Agent skill

Opening PRs

by oaustegard in oaustegard/claude-skills

Open a GitHub PR via API as a flowing graph — branch + push + createpr + mergeable poll, with structural protection against pushing to main/master/etc.

MITAuto-check: notesDevelopment

Install Opening PRs

skills CLI

$ npx skills add oaustegard/claude-skills --skill opening-prs -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install oaustegard/claude-skills opening-prs --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/oaustegard/claude-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/opening-prs .claude/skills/opening-prs && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Paste into Claude Code

Install the "opening-prs" agent skill from https://github.com/oaustegard/claude-skills/tree/main/opening-prs into .claude/skills/opening-prs/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "opening-prs", then confirm the skill loads.

Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

$skill-installer

$skill-installer install https://github.com/oaustegard/claude-skills/tree/main/opening-prs

Type this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add oaustegard/claude-skills --skill opening-prs -a codex

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install oaustegard/claude-skills opening-prs --agent codex

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/oaustegard/claude-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/opening-prs .agents/skills/opening-prs && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.

Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/

Paste into Codex

Install the "opening-prs" agent skill from https://github.com/oaustegard/claude-skills/tree/main/opening-prs into .agents/skills/opening-prs/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "opening-prs", then confirm the skill loads.

Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add oaustegard/claude-skills --skill opening-prs -a cursor

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install oaustegard/claude-skills opening-prs --agent cursor

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/oaustegard/claude-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/opening-prs .cursor/skills/opening-prs && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.

Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/

Paste into Cursor

Install the "opening-prs" agent skill from https://github.com/oaustegard/claude-skills/tree/main/opening-prs into .cursor/skills/opening-prs/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "opening-prs", then confirm the skill loads.

Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

gemini skills install

$ gemini skills install https://github.com/oaustegard/claude-skills.git --path opening-prs

--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add oaustegard/claude-skills --skill opening-prs -a gemini-cli

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install oaustegard/claude-skills opening-prs --agent gemini-cli

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/oaustegard/claude-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/opening-prs .gemini/skills/opening-prs && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.

Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into Gemini CLI

Install the "opening-prs" agent skill from https://github.com/oaustegard/claude-skills/tree/main/opening-prs into .gemini/skills/opening-prs/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "opening-prs", then confirm the skill loads.

Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install oaustegard/claude-skills opening-prs

Installs for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

skills CLI

$ npx skills add oaustegard/claude-skills --skill opening-prs -a github-copilot

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/oaustegard/claude-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/opening-prs .github/skills/opening-prs && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.

GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into GitHub Copilot

Install the "opening-prs" agent skill from https://github.com/oaustegard/claude-skills/tree/main/opening-prs into .github/skills/opening-prs/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "opening-prs", then confirm the skill loads.

GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add oaustegard/claude-skills --skill opening-prs -a opencode

OpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install oaustegard/claude-skills opening-prs --agent opencode

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/oaustegard/claude-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/opening-prs .opencode/skills/opening-prs && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.

OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into OpenCode

Install the "opening-prs" agent skill from https://github.com/oaustegard/claude-skills/tree/main/opening-prs into .opencode/skills/opening-prs/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "opening-prs", then confirm the skill loads.

OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

Facts

Skill name: opening-prs
GitHub stars: 150
Token cost: ~1.3k tokens
SKILL.md length: 394 words
Files: 4 (incl. scripts)
Skills in repo: 67
Repo updated: Oct 9, 2026
First seen: Oct 7, 2026
Licence: MIT

At a glance

Open a GitHub PR via API as a flowing graph — branch + push + createpr + mergeable poll, with structural protection against pushing to main/master/etc.

Works in 6 steps: Determine the branch name → Get the base branch's HEAD SHA → Create the branch → …
Claude.ai container needs to land changes on GitHub via the API (no git CLI required) and the prose create branch
SKILL.md covers What this fixes, Auth, Result shape and Tuning the mergeable poll, plus 2 more sections
Runs Python scripts from its folder; calls gh and git; reaches github.com; needs GH_TOKEN and GITHUB_TOKEN

What it does

Opening PRs is an agent skill from oaustegard/claude-skills. Open a GitHub PR via API as a flowing graph — branch + push + createpr + mergeable poll, with structural protection against pushing to main/master/etc. Use when a Claude Code or Claude.ai container needs to land changes on GitHub via the API (no git CLI required) and the prose "create branch, push, open PR, wait for mergeable" workflow keeps drifting under context pressure.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.3k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 5 other files, including scripts (for example `CHANGELOG.md`, `scripts/opening_prs.py` and `tests/test_opening_prs.py`).

It sits in Development, covering Git workflow and Pull requests. It works with GitHub and Git. The repository describes itself as: My collection of Claude skills. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

Claude.ai container needs to land changes on GitHub via the API (no git CLI required) and the prose create branch
Wait for mergeable workflow keeps drifting under context pressure

Example prompts

“create branch, push, open PR, wait for mergeable”
“/opening-prs”

Requirements

Python 3
A credential in GITHUB_TOKEN

Workflow steps

6 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

Determine the branch name
Get the base branch's HEAD SHA
Create the branch
Push files to the branch
Create the PR
Poll mergeable_state until GitHub finishes computing it

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 90b0f1b. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
Ships 1 file in scripts/ (Python), which the agent can run.
Shell commands in SKILL.md call:
- gh
- git
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:
- github.com
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names these keys or tokens, usually read from environment variables:
- GH_TOKEN
- GITHUB_TOKEN
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Opening PRs loads about 1.3k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 97 tokens; SKILL.md has 394 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it: ~97
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches: ~1.3k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check: notes

The automated check noted patterns worth knowing about, such as sudo or a known installer.

NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:91

H_TOKEN"] = "ghp_..."   # or load from a .env file

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from oaustegard/claude-skills at commit 90b0f1b, republished under its MIT licence (© oaustegard). 394 words, ~1,254 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/opening-prs/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 3 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.

name: opening-prs
description: Open a GitHub PR via API as a flowing graph — branch + push + create_pr + mergeable poll, with structural protection against pushing to main/master/etc. Use when a Claude Code or Claude.ai container needs to land changes on GitHub via the API (no git CLI required) and the prose "create branch, push, open PR, wait for mergeable" workflow keeps drifting under context pressure.
metadata.version: 0.1.0
metadata.requires: flowing

Opening PRs

A flowing graph that turns the imperative "create branch, push files, open a PR, poll mergeable_state" workflow into a structural DAG. The "NEVER push directly to main" rule is encoded as a validate= gate that physically can't be skipped.

python

from opening_prs import open_pr

result = open_pr(
    repo="owner/repo",
    branch_name="feat/cool-thing",
    title="Add cool thing",
    body="## Summary\n\n...",
    files=[
        ("src/cool.py", "<file content>"),
        ("docs/cool.md", "<file content>"),
    ],
    base="main",  # default; protected names are also rejected
)

print(result["pr_url"])             # https://github.com/.../pull/N
print(result["mergeable_state"])    # clean | dirty | unstable | behind | blocked

What this fixes

The gh pr create workflow (or hand-rolled API calls) has five steps in prose form:

Determine the branch name
Get the base branch's HEAD SHA
Create the branch
Push files to the branch
Create the PR
Poll mergeable_state until GitHub finishes computing it

Each step has known failure modes:

Step 1: Accidentally pushing to main — the diagnosed pattern that motivated github-procedures §6 in the first place.
Step 6: GitHub returns mergeable_state: null immediately after creation. Need to poll. "Wait a few seconds and check" is prose, not a procedure — so it gets skipped under context pressure.

This skill encodes both as flowing primitives:

determine_branch ──▶ guard ──▶ get_base_head ──▶ create_branch
                      │                              │
                      │                              ▼
                      │                        push_files
                      │                              │
                      │                              ▼
                      │                         create_pr
                      │                          /        \
                      │                         ▼          ▼
                      │                  wait_mergeable  present_pr [terminal]
                      │
                      └─ validate=must_not_be_base_branch

validate=must_not_be_base_branch rejects branch_name in {"main", "master", "trunk", "production", "prod"} — case-insensitive — and the configured base itself. The body of create_branch never fires for a protected name. No GitHub API call happens for an invalid branch name.
retry_until=lambda r: r["mergeable_state"] in SETTLED_STATES consumes the retry budget while GitHub computes the merge result. unknown and null keep polling; settled states (clean, dirty, unstable, behind, blocked) stop. Exhaustion is soft: the PR is still presented with the last observed state.

Show full SKILL.md (165 more words)Show less

Auth

Requires GH_TOKEN (or GITHUB_TOKEN) in the environment. Classic PAT or fine-grained PAT with repo scope.

python

import os
os.environ["GH_TOKEN"] = "ghp_..."   # or load from a .env file

The skill sends User-Agent: opening-prs on every API call. (GitHub returns 401 "Bad credentials" without a UA, regardless of token validity. Common trap.)

Result shape

python

{
    "pr_url": "https://github.com/owner/repo/pull/N",
    "pr_number": 42,
    "pr_state": "open",
    "branch": "feat/cool-thing",
    "base": "main",
    "head_sha": "abc123...",
    "mergeable_state": "clean",
    "files_pushed": ["src/cool.py", "docs/cool.md"],
    "detached_failures": [],
}

Raises RuntimeError only if the main DAG fails (validate, branch creation, file push, or PR creation). Mergeable polling exhaustion is a soft failure — the PR exists, the field just isn't computed yet.

Tuning the mergeable poll

python

open_pr(
    ...,
    mergeable_poll_retries=8,         # default 8
    mergeable_poll_base_ms=2000,      # default 2s
    mergeable_poll_max_ms=8000,       # default 8s (cap on exponential backoff)
)

When NOT to use

Pushing many large files (the GitHub Contents API is one-file-per-PUT with base64 encoding — slow above ~10 files). Use git push if you have the CLI.
Needing to amend commits or rewrite history. This skill creates one commit per file via the contents API.
Anything involving force-push, branch deletion, or PR review-state manipulation. Out of scope; use a different tool.

Files

SKILL.md and 3 other files (scripts) in opening-prs of oaustegard/claude-skills.

SKILL.md
CHANGELOG.md
scripts/opening_prs.py
tests/test_opening_prs.py

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 90b0f1b

Compare with similar skills

Opening PRs next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Opening PRs compared with similar skills
Skill	Stars	Used in	Tokens	Auto-check	Licence	Repo updated
Opening PRs this skilloaustegard/claude-skills	150	—	~1.3k	Automated safety check: Notes	MIT	today
Contributor-First PR MergeHKUDS/OpenHarness	16k	1 repos	~847	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	4 mo ago
Create Pull Requestcline/cline	70k	1 repos	~1.6k	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	today
Create Pull Request with Work Item IDmakeplane/plane	61k	—	~824	Automated safety check: Pass	AGPL-3.0	today
Creating Description For Gh PRredis/jedis	12k	—	~838	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	today
Pascal Editor PR Openerpascalorg/editor	25k	—	~619	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	today

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Works with

Questions about Opening PRs

What does Opening PRs do?

Open a GitHub PR via API as a flowing graph — branch + push + createpr + mergeable poll, with structural protection against pushing to main/master/etc. Opening PRs is an agent skill from oaustegard/claude-skills. Open a GitHub PR via API as a flowing graph — branch + push + createpr + mergeable poll, with structural protection against pushing to main/master/etc.

When should I use Opening PRs?

Opening PRs fits situations like: Claude.ai container needs to land changes on GitHub via the API (no git CLI required) and the prose create branch; wait for mergeable workflow keeps drifting under context pressure.

How do I install Opening PRs in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add oaustegard/claude-skills --skill opening-prs -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (opening-prs in oaustegard/claude-skills) into .claude/skills/opening-prs in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Opening PRs in Codex?

Run `npx skills add oaustegard/claude-skills --skill opening-prs -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (opening-prs in oaustegard/claude-skills) into .agents/skills/opening-prs in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Opening PRs in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add oaustegard/claude-skills --skill opening-prs -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/opening-prs, .gemini/skills/opening-prs, .github/skills/opening-prs and .opencode/skills/opening-prs in your project.

What does Opening PRs need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Opening PRs needs Python for the scripts in its folder, the command-line tools its instructions call (gh and git) and credentials named GH_TOKEN and GITHUB_TOKEN. Our summary lists: Python 3; A credential in GITHUB_TOKEN.

Does Opening PRs access the network?

SKILL.md names 1 domain. In commands or code: github.com; the agent is likely to contact it when it follows the instructions. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Opening PRs safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found notes only (mentions a .env file), nothing it rates as a warning. It is not a guarantee. The check reads SKILL.md only: the scripts in the folder are not scanned, so read them before running anything.

What licence does Opening PRs use?

Opening PRs is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Opening PRs use?

About 1.3k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 5k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Opening PRs?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Opening PRs: Contributor-First PR Merge (HKUDS/OpenHarness, 16k stars), Create Pull Request (cline/cline, 70k stars), Create Pull Request with Work Item ID (makeplane/plane, 61k stars) and Creating Description For Gh PR (redis/jedis, 12k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Opening PRs?

oaustegard (a GitHub user) maintains it in oaustegard/claude-skills, which has 150 GitHub stars. The repository holds 67 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 9, 2026.

Source: oaustegard/claude-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.

Install Opening PRs

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

Requirements

Workflow steps

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

Opening PRs

What this fixes

Auth

Result shape

Tuning the mergeable poll

When NOT to use

See also

Files

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

More from oaustegard/claude-skills

Related

Questions about Opening PRs