update-mr

Install

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

Description

Updates an existing GitLab MR's title and body via glab CLI. Invoke when updating an existing GitLab merge request. The user may also name this skill explicitly.

SKILL.md

Regenerate the title and body of the existing merge request for the current branch.

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.
  • The current branch must already have an open MR on GitLab.
  • Any new commits should already be pushed before invoking this skill.

Steps

1. Check branch state

Terminal window
git branch --show-current
git remote show origin | grep "HEAD branch"
  • If current branch is main, master, or the remote default branch — stop: “Cannot update an MR from the default branch. Switch to the correct feature branch first.”

2. Detect existing MR

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

Parse the JSON output. If the array is empty — stop: “No open MR found for this branch. Use open-mr to create one.” If an MR is found — note its iid and proceed.

3. 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

4. Update the MR

Terminal window
glab mr update <iid> \
  --title "<title>" \
  --description "<body>" \
  --yes

5. Report

Print the MR URL and explicitly state that the existing MR was updated, not a new one created. 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 update an MR from the default branch. Switch to the correct feature branch first.”
No open MR found “No open MR found for this branch. Use open-mr to create one.”