner/repo 42 123456 "✅ Fixed in abc123"

# Helpers
bun run scripts/pr-comments.ts summary owner/repo 42   # File-level overview
bun run scripts/pr-comments.ts list owner/repo 42      # All metadata

Quick Triage Pattern

import { fetchMetadata, fetchBody, resolveThread, reply, getThreadId } from "./scripts/pr-comments.ts";

const comments = await fetchMetadata("owner/repo", 42);

// Find unreplied root comments
const repliedTo = new Set(comments.filter(c => c.inReplyToId).map(c => c.inReplyToId));
const unreplied = comments.filter(c => !c.inReplyToId && !repliedTo.has(c.id));

for (const c of unreplied) {
  // Skip metadata files - resolve silently
  if (c.path.endsWith('.jsonl') || c.path.includes('.hive/')) {
    const threadId = await getThreadId("owner/repo", 42, c.id);
    if (threadId) await resolveThread("owner/repo", threadId);
    continue;
  }

  // Evaluate important files
  const full = await fetchBody("owner/repo", c.id);
  
  if (full.body.includes('Critical') || full.body.includes('security')) {
    // FIX IT, then reply
    // ... implement fix ...
    await reply("owner/repo", 42, c.id, "✅ Fixed in abc123");
  }
  
  // Resolve either way
  const threadId = await getThreadId("owner/repo", 42, c.id);
  if (threadId) await resolveThread("owner/repo", threadId);
}

Skip These (Resolve Silently)

• .hive/issues.jsonl - auto-generated metadata
• .hive/memories.jsonl - auto-generated metadata
• Changeset formatting suggestions
• Import ordering nits
• "Add tracking issue" for intentional skips
• Style preferences you disagree with

Fix These (Reply + Resolve)

• Security vulnerabilities
• Correctness bugs
• Missing error handling
• Test coverage gaps (if valid)
• Type safety issues

Context Budget

Action	Context Cost
unreplied	~100 bytes/comment
expand (1 comment)	~5KB
resolve	0 (GraphQL mutation)
reply	~200 bytes

Rule: Fetch <10 bodies per triage session.

References

• scripts/pr-comments.ts - Full SDK with Zod schemas
• references/gh-api-patterns.md - Raw jq patterns, GraphQL, pagination