danievanzyl/code-skills/gh-draft-pr

GH Draft PR

Take a local branch from working state to a draft PR on GitHub: stage + commit any outstanding changes, push, then open a draft PR.

Usage

/gh-draft-pr [title]

• title — optional one-line PR title. If omitted, derive from the latest commit subject.

Workflow

1. Sanity checks

Run in parallel:

git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD          # current branch
git status --porcelain                   # uncommitted changes
gh repo view --json defaultBranchRef -q .defaultBranchRef.name  # base branch
gh pr list --head "$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)" --json number,url,isDraft  # existing PR?

Then:

• If current branch == default branch (main/master): stop. Tell the user to switch to a feature branch first — never open PRs from main.
• If gh pr list returns a PR: stop. Tell the user the PR already exists with its URL. Don't try to recreate.
• If gh auth status fails anywhere: stop and tell the user to run gh auth login.

2. Commit outstanding changes

If git status --porcelain is non-empty:

git diff --stat                          # see what's changing
git diff --cached --stat                 # already-staged

Stage everything tracked + untracked, but skip likely secrets (.env*, credentials*, *.pem, id_rsa*). If any of those appear in git status, ask the user before staging.

git add -A

Generate a commit message from the diff. Style: imperative, concise, follow the repo's existing commit style (run git log -5 --oneline to match tone). One subject line, optional body if the change is non-trivial.

git commit -m "$(cat <<'EOF'
<subject>
 
<optional body>
EOF
)"

If nothing to commit, skip this step.

3. Push

git push -u origin "$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)"

-u is safe to pass even if upstream already set — it just re-asserts.

4. Build PR title and body

Title:

• Use the user-provided argument if given.
• Otherwise: latest commit subject (git log -1 --pretty=%s).
• Keep under 70 chars.

Body: generate from git log <base>..HEAD and git diff <base>..HEAD --stat. Template:

## Summary
<2-3 bullets describing what changed and why — derive from commit subjects + diff>
 
## Test plan
- [ ] <derive from changed files: tests to add/run>

Write to a temp file to avoid shell escaping pain:

cat > /tmp/gh-draft-pr-body.md << 'EOF'
<body>
EOF

5. Create the draft PR

gh pr create --draft --title "<title>" --body-file /tmp/gh-draft-pr-body.md --base "<default-branch>"

gh infers --head from the current branch.

6. Confirm

Output the PR URL on a single line. Example:

Draft PR opened: https://github.com/owner/repo/pull/123

Rules

• Never use --no-verify on commits or --force on push unless the user explicitly asks.
• Never commit files matching .env*, credentials*, *.pem, id_rsa* without asking.
• Always --draft — this skill only opens drafts. If the user wants ready-for-review, they can gh pr ready after.
• Always pass body via --body-file, never inline.
• Don't open a PR from the default branch.
• Don't recreate a PR if one already exists for the branch — surface the existing URL instead.
• If gh auth status fails, stop and tell the user to run gh auth login.