open-mr

Install

npx skills@latest add abijith-suresh/skills --skill open-mr

Description

Pushes the current branch and opens a new GitLab MR via glab CLI. Invoke when opening a merge request on GitLab. Requires a ticket number. The user may also name this skill explicitly.

SKILL.md

Push the current branch and create a new merge request on GitLab.

Prerequisites

  • glab CLI must be installed and authenticated — verify with glab auth status.
  • If glab is missing: “glab CLI is required. Install it from https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cli#installation.”
  • Ticket number required in the branch name or conversation.

Steps

1. Check branch state

Terminal window
git branch --show-current
git remote show origin | grep "HEAD branch"
git status --porcelain
  • If current branch is main, master, or the remote default branch — stop: “Cannot open an MR from the default branch. Switch to a feature branch first.”
  • If git status --porcelain returns any output — stop: “Uncommitted changes detected. Commit or stash them before opening an MR.”

2. Check for existing MR

Terminal window
glab mr list --source-branch <branch-name> -F json

Parse the JSON output. If the array is non-empty — stop: “An MR already exists for this branch. Use update-mr to modify it.”

3. Push the branch

Terminal window
git push -u origin <branch-name>
  • If push fails — stop and show the exact error.

4. Derive title and body

Run the following to gather branch data:

Terminal window
git log origin/<default-branch>..HEAD --oneline
git log origin/<default-branch>..HEAD --format="%s %b"
git diff origin/<default-branch>..HEAD --stat

Title format:

TICKET-123: Short description

Examples:

  • PROJ-214: Add investigation workflow
  • PROJ-214: Fix target branch detection

MR body template:

## Summary
[What changed and why. 2–3 concise sentences.]


## Changes
- [Specific action taken]
- [Specific action taken]


## Testing
- [ ] [Specific verification step]
- [ ] [Edge case or regression check]


## Notes
[Risks, follow-ups, rollout notes, or reviewer context. Omit this section if
there is nothing useful to say.]

Rules:

  • Derive the Testing checklist from the real changes, not a generic template
  • Each Changes bullet describes an action, not just a file name
  • Omit Notes if there is nothing useful to say
  • No References section — the ticket is already in the title

5. Create the MR

Terminal window
glab mr create \
  --title "<title>" \
  --description "<body>" \
  --push \
  --yes

Note: --push pushes the branch first, then creates the MR. --yes skips the confirmation prompt.

6. Report

Print the MR URL returned by glab mr create. Note any follow-up the user still needs to do manually.

Failure Conditions

Condition Message
glab CLI not installed “glab CLI is required. Install it from https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cli#installation.”
Not authenticated “glab CLI is not authenticated. Run glab auth login first.”
On default branch “Cannot open an MR from the default branch. Switch to a feature branch first.”
Uncommitted changes “Uncommitted changes detected. Commit or stash them before opening an MR.”
MR already exists “An MR already exists for this branch. Use update-mr to modify it.”
Push failed Show the exact git error and stop.