Automate Your Entire PR Workflow with Claude Code: Description, Review, Tests

#claudecode #github #productivity #devops

A typical PR workflow involves: write code → write PR description → get review → fix issues → merge. Claude Code can handle most of the non-coding parts.

1. PR Description Generation

After finishing your changes:

git diff main...HEAD | claude -p "Write a PR description for these changes. Include:
- Summary (2-3 sentences)
- What changed and why
- Testing done
- Screenshots needed? (check if UI changes)
- Breaking changes (if any)

Format as GitHub markdown."

Or for a specific PR:

Generate a PR description for these changes.

Changed files:
- src/services/user.service.ts — Added email verification
- src/routes/auth.ts — Added /verify-email endpoint
- tests/services/user.service.test.ts — Tests for verification

The goal was to add email verification before users can access protected routes.

2. Pre-PR Code Review

Before opening a PR, run a self-review:

git diff main...HEAD | claude -p "Review these changes as a senior engineer would.
Focus on:
1. Correctness (bugs, edge cases)
2. Security (injection, auth, secrets)
3. Performance (N+1, unnecessary queries)
4. Missing tests
5. Code style violations vs CLAUDE.md rules

Be specific. Reference file:line numbers."

3. GitHub Actions: Auto-Review on PR Open

Add to .github/workflows/claude-review.yml:

name: Claude Code Review

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize]

jobs:
  review:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Get changed files
        id: diff
        run: |
          git diff origin/main...HEAD > /tmp/pr.diff
          echo "files=$(git diff --name-only origin/main...HEAD | tr '\n' ',')" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

      - name: Run Claude Code Review
        env:
          ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY }}
        run: |
          pip install anthropic
          python .github/scripts/claude_review.py /tmp/pr.diff

      - name: Comment review on PR
        uses: actions/github-script@v7
        with:
          script: |
            const fs = require('fs');
            const review = fs.readFileSync('/tmp/review.md', 'utf8');
            github.rest.issues.createComment({
              issue_number: context.issue.number,
              owner: context.repo.owner,
              repo: context.repo.repo,
              body: review
            });

4. Merge Conflict Resolution

When you hit merge conflicts:

I have a merge conflict. Here's the conflicted section:

<<<<<<< HEAD
[your version]
=======
[their version]
>>>>>>> feature/other-branch

Context: both branches added user profile functionality but took
different approaches. The HEAD version uses the UserProfile class,
the other branch used a plain object. We want to keep the class approach.

Providing context about why both versions exist leads to much better resolution.

5. PR Review Response

When reviewers leave comments:

A reviewer left this comment on my PR:
"This query will cause N+1 problems when the user list grows. Consider
using a join or eager loading."

Here's the code they're referring to:
[paste the code]

How should I fix this? Write the corrected version.

6. Release Notes Generation

Generate release notes for version 2.3.0.

PRs merged since 2.2.0:
[paste list of PR titles and descriptions]

Format: user-facing changelog. No internal/refactoring entries.
Group by: Features / Bug Fixes / Breaking Changes.

CLAUDE.md for PR Workflows

## PR Workflow

### Before Opening a PR
1. Run /code-review on changed files
2. Check test coverage hasn't dropped
3. Update CHANGELOG.md if user-facing change
4. Verify .env.example is updated if new env vars added

### PR Description Template
- Problem: what issue this solves
- Solution: approach taken
- Testing: how you verified it works
- Breaking changes: none / describe impact