gh-credit-harvest

Harvest exactly one community PR into the real landing branch with full authorship and machine-readable credit, verified green, then thank the contributor. A PR is evidence: judge it from code, tests, comments, and checks, never the title. Do not merge, close, tag, or publish without maintainer approval — this skill lands a credited commit and posts thanks; the workflow closes the PR.

When to use

• You have approval to land ONE specific community PR into a release branch.
• The PR is not yet on the landing branch (if it is, close-with-credit instead — see gh-close-issues).
• The landing branch may be local-only (e.g. <release-branch>); a main-based "mergeable" flag does not prove it lands cleanly.

Workflow

1. Find the real landing branch (the one the maintainer named, not always main) and fetch the PR head:

bash git switch <release-branch> git fetch origin pull/<N>/head git log -1 --format='%H %an <%ae>' FETCH_HEAD # author to preserve

1. Review from evidence, not the title. Read the diff, tests, linked issue, comments, and CI:

bash gh pr view <N> --repo Hmbown/CodeWhale --json title,author,files,statusCheckRollup gh pr diff <N> --repo Hmbown/CodeWhale

1. Test mergeability against the REAL landing branch (local-only branches lie via the main flag):

bash git merge-tree $(git merge-base HEAD FETCH_HEAD) HEAD FETCH_HEAD # empty/clean = no conflict

1. Land it, preferring cherry-pick — it preserves the original author automatically:

bash git cherry-pick <sha> # one or more commits from FETCH_HEAD

1. If it conflicts, spans noise, or needs squashing, re-apply the narrow slice and commit with explicit author + credit trailers. Resolve --author and the co-author from .github/AUTHOR_MAP (fall back to numeric noreply):

bash gh api users/<handle> --jq '"\(.id)+\(.login)@users.noreply.github.com"' git commit --author="Name <ID+handle@users.noreply.github.com>" -m "fix(scope): what changed (#<N>)" \ -m "Harvested from PR #<N> by @<handle>" \ -m "Co-authored-by: Name <ID+handle@users.noreply.github.com>" The Harvested from PR #<N> by @<handle> line in the body is what .github/workflows/auto-close-harvested.yml matches to auto-close with credit once the commit reaches main.

1. Format and run the focused tests for the touched crate — only land green:

bash cargo fmt --all cargo test -p <crate> # the crate(s) the PR touched, not the whole workspace git log -1 --format='%an <%ae>%n%(trailers:key=Co-authored-by)' # credit the human, from .github/AUTHOR_MAP

1. Post a brief, warm, specific thank-you on the PR — name what the change fixed, no drama. Leave the PR open; the workflow closes it with credit when the commit lands on main:

bash gh pr comment <N> --repo Hmbown/CodeWhale \ --body "Thank you @<handle> — clean fix for <the specific bug>. Harvested into the <release-branch> lane with your authorship preserved; it'll auto-close with credit once it reaches main."

Shape of a clean harvest: a single-commit PR that cherry-picks with no conflicts needs no manual trailers — the author is preserved automatically — and a focused cargo test -p on the touched crate is enough to land it green.

Red flags / don't

• Don't judge or land from the title or labels alone — read code, tests, comments, and checks.
• Don't trust the GitHub main-based mergeable flag for a local-only release branch; prove it with git merge-tree.
• Don't squash away the original author. Cherry-pick when you can; only fall back to --author + trailers when you must.
• Don't invent co-author emails. Use .github/AUTHOR_MAP, then numeric noreply; never raw third-party, .local, placeholder, or bot emails.
• Don't omit the Harvested from PR #<N> by @<handle> body line — without it the PR won't auto-close with credit.
• Don't land red, harvest more than one PR per commit, or batch unrelated changes into the harvest.
• Don't merge, close, tag, publish, or push release artifacts without maintainer approval. Keep the comment positive and crediting.
• Already on the landing branch? Don't re-harvest — close-with-credit via gh-close-issues.