gh-pr-review

A GitHub CLI extension that provides complete inline PR review comment access from the terminal with LLM-friendly JSON output.

When to Use

Use this skill when you need to:

• View inline review comments and threads on a pull request
• Reply to review comments programmatically
• Resolve or unresolve review threads
• Create and submit PR reviews with inline comments
• Access PR review context for automated workflows
• Filter reviews by state, reviewer, or resolution status

This tool is particularly useful for:

• Automated PR review workflows
• LLM-based code review agents
• Terminal-based PR review processes
• Getting structured review data without multiple API calls

Installation

First, ensure the extension is installed:

gh extension install agynio/gh-pr-review

Core Commands

1. View All Reviews and Threads

Get complete review context with inline comments and thread replies:

gh pr-review review view -R owner/repo --pr <number>

Useful filters:

• --unresolved – Only show unresolved threads
• --reviewer <login> – Filter by specific reviewer
• --states <APPROVED|CHANGES_REQUESTED|COMMENTED|DISMISSED> – Filter by review state
• --tail <n> – Keep only last n replies per thread
• --not_outdated – Exclude outdated threads

Output: Structured JSON with reviews, comments, thread_ids, and resolution status.

2. Reply to Review Threads

Reply to an existing inline comment thread:

gh pr-review comments reply <pr-number> -R owner/repo \
  --thread-id <PRRT_...> \
  --body "Your reply message"

3. List Review Threads

Get a filtered list of review threads:

gh pr-review threads list -R owner/repo <pr-number> --unresolved --mine

4. Resolve/Unresolve Threads

Mark threads as resolved:

gh pr-review threads resolve -R owner/repo <pr-number> --thread-id <PRRT_...>

5. Create and Submit Reviews

Start a pending review:

gh pr-review review --start -R owner/repo <pr-number>

Add inline comments to pending review:

gh pr-review review --add-comment \
  --review-id <PRR_...> \
  --path <file-path> \
  --line <line-number> \
  --body "Your comment" \
  -R owner/repo <pr-number>

Submit the review:

gh pr-review review --submit \
  --review-id <PRR_...> \
  --event <APPROVE|REQUEST_CHANGES|COMMENT> \
  --body "Overall review summary" \
  -R owner/repo <pr-number>

Output Format

All commands return structured JSON optimized for programmatic use:

• Consistent field names
• Stable ordering
• Omitted fields instead of null values
• Essential data only (no URLs or metadata noise)
• Pre-joined thread replies

Example output structure:

{
  "reviews": [
    {
      "id": "PRR_...",
      "state": "CHANGES_REQUESTED",
      "author_login": "reviewer",
      "comments": [
        {
          "thread_id": "PRRT_...",
          "path": "src/file.go",
          "author_login": "reviewer",
          "body": "Consider refactoring this",
          "created_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
          "is_resolved": false,
          "is_outdated": false,
          "thread_comments": [
            {
              "author_login": "author",
              "body": "Good point, will fix",
              "created_at": "2024-01-15T11:00:00Z"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Best Practices

1. Always use -R owner/repo to specify the repository explicitly
2. Use --unresolved and --not_outdated to focus on actionable comments
3. Save thread_id values from review view output for replying
4. Filter by reviewer when dealing with specific review feedback
5. Use --tail 1 to reduce output size by keeping only latest replies
6. Parse JSON output instead of trying to scrape text
7. ALWAYS get user approval before posting replies – Never automatically reply to PR comments without explicit user confirmation

Common Workflows

Get Unresolved Comments for Current PR

gh pr-review review view --unresolved --not_outdated -R owner/repo --pr $(gh pr view --json number -q .number)

Reply to All Unresolved Comments

IMPORTANT: Always follow this workflow when addressing PR comments:

1. Fetch comments: Get unresolved threads with gh pr-review review view --unresolved --not_outdated -R owner/repo --pr <number>
2. Make code changes: Address the review feedback by modifying files
3. Show proposed replies: Present the changes made and draft reply messages to the user
4. Wait for approval: Get explicit user confirmation before posting any replies
5. Post replies: Only after approval, use gh pr-review comments reply <pr> -R owner/repo --thread-id <id> --body "..."
6. Optionally resolve: If appropriate, resolve threads with gh pr-review threads resolve <pr> -R owner/repo --thread-id <id>

Never skip step 4 – automated replies without user review can be inappropriate or premature.

Create Review with Inline Comments

1. Start: gh pr-review review --start -R owner/repo <pr>
2. Add comments: gh pr-review review --add-comment -R owner/repo <pr> --review-id <PRR_...> --path <file> --line <num> --body "..."
3. Submit: gh pr-review review --submit -R owner/repo <pr> --review-id <PRR_...> --event REQUEST_CHANGES --body "Summary"

Important Notes

• All IDs use GraphQL format (PRR_… for reviews, PRRT_… for threads)
• Commands use pure GraphQL (no REST API fallbacks)
• Empty arrays [] are returned when no data matches filters
• The --include-comment-node-id flag adds PRRC_… IDs when needed
• Thread replies are sorted by created_at ascending