dependabot-review

Review and manage Dependabot PRs. Categorizes by risk, checks CI status, auto-merges safe updates, and reports issues. Use when the user says "review dependabot", "merge dependabot", "dependabot PRs", or "update dependencies".

24,269 stars

Best use case

dependabot-review is best used when you need a repeatable AI agent workflow instead of a one-off prompt.

Review and manage Dependabot PRs. Categorizes by risk, checks CI status, auto-merges safe updates, and reports issues. Use when the user says "review dependabot", "merge dependabot", "dependabot PRs", or "update dependencies".

Teams using dependabot-review should expect a more consistent output, faster repeated execution, less prompt rewriting.

When to use this skill

  • You want a reusable workflow that can be run more than once with consistent structure.

When not to use this skill

  • You only need a quick one-off answer and do not need a reusable workflow.
  • You cannot install or maintain the underlying files, dependencies, or repository context.

Installation

Claude Code / Cursor / Codex

$curl -o ~/.claude/skills/dependabot-review/SKILL.md --create-dirs "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/davila7/claude-code-templates/main/cli-tool/components/skills/workflow-automation/dependabot-review/SKILL.md"

Manual Installation

  1. Download SKILL.md from GitHub
  2. Place it in .claude/skills/dependabot-review/SKILL.md inside your project
  3. Restart your AI agent — it will auto-discover the skill

How dependabot-review Compares

Feature / Agentdependabot-reviewStandard Approach
Platform SupportNot specifiedLimited / Varies
Context Awareness High Baseline
Installation ComplexityUnknownN/A

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this skill do?

Review and manage Dependabot PRs. Categorizes by risk, checks CI status, auto-merges safe updates, and reports issues. Use when the user says "review dependabot", "merge dependabot", "dependabot PRs", or "update dependencies".

Where can I find the source code?

You can find the source code on GitHub using the link provided at the top of the page.

Related Guides

SKILL.md Source

# Dependabot PR Review

You are a dependency management specialist. Your job is to review all open Dependabot PRs, assess risk, and take action.

## Workflow

### Step 1: Discovery

List all open Dependabot PRs:

```bash
gh pr list --author "dependabot[bot]" --state open --json number,title,labels,createdAt,headRefName --limit 50
```

If no PRs are found, inform the user and stop.

### Step 2: Classification

For each PR, classify it into a risk tier based on the branch name and title:

| Tier | Criteria | Action |
|------|----------|--------|
| **Safe** | GitHub Actions updates (`dependabot/github_actions/`), patch bumps (`1.2.3` -> `1.2.4`) | Auto-merge |
| **Low Risk** | Minor bumps (`1.2.0` -> `1.3.0`) for well-known libraries | Auto-merge after CI check |
| **Review Required** | Major bumps (`1.x` -> `2.x`), unknown libraries, security-tagged PRs | Report to user |

To determine bump type, parse the PR title. Dependabot titles follow patterns like:
- `Bump X from 1.2.3 to 1.2.4` (patch)
- `Bump X from 1.2.0 to 1.3.0` (minor)
- `Bump X from 1.0.0 to 2.0.0` (major)

### Step 3: CI Check

For each PR you plan to merge, check CI status:

```bash
gh pr checks <number> --json name,state,bucket
```

- If all checks **pass**: proceed with merge
- If checks are **pending**: wait up to 2 minutes (poll every 30s). If still pending, skip and report as "CI pending"
- If any check **fails**: skip and report to user

### Step 4: Merge Safe PRs

For PRs classified as Safe or Low Risk with passing CI:

```bash
gh pr merge <number> --merge --delete-branch
```

**Important rules:**
- Never force-merge
- Never merge PRs with failing CI
- Never merge major version bumps without user confirmation
- Merge one at a time to avoid conflicts

### Step 5: Report

After processing, present a summary table to the user:

```
## Dependabot Review Summary

### Merged (X PRs)
| PR | Update | Type |
|----|--------|------|
| #123 | actions/checkout v4 -> v6 | GitHub Actions |

### Needs Review (X PRs)
| PR | Update | Risk | Reason |
|----|--------|------|--------|
| #456 | jest 29 -> 30 | Major | Breaking changes possible |

### Skipped (X PRs)
| PR | Update | Reason |
|----|--------|--------|
| #789 | chalk 5.5 -> 5.6 | CI failing |
```

## Guardrails

- **Always check CI before merging** — never merge red PRs
- **Major bumps need user approval** — present the changelog and ask
- **Rate limit merges** — if there are more than 10 PRs, process in batches of 5 and ask the user before continuing
- **Conflict handling** — if a merge fails due to conflicts, skip it and report. Do not attempt to resolve conflicts
- **Security PRs** — if a PR has a `security` label or mentions a CVE, always flag it to the user even if it's a patch, so they are aware
- **Rebase cascades** — after merging several PRs, remaining ones may need rebase. Run `gh pr list --author "dependabot[bot]"` again after each batch to see updated status

## Common Patterns

**Quick safe merge (GitHub Actions only):**
The user says "merge the actions PRs" — filter to `dependabot/github_actions/` branches only.

**Full review:**
The user says "review dependabot" — run the complete workflow above.

**Dry run:**
The user says "check dependabot" or "show dependabot PRs" — run Steps 1-2 only, report classification without merging.

Related Skills

code-review-excellence

24269
from davila7/claude-code-templates

Transform code reviews from gatekeeping to knowledge sharing through constructive feedback, systematic analysis, and collaborative improvement.

code-review

24269
from davila7/claude-code-templates

Perform code reviews following Sentry engineering practices. Use when reviewing pull requests, examining code changes, or providing feedback on code quality. Covers security, performance, testing, and design review.

peer-review

24269
from davila7/claude-code-templates

Systematic peer review toolkit. Evaluate methodology, statistics, design, reproducibility, ethics, figure integrity, reporting standards, for manuscript and grant review across disciplines.

literature-review

24269
from davila7/claude-code-templates

Conduct comprehensive, systematic literature reviews using multiple academic databases (PubMed, arXiv, bioRxiv, Semantic Scholar, etc.). This skill should be used when conducting systematic literature reviews, meta-analyses, research synthesis, or comprehensive literature searches across biomedical, scientific, and technical domains. Creates professionally formatted markdown documents and PDFs with verified citations in multiple citation styles (APA, Nature, Vancouver, etc.).

requesting-code-review

24269
from davila7/claude-code-templates

Use when completing tasks, implementing major features, or before merging to verify work meets requirements

receiving-code-review

24269
from davila7/claude-code-templates

Use when receiving code review feedback, before implementing suggestions, especially if feedback seems unclear or technically questionable - requires technical rigor and verification, not performative agreement or blind implementation

codex-review

24269
from davila7/claude-code-templates

Professional code review with auto CHANGELOG generation, integrated with Codex AI

code-reviewer

24269
from davila7/claude-code-templates

Comprehensive code review skill for TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Swift, Kotlin, Go. Includes automated code analysis, best practice checking, security scanning, and review checklist generation. Use when reviewing pull requests, providing code feedback, identifying issues, or ensuring code quality standards.

code-review-checklist

24269
from davila7/claude-code-templates

Comprehensive checklist for conducting thorough code reviews covering functionality, security, performance, and maintainability

security-review

24269
from davila7/claude-code-templates

Use this skill when adding authentication, handling user input, working with secrets, creating API endpoints, or implementing payment/sensitive features. Provides comprehensive security checklist and patterns.

async-python-patterns

24269
from davila7/claude-code-templates

Comprehensive guidance for implementing asynchronous Python applications using asyncio, concurrent programming patterns, and async/await for building high-performance, non-blocking systems.

slack-automation

24269
from davila7/claude-code-templates

Automate Slack workspace operations including messaging, search, channel management, and reaction workflows through Composio's Slack toolkit.