PR Babysitter — OpenClaw

Watch open PRs, surface blockers, and act only on safe obvious maintenance tasks. OpenClaw's channel delivery (Slack, Telegram) makes it ideal for PR notifications.

Report-Only (Week 1)

openclaw cron create "*/15 * * * *" \
  --name "PR babysitter" \
  --session isolated \
  --message "Run PR babysitter triage. Read pr-babysitter-state.md first. List PRs with red CI, stale review, merge conflicts, or unanswered review comments. Do not edit code. Update pr-babysitter-state.md and end with the top 3 human actions." \
  --tools read \
  --announce \
  --channel slack \
  --to "channel:C1234567890"

Omit --announce to keep output in the Gateway only. Report-only in week one: read GitHub state, update state, notify humans.

With Small Auto-Fixes (Week 3+)

openclaw cron edit <job-id> \
  --message "Run PR babysitter triage. For PRs authored by us with red CI caused by a clear single-file regression: create a git worktree, apply a minimal fix, run tests, have a verifier pass review the diff. Draft PR by default — never force-push."

Idempotency

Before pushing, the loop must check whether an open PR or branch already exists for the same intent. Use a webhook or GitHub CLI within the worktree.

Verification Split

Role	OpenClaw shape
Triage	Isolated cron with --tools read
Implementer	coding-agent in worktree via exec, or main agent with expanded tools
Verifier	Second agent id in agents.list, or checker block in cron --message

Safety

• Never force-push without explicit human opt-in.
• Draft PRs by default; humans mark ready for review.
• Do not resolve review threads without approval.
• Security, auth, payments, infra, or public API changes always escalate.
• Max 3 fix attempts per PR before handoff.

References

• patterns/pr-babysitter.md
• docs/safety.md
• examples/github-actions/pr-babysitter.yml