/flow-next:make-pr — PR-as-cognitive-aid

A reviewable PR body is itself an artefact: it lets a human decide where to focus before skimming the diff. flow-next already collects every input that body needs — the spec with R-IDs, per-task done summaries and evidence commits, decisions / bug / architecture-patterns memory entries, glossary changes, strategy alignment, deferred review findings, the git diff itself. This skill stitches those into a structured body, optionally adds mermaid diagrams for module-boundary changes, and pushes via gh pr create.

The host agent (Claude Code / Codex / Droid) reads the structured payload from flowctl spec export-cognitive-aid and synthesizes the body directly. Every claim in the body must trace to a structured field in the export payload — never fabricate file paths, SHAs, R-ID attributions, or "why" reasoning. Unknown attribution is honest ("uncovered" / "unclear") rather than invented. The host is competent at "what looks important here?" given the rich input; no second-model review pass is needed (the structured payload does the heavy lifting).

flowctl provides only thin plumbing: flowctl spec export-cognitive-aid <spec-id> --base <ref> --json aggregates the inputs into a single JSON payload (Task 1 of this spec). The skill renders the body, then pushes and creates the PR directly — no confirm prompt (invoking make-pr is the intent; the body is deterministic; the default is a reversible draft). --dry-run prints the body without creating; --ready/--draft set draft state.

Read workflow.md for the full phase-by-phase execution. Read phases.md for the per-phase Done-when checklists. Read mermaid-rules.md before emitting any mermaid codefence — it defines reserved words, escape patterns, shape selection, and the pre-emission validation checklist.

Preamble

CRITICAL: flowctl is BUNDLED — NOT installed globally. which flowctl will fail (expected). Define once; subsequent blocks (here and in workflow.md / phases.md) use $FLOWCTL:

bash
FLOWCTL="${DROID_PLUGIN_ROOT:-${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}}/scripts/flowctl"

Inline skill (no context: fork) — AskUserQuestion must stay reachable for the Phase 0 info prompts (resolve a missing base ref / undetected spec id — never a confirm gate). Subagents can't call blocking question tools (Claude Code issues #12890, #34592). There is no Phase 4 confirm prompt — make-pr creates the PR directly. (sync-codex.sh rewrites any remaining AskUserQuestion to a plain-text numbered prompt in the Codex mirror.)

Mode Detection

Parse $ARGUMENTS as a flag list. Recognized flags: --draft, --ready, --no-mermaid, --memory, --dry-run, and --base <ref> (consumes the next token). Strip recognized tokens; the remainder (if any) is the optional spec id.

bash
RAW_ARGS="$ARGUMENTS"
DRAFT_FORCE="auto"      # auto | draft | ready
NO_MERMAID=0
WRITE_MEMORY=0
DRY_RUN=0
BASE_REF=""
SPEC_ID=""

# Tokenize and walk the argument list.
set -- $RAW_ARGS
while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
  case "$1" in
    --draft)      DRAFT_FORCE="draft"; shift ;;
    --ready)      DRAFT_FORCE="ready"; shift ;;
    --no-mermaid) NO_MERMAID=1; shift ;;
    --memory)     WRITE_MEMORY=1; shift ;;
    --dry-run)    DRY_RUN=1; shift ;;
    --base)       BASE_REF="$2"; shift 2 ;;
    --base=*)     BASE_REF="${1#--base=}"; shift ;;
    --) shift; break ;;
    -*) echo "Unknown flag: $1" >&2; exit 2 ;;
    *)  SPEC_ID="$1"; shift ;;
  esac
done

| Flag | Effect | |------|--------| | --draft | Force draft PR regardless of open-items count or Ralph context. | | --ready | Force non-draft PR. Conflicts with --draft (last flag wins; surface the conflict). | | --no-mermaid | Skip Phase 3 entirely. Mermaid prose summaries are also skipped. | | --memory | After PR creation, write a knowledge/architecture-patterns/ memory entry summarizing what shipped. Idempotent — rerun adds no second entry for the same spec id. | | --dry-run | Skip Phase 4 entirely. Render body to stdout. Useful for inspection or … --dry-run \| pbcopy. | | --base <ref> | Override base-branch detection cascade. Useful when the team's default branch is develop, etc. |

Ralph mode (FLOW_RALPH=1 or REVIEW_RECEIPT_PATH set) is detected separately in workflow.md §0.0 — the skill is not Ralph-blocked. Under Ralph the skill hard-errors instead of asking the Phase 0 info prompts, forces --draft, and emits the PR URL to stdout. (The PR is created directly in both modes — the only difference is forced-draft + no Phase 0 prompts under Ralph.)

Interaction Principles

• Ask one question at a time via AskUserQuestion (call ToolSearch with select:AskUserQuestion first if its schema isn't loaded). Fall back to a numbered options prompt only if the tool is unreachable. Never silently skip the question.
• Lead with the recommended option and a one-sentence rationale.
• No confirm gate. make-pr opens the PR without asking. Phase 0 asks only to resolve info it cannot derive (no --base and no detection match; no spec detected) — never "do you want to create it?". Not-all-tasks-done warns and proceeds (the open items make it a draft). Skip questions when context resolves cleanly.
• Ralph mode skips all questions. Detect once at Phase 0 and route deterministically.

Hallucination guardrails

The body is synthesized from the export payload. Every claim must trace to a structured field. The skill explicitly forbids:

• Inventing file paths. Only paths returned by git diff --name-status (via the diff.files array) appear in Critical Changes / Where to look. No "I think there's also a config file" content.
• Fabricating commit SHAs. SHAs come from tasks[].evidence[].commits and git log --oneline base..HEAD only.
• Guessing R-ID coverage. Coverage is computed from task satisfies frontmatter and commit-message R-ID references. Uncovered R-IDs get a ⚠️ flag, never a confident attribution.
• Inventing "why" reasoning. Decision context comes from memory.decisions[] entries' bodies. If no decision entry exists for a change, the body says so explicitly rather than narrating a plausible-sounding rationale.
• Quoting raw diff content. The body talks ABOUT the diff (paths, churn, modules). Never includes code snippets — privacy + secret-leakage risk; GitHub renders the actual diff below the body.
• Synthesizing review findings. Findings come from reviews.deferred[] and reviews.suppressed_count. The body never editorializes severity or fabricates findings.
• Generating fictitious memory IDs. When the body references memory entries (decisions / bugs / patterns), the IDs come from the export payload — never interpolated.
• Synthesizing strategy alignment. Strategy section content comes verbatim from strategy.tracks[] and the spec's ## Strategy Alignment block. The body never invents alignment claims.
• Inventing glossary terms. Glossary section content comes from glossary.changes[]. New terms / renamed terms are surfaced only if the export reports them.
• Hallucinating mermaid relationships. Diagram nodes + edges come from real cross-module imports detected via git diff analysis (Phase 3 details in the mermaid-rules.md ref file). The skill never adds "I think module X also imports Y" edges.

When data is missing, the body says so honestly (e.g. *No decision-track memory entries for this spec. Surface decisions in PR review comments if needed.*) rather than confabulating content. Honest "unclear" beats plausible "wrong".

Forbidden

• Ralph-blocking the skill. This skill IS the autonomous-loop terminus per spec R24. Detect Ralph but proceed (with --draft forced). Do NOT add a FLOW_RALPH/REVIEW_RECEIPT_PATH exit-2 guard at the top of the skill.
• Re-adding a confirm gate. make-pr creates the PR without prompting; do NOT reintroduce a "create / dry-run / abort" AskUserQuestion before push. The escape hatch is --dry-run, not a question.
• Pushing or creating PRs in --dry-run mode. Phase 4 short-circuits before any git push or gh pr create. The body lands on stdout only.
• Squashing the existing-PR check. A bare gh pr view --json url 2>/dev/null returns rc=0 for CLOSED and MERGED PRs as readily as OPEN. Filter .state == "OPEN" via jq (validated empirically during fn-42 spike). Closed/merged PRs on a reused branch must NOT trigger refusal.
• Manual git push workflows when gh is missing. When gh isn't installed or authenticated, surface the install / gh auth login instructions and exit. Don't try to fall back to half-baked PR creation.
• Writing memory entries without --memory. Default off. The user opts in for structurally-significant specs — every-PR memory inflation is the failure mode this gate prevents.
• Quoting raw diff content in the body. See hallucination guardrails — the body describes the diff, never copies code.
• Calling gh pr merge. Out of scope. The skill creates and exits; merge is a human decision.

Pre-check: local setup version

Same pattern as /flow-next:plan and /flow-next:audit — non-blocking notice when .flow/meta.json setup_version lags the plugin version:

bash
if [[ -f .flow/meta.json ]]; then
  SETUP_VER=$(jq -r '.setup_version // empty' .flow/meta.json 2>/dev/null)
  PLUGIN_JSON="${DROID_PLUGIN_ROOT:-${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}}/.claude-plugin/plugin.json"
  PLUGIN_VER=$(jq -r '.version' "$PLUGIN_JSON" 2>/dev/null || echo "unknown")
  if [[ -n "$SETUP_VER" && "$PLUGIN_VER" != "unknown" && "$SETUP_VER" != "$PLUGIN_VER" ]]; then
    echo "Plugin updated to v${PLUGIN_VER}. Run /flow-next:setup to refresh local scripts (current: v${SETUP_VER})." >&2
  fi
fi

Workflow

Execute the phases in workflow.md in order:

1. Pre-flight — gh installed + authenticated; resolve spec id (arg or branch-match); base-branch detection cascade; branch validity (HEAD ahead of base); all tasks done (warn + proceed as draft if not — no prompt; Ralph exits 2); existing-PR refusal filtered on .state == "OPEN". Detects Ralph environment for downstream phases.
2. Gather inputs — single call to flowctl spec export-cognitive-aid <spec-id> --base <ref> --json; parse the structured payload (spec / tasks / memory / glossary / strategy / diff / reviews).
3. Render body — TL;DR, R-ID coverage table, Critical changes, Decisions made, Memory left behind, Glossary/strategy notes, Open items, Where to look, footer breadcrumb. Sections without content are omitted (never empty placeholder headings).
4. Mermaid generation — gated by 5 trigger conditions (cross-module imports, public interface changes, new/removed top-level dirs, high fan-out spec). Hard caps: 3 diagrams, 12 nodes, 25 edges, 12K characters. Each codefence preceded by a 3-5 sentence plain-language prose summary (load-bearing for forges that don't render mermaid). Validates each codefence against the mermaid-rules.md §6 checklist (reserved words, escape patterns, no emoji / MathJax, no inheritance cycles) before emitting. Skipped under --no-mermaid or when no triggers fire / a skip rule applies (pure-additive single-module diff <50 LOC, flat-layout repo).
5. Push + create PR — git push -u origin HEAD, then gh pr create --title --body. Draft when OPEN_ITEMS_COUNT > 0 OR Ralph OR --draft; ready when --ready. --dry-run short-circuits before push.
6. Output + footer — emit PR URL on success; print breadcrumb (Generated by /flow-next:make-pr from <spec-id> against <base>); optionally write knowledge/architecture-patterns/ memory entry under --memory.

Phase 0 is implemented in this task (fn-42.2). Phases 1-5 land in fn-42.3 → fn-42.6 (body sections, mermaid, push). The skill scaffold here owns the structure; per-phase content is filled in dependent tasks.