Implement auto-merge for approved PRs with CI checks #27

Copilot · 2025-10-09T11:10:34Z

Overview

Implements a comprehensive auto-merge feature that automatically merges pull requests when they're approved and CI passes, preventing branches from sitting idle and keeping the development workflow moving.

Problem

Previously, the auto-merge workflow (auto-merge.yml) would merge PRs immediately upon opening without checking for approvals or CI status. This was unsafe and didn't match the desired workflow where PRs should only merge after:

Being reviewed and approved
Passing all CI checks
Having no merge conflicts

Solution

1. Smart Auto-Merge Workflow

Completely rewrote .github/workflows/auto-merge.yml with intelligent checks:

Triggers automatically when:

Pull requests receive reviews (pull_request_review: submitted)
CI check suites complete (check_suite: completed)
Status checks succeed (status: success)

Safety checks before merging:

✓ PR is APPROVED by reviewers
✓ All CI checks PASS (or no checks configured)
✓ No merge CONFLICTS exist

When all conditions are met:

Merges using squash merge for clean history
Automatically deletes the source branch
Posts a confirmation comment documenting the merge

When conditions are NOT met:

Logs detailed reasons why merge was skipped
Waits for next trigger to check again
No action taken on the PR

2. Manual Script

Created scripts/auto-merge executable for manual use:

./scripts/auto-merge

Features:

Checks all open PRs
Uses the same logic as the workflow
Provides colored output for easy reading
Shows merge statistics (merged count, skipped count)
Useful for testing and manual triggers

3. Comprehensive Documentation

Added complete documentation:

docs/auto-merge.md (267 lines) - Full feature guide including configuration, troubleshooting, examples, FAQs, and security considerations
README.md - Updated with auto-merge feature in features list and CLI tools
scripts/README.md - Added auto-merge tool documentation with usage examples

Example Workflow

# 1. Create and push a feature branch
git checkout -b feature/new-api
git push origin feature/new-api

# 2. Create PR
gh pr create --title "Add new API endpoint"

# 3. Reviewer approves the PR
# (Happens in GitHub UI)

# 4. CI checks pass
# (Automatic via GitHub Actions)

# 5. Auto-merge happens within seconds! 🎉
# Branch is merged and deleted automatically

Benefits

⚡ Faster delivery - PRs merge as soon as they're ready, no manual intervention needed
🌍 24/7 operation - Works across time zones, no waiting for someone to be online
🧠 Less context switching - Developers don't need to remember to merge PRs
🔒 Safety first - Multiple checks prevent unsafe merges
🧹 Auto cleanup - Merged branches are automatically deleted
📝 Audit trail - Every merge is documented with a comment

Testing

All syntax and logic validated:

✅ YAML syntax validated with Python yaml parser
✅ Bash script syntax validated with bash -n
✅ Logic tested with sample PR data for multiple scenarios
✅ Edge cases verified (not approved, conflicts, pending CI)

Configuration

The workflow uses sensible defaults but can be customized:

Change merge method:

# Current (squash merge):
gh pr merge "$number" --squash --delete-branch

# For regular merge:
gh pr merge "$number" --merge --delete-branch

# For rebase:
gh pr merge "$number" --rebase --delete-branch

Disable auto-delete of branches:
Remove the --delete-branch flag from the merge command.

Require multiple approvals:
Configure branch protection rules in repository settings.

Files Changed

.github/workflows/auto-merge.yml - Rewritten with smart checks (111 lines changed)
scripts/auto-merge - New executable script (136 lines)
docs/auto-merge.md - New comprehensive documentation (267 lines)
README.md - Updated with auto-merge feature (26 lines added)
scripts/README.md - Added tool documentation (47 lines added)

Total: 5 files changed, 567 insertions(+), 20 deletions(-)

Closes

Fixes the issue requesting auto-merge functionality for approved PRs with passing CI checks.

Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Auto-merge PRs when ready - Automatically merge approved PRs to keep the workflow moving. Should merge when CI passes and PR is approved, preventing branches from sitting idle</issue_title>
<issue_description>@claude

Auto-merge PRs when ready - Automatically merge approved PRs to keep the workflow moving. Should merge when CI passes and PR is approved, preventing branches from sitting idle</issue_description>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)
@Skogix Go ahead and automerge - make it work - and asap! @claude @Skogix @claude FINISH @Skogix
Get all open PRs

prs=$(gh pr list --state open --json number,title,headRefName,mergeable,mergeStateStatus --limit 100)

if [ "$prs" = "[]" ]; then
echo "No open PRs found." >> report.md
cat report.md
exit 0
fi

Parse and categorize PRs

cleanly_mergeable=""
behind_but_clean=""
has_conflicts=""
unknown_status=""

echo "$prs" | jq -r '.[] | @base64' | while IFS= read -r pr; do
_jq() {
echo "$pr" | base64 --decode | jq -r "$1"
}
number=$(_jq '.number')
'.title')
branch=$(_jq '.headRefName')
mergeable=$(_jq '.mergeable')
mergeState=$(_jq '.mergeStateStatus')

case "$mergeable" in
  "MERGEABLE")
    if [ "$mergeState" = "BEHIND" ]; then
      echo "- #$number: $title (\`$branch\`) - Behind master but no conflicts" >> behind.txt
    else
      echo "- #$number: $title (\`$branch\`) - Cleanly mergeable" >> clean.txt
    fi
    ;;
  "CONFLICTING")
    echo "- #$number: $title (\`$branch\`) - **HAS CONFLICTS**" >> conflicts.txt
    # Comment on the PR about conflicts
    gh pr comment "$number" --body "⚠️ This PR has merge conflicts with master after the latest push. Please sync your branch and resolve conflicts."
    ;;
  *)
    echo "- #$number: $title (\`$branch\`) - Status: $mergeable" >> unknown.txt
    ;;
esac
done

Build the report

if [ -f clean.txt ]; then
echo "### ✅ Cleanly Mergeable PRs" >> report.md
cat clean.txt >> report.md
echo "" >> report.md
fi

if [ -f behind.txt ]; then
echo "### 📋 Behind Master (No Conflicts)" >> report.md
cat behind.txt >> report.md
echo "" >> report.md
fi

if [ -f conflicts.txt ]; then
echo "### ⚠️ PRs with Merge Conflicts" >> report.md
cat conflicts.txt >> report.md
echo "" >> report.md
fi

if [ -f unknown.txt ]; then
echo "### ❓ Unknown Status" >> report.md
cat unknown.txt >> report.md
echo "" >> report.md
fi

Output the report

cat report.md

Create/update a summary issue if there are conflicts or behind PRs

if [ -f conflicts.txt ] || [ -f behind.txt ]; then
issue_title="PR Sync Status - $(date +%Y-%m-%d)"
issue_body=$(cat report.md)
# Check if there's already an open issue with this title pattern
existing_issue=$(gh issue list --state open --search "PR Sync Status" --json number --limit 1 | jq -r '.[0].number // empty')

if [ -n "$existing_issue" ]; then
  # Update existing issue
  gh issue comment "$existing_issue" --body "$issue_body"
  echo "Updated issue #$existing_issue with latest status"
else
  # Create new issue
  gh issue create --title "$issue_title" --body "$issue_body" --label "automation"
  echo "Created new sync status issue"
fi
fi
shell: /usr/bin/bash -e {0}
env:
GH_TOKEN: ***
/home/runner/work/_temp/d1e62cd0-7e06-4845-b651-86c9e44f1f23.sh: line 27: syntax error near unexpected token `)'
Error: Process completed with exit code 2.

@claude </comment_new>
<comment_new>@Skogix
@claude why are you not helping out and fixing it?</comment_new>

Fixes #22

💡 You can make Copilot smarter by setting up custom instructions, customizing its development environment and configuring Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. Learn more Copilot coding agent tips in the docs.

Co-authored-by: Skogix <690279+Skogix@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull Request Overview

This PR implements a comprehensive auto-merge feature that automatically merges pull requests when they're approved by reviewers and CI checks pass, preventing approved PRs from sitting idle and maintaining development momentum.

Key Changes:

Rewrote the auto-merge workflow with intelligent approval and CI status checks
Created a manual auto-merge script for testing and manual triggers
Added comprehensive documentation including usage examples and troubleshooting

Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 5 out of 5 changed files in this pull request and generated 5 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
`.github/workflows/auto-merge.yml`	Completely rewrote workflow with smart checks for approval, CI status, and merge conflicts
`scripts/auto-merge`	New executable script for manual auto-merge checks with colored output and statistics
`docs/auto-merge.md`	Comprehensive 267-line documentation covering configuration, examples, and troubleshooting
`README.md`	Updated with auto-merge feature description and CLI tool reference
`scripts/README.md`	Added auto-merge tool documentation with usage examples

_{Tip: Customize your code reviews with copilot-instructions.md. Create the file or learn how to get started.}

Copilot · 2025-10-09T12:00:34Z

scripts/auto-merge

+            gh pr comment "$number" --body "🤖 **Auto-merged** by auto-merge script
+
+✅ All conditions met:
+- Review: Approved
+- CI: Passed  
+- Conflicts: None
+
+Branch \`$branch\` has been merged and deleted."


[nitpick] The multi-line string in the gh pr comment command should use a here document for better readability and maintainability.

Suggested change

gh pr comment "$number" --body "🤖 **Auto-merged** by auto-merge script

✅ All conditions met:

- Review: Approved

- CI: Passed

- Conflicts: None

Branch \`$branch\` has been merged and deleted."

comment_body=$(cat <<EOF

🤖 **Auto-merged** by auto-merge script

✅ All conditions met:

- Review: Approved

- CI: Passed

- Conflicts: None

Branch \`$branch\` has been merged and deleted.

EOF

)

gh pr comment "$number" --body "$comment_body"

Copilot · 2025-10-09T12:00:35Z

.github/workflows/auto-merge.yml

+                gh pr comment "$number" --body "🤖 **Auto-merged** by workflow
+          
+          ✅ All conditions met:
+          - Review: Approved
+          - CI: Passed
+          - Conflicts: None
+          
+          Branch \`${branch}\` has been merged and deleted." --repo "${{ github.repository }}"


[nitpick] The multi-line string in the gh pr comment command should use a here document for better readability and maintainability.

Copilot · 2025-10-09T12:00:35Z

scripts/auto-merge

+
+        if gh pr merge "$number" --squash --delete-branch; then
+            success "🎉 Successfully merged PR #$number and deleted branch!"
+            merged_count=$((merged_count + 1))


The counter variables are being incremented inside a subshell created by the while loop. These increments won't persist to the main shell, so the final counts will always be 0. Use process substitution instead: while IFS= read -r pr; do ... done < <(echo \"$prs\" | jq -c '.[]')

Copilot · 2025-10-09T12:00:35Z

scripts/auto-merge

+        [ "$reviewDecision" != "APPROVED" ] && echo "      - Waiting for approval (current: $reviewDecision)"
+        [ "$ci_status" != "passed" ] && echo "      - Waiting for CI (current: $ci_status)"
+        [ "$mergeable" != "MERGEABLE" ] && echo "      - Has merge conflicts or unknown state"
+        skipped_count=$((skipped_count + 1))


The counter variables are being incremented inside a subshell created by the while loop. These increments won't persist to the main shell, so the final counts will always be 0. Use process substitution instead: while IFS= read -r pr; do ... done < <(echo \"$prs\" | jq -c '.[]')

Copilot · 2025-10-09T12:00:36Z

scripts/auto-merge

+info "Merged: $merged_count PRs"
+info "Skipped: $skipped_count PRs"


The counter variables are being incremented inside a subshell created by the while loop. These increments won't persist to the main shell, so the final counts will always be 0. Use process substitution instead: while IFS= read -r pr; do ... done < <(echo \"$prs\" | jq -c '.[]')

Initial plan

0d49e4b

Copilot AI assigned Copilot and Skogix Oct 9, 2025

Copilot started work on behalf of Skogix October 9, 2025 11:10 View session

Copilot AI and others added 2 commits October 9, 2025 11:17

Implement auto-merge for approved PRs with CI checks

36642d2

Co-authored-by: Skogix <690279+Skogix@users.noreply.github.com>

Add comprehensive auto-merge documentation

3bfded0

Co-authored-by: Skogix <690279+Skogix@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Add auto-merge functionality for approved PRs~~ Implement auto-merge for approved PRs with CI checks Oct 9, 2025

Copilot AI requested a review from Skogix October 9, 2025 11:23

Copilot finished work on behalf of Skogix October 9, 2025 11:23

Skogix approved these changes Oct 9, 2025

View reviewed changes

Skogix marked this pull request as ready for review October 9, 2025 11:58

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings October 9, 2025 11:58

Skogix merged commit 315d321 into master Oct 9, 2025
1 of 2 checks passed

Copilot AI reviewed Oct 9, 2025

View reviewed changes

Skogix deleted the copilot/auto-merge-approved-prs branch October 9, 2025 13:03

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Implement auto-merge for approved PRs with CI checks #27

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		info "Merged: $merged_count PRs"
		info "Skipped: $skipped_count PRs"

Implement auto-merge for approved PRs with CI checks #27

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Overview

Problem

Solution

1. Smart Auto-Merge Workflow

2. Manual Script

3. Comprehensive Documentation

Example Workflow

Benefits

Testing

Configuration

Files Changed

Closes

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

Get all open PRs

Parse and categorize PRs

Build the report

Output the report

Create/update a summary issue if there are conflicts or behind PRs

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Pull Request Overview

Reviewed Changes

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Copilot AI commented Oct 9, 2025 •

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