Stacked PRs Workflow

Workflows for managing stacked (dependent) pull requests with proper visualization, merge-based updates, and iterative CodeRabbit review cycles.

Core Principles

1. No Force Pushes - Always use merge commits, never rebase/force-push
2. Draft First - PRs start as drafts until CI passes and CodeRabbit approves
3. Bottom-Up Processing - Address feedback from lowest PR in stack first
4. Comprehensive Reviews - Address all CodeRabbit comments including nitpicks
5. Visual Stack - Use PR titles and descriptions to show stack relationships

Skill Contents

Sections

• Core Principles (L25-L32)
• Workflow Overview (L61-L69)
• Quick Reference (L70-L100)
• Scripts (L101-L106)
• References (L107-L116)
• Key Requirement: CodeRabbit Approval (L117-L127)
• Programmatic Automation (L128-L152)
• Skill Dependencies (L153-L159)
• Related (L160-L163)

Available Resources

📚 references/ - Detailed documentation

• automation patterns
• merge workflow
• pr formatting
• readiness checklist
• review cycles

🔧 scripts/ - Automation scripts

• check stack status

Workflow Overview

Quick Reference

PR Title Format

[JIRA-KEY] type(scope): description (PR N/M)

Stack Visualization (in PR Description)

## PR Stack

| # | PR | Title | Status |
|---|-----|-------|--------|
| 1 | #78 | PNPM migration | Merged |
| 2 | **#79** | Shell to JS | This PR |
| 3 | #80 | Skills content | Depends on #79 |
| 4 | #81 | Validation & CI | Depends on #80 |

Merge Flow (Not Rebase)

# After fixing issues in PR #79
git checkout feat/pr-80-branch
git merge feat/pr-79-branch --no-edit
git push origin feat/pr-80-branch
# Repeat for subsequent PRs in stack

Scripts

References

Key Requirement: CodeRabbit Approval

PRs should only be marked "Ready for Review" when:

1. All CI checks pass
2. All CodeRabbit comments addressed (including nitpicks)
3. CodeRabbit has approved (happens automatically after addressing feedback)
4. All previous PRs in the stack are merged

Important: Do NOT explicitly request CodeRabbit approval. It approves automatically after you've addressed all its comments and pushed fixes.

Programmatic Automation

For autonomous AI agents, use polling loops to monitor status:

async function waitForPRReady(prNumber: number, repo: string, maxAttempts = 30, intervalMs = 60000) {
  for (let attempt = 1; attempt <= maxAttempts; attempt++) {
    const status = await checkPRStatus(prNumber, repo);

    if (status.ciPassed && status.coderabbitApproved && status.openComments === 0) {
      return { ready: true, status };
    }

    console.log(`Attempt ${attempt}/${maxAttempts}: CI=${status.ciPassed}, CR=${status.coderabbitApproved}, Comments=${status.openComments}`);

    if (attempt < maxAttempts) {
      await sleep(intervalMs);
    }
  }
  return { ready: false, reason: 'timeout' };
}

See references/automation-patterns.md for complete polling implementations.

Skill Dependencies

Related

• coderabbit-workflow - Detailed CodeRabbit workflow patterns
• pr-workflow - GitHub CLI commands for PR management