pr-improver
Runs an autonomous review-and-fix improvement loop over the current branch's changes until a PR review comes back clean, scoped mechanically to the directories the branch touched. Reviews are performed by an installed PR-review skill (default: pr-review-toolkit's review-pr).
Install / Use
npx skills add trailofbits/skills --skill pr-improverInstalls into whichever agent you are using.
SKILL.md
Installable skill definition
Quality Score
Category
Development & EngineeringSupported Platforms
Our assessment of pr-improver
pr-improver scores 93/100 on our quality scale, 404th of 3,044 Development & Engineering skills we index (top 14%).
Its SKILL.md is 7.4 KB long, well organised into 8 sections with 2 code examples: a thorough specification that gives an agent plenty to work with.
With 7,225 GitHub stars, it is one of the more widely adopted skills in the catalogue.
Maintenance, license and trust
- The repository was last updated 4 days ago, so pr-improver is actively maintained.
- It is released under the CC-BY-SA-4.0 license; check its terms before commercial use.
- Its trust signals score 100/100, with no cautions. These come from repository metadata, not a code audit — read the skill file before letting an agent act on it.
pr-improver compared with similar skills
All 4 of these similar skills score higher than pr-improver; compare them before choosing.
| Skill | Score | Stars | Updated | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pr-improver (this skill)by trailofbits | 93 | 7.2k | 4d ago | SKILL.md |
| ai-job-searchby MadsLorentzen | 100 | 44.2k | today | CLAUDE.md |
| claude-howtoby luongnv89 | 100 | 41.7k | 1d ago | CLAUDE.md |
| algorithmic-artby anthropics | 100 | 177.9k | 5d ago | SKILL.md |
| pptxby anthropics | 100 | 177.9k | 5d ago | SKILL.md |
Frequently asked questions
- How do I install pr-improver?
- Run
npx skills add trailofbits/skills --skill pr-improver. The install tabs above show the steps for each supported agent. - Which AI agents does pr-improver work with?
- It is written for Universal, as a SKILL.md file. Other agents that read the same format can often use it too.
- Is pr-improver safe to use?
- It is CC-BY-SA-4.0-licensed and scores 100/100 on trust signals. Skills are instructions an agent will follow, so read the file before installing it and do not approve commands you do not understand.
- Is pr-improver still maintained?
- The repository was last updated 4 days ago, so pr-improver is actively maintained.
Skill content
View source on GitHubname: pr-improver description: "Runs an autonomous review-and-fix improvement loop over the current branch's changes until a PR review comes back clean, scoped mechanically to the directories the branch touched. Reviews are performed by an installed PR-review skill (default: pr-review-toolkit's review-pr). Use to fix review findings on a branch before opening or updating a pull request ('clean up this branch', 'fix this PR until review passes', 'run review-and-fix on my changes'). NOT for a one-time review — run the PR-review skill directly." argument-hint: "[BASE_BRANCH] [--reviewer <skill-or-agent>] [--max-rounds N]" allowed-tools: Bash Glob Read TaskOutput TaskStop Workflow
PR Improver
Improve the current branch by running /code-improver:improve — a dynamic workflow that
loops a PR reviewer and a fixer subagent over the branch's changes until a review
reports zero critical/major findings. The loop, its ledger, and its guards live in the
workflow; this skill derives the scope from the branch diff and relays the outcome.
Starting the loop
The user provided: $ARGUMENTS (if empty, take base branch and preferences from the
conversation).
1. Resolve the branch and its change surface
- Repo root:
git rev-parse --show-toplevel. Fail loudly outside a repository. - Base: the argument if given, else the repository's default branch
(
git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD→ its short name, falling back tomain). Refuse to run when the current branch IS the base — there is no diff to improve. - Changed files:
git diff --name-only <base>...HEAD. If empty, say so and stop. - Scope: the changed files' directories, widened — per-file globs are too tight
(PR fixes legitimately add tests next to changed code). Map each changed file to its
repo-relative directory glob
<dir>/**(**at the repo root only if files at the root changed), then deduplicate and drop globs covered by another.
2. Resolve the loop script
The loop is the dynamic workflow workflows/improve.js in this plugin. Launch it by
path: scriptPath takes a resolved absolute path, and the Workflow tool's name resolves
built-in and project workflows, so a marketplace-installed one may not answer to
code-improver:improve. Try in order, first hit wins — the home directories come before
. so an installed copy beats a checkout of this marketplace:
Bash: ls -d -- "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/workflows/improve.js"Bash: ls -d -- "${CODEX_PLUGIN_ROOT}/workflows/improve.js"(if that variable is set instead)Bash: find ~/.claude ~/.codex . -maxdepth 7 -path '*/code-improver/workflows/improve.js' -print -quit 2>/dev/null
Use the path exactly as printed. Its plugin directory — the path with
/workflows/improve.js removed — is pluginRoot. If all three come back empty, try
{name: "code-improver:improve"} once; if that is unavailable too, stop and say the loop
could not be located. Do not assemble a path by hand and do not improvise the loop.
3. Invoke the workflow
Run it with the Workflow tool, {scriptPath: "<the path from step 2>", args: {...}}:
{
"target": "<repo root>",
"reviewer": {
"kind": "skill",
"name": "pr-review-toolkit:review-pr",
"notes": "Review the working tree's changes against <base> as a pull request: correctness, tests, error handling, and the review dimensions the skill prescribes."
},
"scope": ["<derived-dir-glob>/**"],
"pluginRoot": "<the plugin directory from step 2>",
"maxRounds": 5
}
reviewer— the default above requires thepr-review-toolkitplugin. When the user names a different PR reviewer (skill or agent), use it, with kind set accordingly.maxRoundsonly if the user asked for a different cap.pluginRootlets the run find its metrics collector; omit the key only if step 2 fell through to the workflow name — the workflow then searches for itself.finalizedefaults are right for PRs: no version bump unless the branch sits inside a plugin, narration strip and docs pass on.decisiononly on continuation (below).
The loop's baseline snapshot is the tree at loop start — its scope guard protects the branch's uncommitted work; the PR's own commits are what the reviewer reviews.
The workflow runs in the background and needs no babysitting: it reviews, fixes, re-reviews, checks scope after every fix round, and can only complete on a clean review. It never commits; all changes stay in the working tree.
If the Workflow tool is unavailable or denied, stop and say so. Do not improvise the loop inline with direct edits — the ledger, scope guard, and escalation guarantees live in the workflow, and an inline imitation has none of them.
If the result is halted: "reviewer-unavailable", relay it and stop. The reviewer
is not installed in this session; tell the user which plugin provides it (the default
needs pr-review-toolkit) and re-run after installing. Do not review the branch
yourself.
Do not end your turn while the loop is running. The Workflow tool returns a task id immediately; the result comes later. In an interactive session the completion notification re-invokes you — wait for it. In a non-interactive run (scripted, CI, eval) there is no later turn: stopping abandons the loop mid-round, so after launching, poll the task (TaskOutput with the returned task id, or sleep-and-recheck) until it completes, then relay the result. A session that answers "the loop is running, I'll report later" has lost the run.
Relaying the result
The workflow returns a structured result. Report it honestly — the distinctions matter:
converged: true— the last action was a review with zero critical/major findings. Report rounds used, remaining minor findings (open_minor_count), and the artifact paths (ledger_path,metrics).capped: true— the fix budget ran out and the FINAL review still found blocking issues. Say plainly: capped, NOT converged, and listopen_blocking. Do not present this as success.escalation— the loop detected it was not converging (recurring findings, non-decreasing counts, or a fix relocating a problem). Relay the escalation message and finding ids to the user: this needs a design decision, not more rounds.halted— a guard fired (scope violation, unregistered new files, a dead or unavailable reviewer, or a finalize pass whose own edits failed the check that follows it). Relay the paths inviolations/new_untracked_files, the sites infinalize_regressions, and the notes.notesalways travel with the result — surface them; they include loud warnings such as "a git repository was initialized".
Continuing after an escalation
The loop stops on escalation by design. When the user decides, start a fresh run with the same args plus:
{ "decision": "<the user's ruling, verbatim>" }
The new run reloads the on-disk ledger, so every finding, rejection, and verdict carries over — rounds restart, re-derivation does not.
To stop a running loop, stop the workflow task (TaskStop); the ledger on disk is current to the last round and a re-run resumes from it.
When NOT to use
- One-time review: run the PR-review skill directly; the loop's value is iteration
- A skill: use the
skill-improverentry — it wires the right reviewer - Unpushed exploratory work: review-and-fix loops harden a diff; while the shape is fluid, manual iteration gives more control
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Languages
Trust signals
From repository metadata: license, adoption, age and documentation. Not a code audit — see the Safety scan above for what the skill file itself contains.
