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The ao review-check command scans open pull requests for pending review comments and automatically sends agents messages to address them. This is useful for proactively handling review feedback without manual intervention.

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Syntax

ao review-check [project] [options]

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Arguments

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project
string
Project ID to check. If omitted, checks all projects.

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Options

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--dry-run
flag
Show what would be done without actually sending messages to agents

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How It Works

The command performs these steps:
  1. Fetch sessions - Lists all sessions for the specified project (or all projects)
  2. Filter PRs - Identifies sessions with open pull requests
  3. Check reviews - Queries GitHub GraphQL API for each PR to check:
    • Review decision (APPROVED, CHANGES_REQUESTED, etc.)
    • Unresolved review threads
  4. Notify agents - Sends a message to each agent with pending reviews

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Review Detection

A session is considered to have pending reviews if either:
  • The PR has a CHANGES_REQUESTED review decision
  • The PR has one or more unresolved review threads

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Message Format

When reviews are detected, the command sends this message to the agent: 
There are review comments on your PR. Check with `gh pr view --comments` 
and `gh api` for inline comments. Address each one, push fixes, and reply.
The agent can then use GitHub CLI commands to fetch and address the comments.

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Examples

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Check all projects

ao review-check
Scans all sessions across all projects for pending reviews.

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Check a specific project

ao review-check frontend
Checks only sessions belonging to the frontend project.

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Dry run to preview actions

ao review-check --dry-run
Shows which sessions have pending reviews without sending messages: 
Found 2 sessions with pending reviews:

  frontend-1  PR #123
    Decision: CHANGES_REQUESTED
    Comments: 3
    (dry run — would send fix prompt)

  frontend-2  PR #124
    Comments: 1
    (dry run — would send fix prompt)

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Output

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Sessions with pending reviews

Found 2 sessions with pending reviews:

  frontend-1  PR #123
    Decision: CHANGES_REQUESTED
    Comments: 3
    -> Fix prompt sent

  backend-1  PR #456
    Comments: 1
    -> Fix prompt sent

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No pending reviews

No pending review comments found.

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Implementation Details

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GraphQL Query

The command uses GitHub’s GraphQL API to efficiently fetch review data: 
query($owner:String!, $name:String!, $pr:Int!) {
  repository(owner:$owner, name:$name) {
    pullRequest(number:$pr) {
      reviewDecision
      reviewThreads(first:100) {
        nodes {
          isResolved
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
This avoids REST API pagination and fetches all necessary data in one request.

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Agent Interruption

Before sending the message, the command:
  1. Sends Ctrl-C to interrupt any running command
  2. Waits 500ms for the interruption to take effect
  3. Sends Ctrl-U to clear any partial input
  4. Waits 200ms
  5. Sends the review message
  6. Presses Enter to submit
This ensures the agent receives the message even if it’s currently busy.

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Error Handling

Error: Unknown project: xyzCause: The specified project ID does not exist in agent-orchestrator.yaml.Solution: Check your configuration file and use a valid project ID from ao status.
If a PR cannot be accessed (private repo, insufficient permissions), it is silently skipped. No error is displayed.Solution: Ensure the gh CLI is authenticated with appropriate permissions:
gh auth status
gh auth login
Error: Failed to send: ...Cause: Tmux session is not running or target is invalid.Solution: Verify the session exists with ao status and is in a running state.

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Use Cases

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Automated review response workflow

Set up a cron job to periodically check for reviews: 
# Check every 30 minutes during work hours
*/30 9-17 * * 1-5 cd /path/to/project && ao review-check

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CI/CD integration

Trigger review checks after a PR review event: 
# .github/workflows/review-trigger.yml
on:
  pull_request_review:
    types: [submitted]

jobs:
  notify-agent:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Trigger review check
        run: |
          ssh orchestrator-host "cd /path/to/agent-orchestrator && ao review-check"

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Manual review triage

Before end of day, check all pending reviews: 
ao review-check --dry-run
Review the output, then run without --dry-run to send messages.

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Prerequisites

  • gh CLI - Must be authenticated with the repository
  • GraphQL API access - Repository must be accessible via GitHub GraphQL API
  • tmux - Sessions must be running in tmux for message delivery

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