Greploop

Greploop

Iteratively fix a PR/MR/CL until Greptile gives a perfect review: 5/5 confidence, zero unresolved comments.

Inputs

• PR/MR/CL number (optional): If not provided, detect the PR/MR for the current branch, or the default pending changelist for p4.

Instructions

0. Detect platform

First check for Perforce, then fall back to git remote detection:

# Check for Perforce environment
if p4 info >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  VCS="perforce"
else
  REMOTE_URL=$(git remote get-url origin)
  if echo "$REMOTE_URL" | grep -qi "gitlab"; then
    VCS="gitlab"
  else
    VCS="github"
  fi
fi

For self-hosted GitLab instances whose hostname doesn't contain "gitlab", the user can override by passing --vcs gitlab as an input. For Perforce, pass --vcs perforce.

1. Identify the PR/MR/CL

GitHub:

gh pr view --json number,headRefName -q '{number: .number, branch: .headRefName}'

GitLab:

glab mr view --output json | jq '{iid: .iid, branch: .source_branch}'

Switch to the PR/MR branch if not already on it.

Perforce:

# List pending changelists for current user/client
p4 changes -s pending -u $P4USER -c $P4CLIENT

# Describe a specific CL
p4 describe -s <CL_NUMBER>

Ensure the correct workspace (p4 client) is set before proceeding.

Key field differences:

• GitHub: number, headRefName, headRefOid
• GitLab: iid, source_branch, sha
• Perforce: changelist number, P4CLIENT, shelved files

2. Loop

Repeat the following cycle. Max 5 iterations to avoid runaway loops.

A. Trigger Greptile review

Push/shelve the latest changes (if any):

GitHub/GitLab:

git push

Perforce:

# Re-shelve to update the shelved files for review
p4 shelve -f -c <CL_NUMBER>

Wait for checks to start after push/shelve:

sleep 5

GitHub — check if Greptile is already running before posting a new trigger comment:

GREPTILE_STATE=$(gh pr checks <PR_NUMBER> --json name,state | jq -r '.[] | select(.name | test("greptile"; "i")) | .state')

If Greptile is not already running (PENDING or IN_PROGRESS), request a fresh review:

if [ "$GREPTILE_STATE" != "PENDING" ] && [ "$GREPTILE_STATE" != "IN_PROGRESS" ]; then
  gh pr comment <PR_NUMBER> --body "@greptile review"
fi

Then poll for the Greptile check run to complete:

HEAD_SHA=$(gh pr view <PR_NUMBER> --json headRefOid -q .headRefOid)
ATTEMPTS=0
MAX_ATTEMPTS=60
POLL_INTERVAL_SECONDS=10

while true; do
  ATTEMPTS=$((ATTEMPTS + 1))
  if [ "$ATTEMPTS" -gt "$MAX_ATTEMPTS" ]; then
    echo "Timed out waiting for the Greptile check run after approximately 10 minutes." >&2
    exit 1
  fi

  GREPTILE_CHECK=$(gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/commits/$HEAD_SHA/check-runs" \
    --jq '.check_runs[] | select(.name | test("greptile"; "i"))' 2>/dev/null)
  
  if [ -z "$GREPTILE_CHECK" ]; then
    echo "Waiting for Greptile check to appear..."
    sleep "$POLL_INTERVAL_SECONDS"
    continue
  fi
  
  STATUS=$(echo "$GREPTILE_CHECK" | jq -r '.status // "completed"')
  CONCLUSION=$(echo "$GREPTILE_CHECK" | jq -r '.conclusion // "pending"')
  
  if [ "$STATUS" = "completed" ]; then
    if [ "$CONCLUSION" = "success" ]; then
      echo "Greptile check passed!"
    else
      echo "Greptile check completed with: $CONCLUSION"
    fi
    break
  fi
  
  echo "Waiting for Greptile... (status: $STATUS)"
  sleep "$POLL_INTERVAL_SECONDS"
done

If polling times out, stop the greploop workflow and report the timeout. Do not continue with stale or missing review results.

GitLab — check if Greptile is already running before posting a trigger comment:

PIPELINES=$(glab api "projects/:fullpath/merge_requests/<MR_IID>/pipelines")
GREPTILE_RUNNING=$(echo "$PIPELINES" | jq '[.[] | select(.status == "running" or .status == "pending")] | length')

If no pipeline is running, post a trigger comment:

if [ "$GREPTILE_RUNNING" = "0" ]; then
  glab mr note <MR_IID> --message "@greptile review"
fi

Perforce — Perforce does not have native check runs. If Greptile is integrated via a webhook triggered on p4 shelve, wait for it to process. Check your Greptile installation's webhook endpoint or dashboard for the review status. Poll by re-fetching the Greptile review comment on the CL until a score appears.

Then poll for the Greptile pipeline job to complete (see GitLab API reference):

HEAD_SHA=$(glab mr view <MR_IID> --output json | jq -r '.sha')
ATTEMPTS=0
MAX_ATTEMPTS=60
POLL_INTERVAL_SECONDS=10

while true; do
  ATTEMPTS=$((ATTEMPTS + 1))
  if [ "$ATTEMPTS" -gt "$MAX_ATTEMPTS" ]; then
    echo "Timed out waiting for the Greptile pipeline job after approximately 10 minutes." >&2
    exit 1
  fi

  PIPELINES=$(glab api "projects/:fullpath/merge_requests/<MR_IID>/pipelines")
  # Find the most recent pipeline for this SHA
  PIPELINE_ID=$(echo "$PIPELINES" | jq -r --arg sha "$HEAD_SHA" \
    '[.[] | select(.sha == $sha)] | sort_by(.id) | last | .id // empty')

  if [ -z "$PIPELINE_ID" ]; then
    echo "Waiting for Greptile pipeline to appear..."
    sleep "$POLL_INTERVAL_SECONDS"
    continue
  fi

  JOBS=$(glab api "projects/:fullpath/pipelines/$PIPELINE_ID/jobs")
  GREPTILE_JOB=$(echo "$JOBS" | jq '.[] | select(.name | test("greptile"; "i"))')

  if [ -z "$GREPTILE_JOB" ]; then
    echo "Waiting for Greptile job to appear..."
    sleep "$POLL_INTERVAL_SECONDS"
    continue
  fi

  JOB_STATUS=$(echo "$GREPTILE_JOB" | jq -r '.status')

  if [ "$JOB_STATUS" = "success" ] || [ "$JOB_STATUS" = "failed" ] || [ "$JOB_STATUS" = "canceled" ]; then
    echo "Greptile job completed with: $JOB_STATUS"
    break
  fi

  echo "Waiting for Greptile... (status: $JOB_STATUS)"
  sleep "$POLL_INTERVAL_SECONDS"
done

If polling times out, stop the greploop workflow and report the timeout. Do not continue with stale or missing review results.

B. Fetch Greptile review results

Greptile may surface its score in several places — check all of the relevant sources:

GitHub:

1. PR description (body):

gh pr view <PR_NUMBER> --json body -q '.body'

2. General PR comments (issue comments):

gh api --paginate "repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/<PR_NUMBER>/comments?per_page=100"

Filter for Greptile-authored comments and use the body from the most recently updated comment (updated_at), not the most recently created comment. Greptile may edit the same general PR comment on each review cycle; parse the current body, including the "Prompt to fix all with AI" section, before deciding there are no remaining issues.

3. PR reviews:

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/<PR_NUMBER>/reviews

Look for the most recent entry from greptile-apps[bot] or greptile-apps-staging[bot].

GitLab:

1. MR description (body):

glab mr view <MR_IID> --output json | jq -r '.description'

2. MR notes (comments):

glab api "projects/:fullpath/merge_requests/<MR_IID>/notes"

Filter for notes from the Greptile bot user (check the author.username field — the exact username may vary per installation; verify on first run).

Perforce:

1. CL description:

p4 describe -s <CL_NUMBER>

Check the description field for a Greptile-appended score block.

2. CL comments / review notes: If your installation uses a review tool such as Helix Swarm, fetch comments via its API.

Example (Swarm API): GET /api/v11/comments?topic=reviews/<REVIEW_ID>

Response fields of interest typically include:

• user (author username)
• body (comment text)
• flags/state indicating whether the comment is resolved

Filter to comments authored by the Greptile bot:

• Prefer exact username match if known
• Otherwise, use a heuristic where the author name contains "greptile" (case-insensitive)

For all platforms, parse the text for:

• Confidence score: a pattern like 3/5 or 5/5 (or Confidence: 3/5).
• Comment count: Number of inline review comments noted in the summary.

Use whichever source has the most recently updated score. For GitHub, prefer updated_at from issue comments when comparing an edited Greptile summary against older review entries.

Also fetch all unresolved inline comments:

GitHub:

gh api repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls/<PR_NUMBER>/comments

Also carry forward actionable items from the latest Greptile general PR comment, especially the "Prompt to fix all with AI" section, even if the inline comment endpoint returns zero unresolved comments.

GitLab:

glab api "projects/:fullpath/merge_requests/<MR_IID>/discussions"

Filter to DiffNote type discussions (notes[0].type == "DiffNote") from Greptile that are on the latest commit and not yet resolved ("resolved": false).

Perforce: If using Swarm: