Enable pr-review-toolkit plugin in GitHub Actions workflow

[matthew-petty]

Problem

Our local Claude Code environment has access to powerful pr-review-toolkit agents, but our GitHub Actions PR review workflow does not. This creates a significant capability gap.

Local environment has:

• code-reviewer - Reviews code for adherence to guidelines
• code-simplifier - Simplifies code while preserving functionality
• comment-analyzer - Analyzes comments for accuracy
• pr-test-analyzer - Reviews test coverage quality
• silent-failure-hunter - Identifies silent failures and error handling issues
• type-design-analyzer - Expert analysis of type design

GitHub Actions workflow currently:

• Relies only on prompt-based instructions
• No access to specialized agents
• Lower quality reviews compared to local

Proposed Solution: Vendor the Plugin

Instead of relying on marketplace URLs or remote installation, we can vendor the pr-review-toolkit directly into the repository and load it via the --plugin-dir flag.

Step 1: Add plugin to repository

# Copy the plugin from the official claude-code repo
mkdir -p .claude/plugins
# Clone just the pr-review-toolkit directory

The plugin structure we need:

.claude/plugins/pr-review-toolkit/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── plugin.json
├── agents/
│   ├── code-reviewer.md
│   ├── code-simplifier.md
│   ├── comment-analyzer.md
│   ├── pr-test-analyzer.md
│   ├── silent-failure-hunter.md
│   └── type-design-analyzer.md
├── commands/
│   └── review-pr.md
└── README.md

Step 2: Update workflow to load the plugin

# .github/workflows/claude-code-review.yml
- name: Run Claude Code Review
  uses: anthropics/claude-code-action@v1
  with:
    claude_code_oauth_token: ${{ secrets.CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN }}

    # Load vendored plugin via --plugin-dir
    claude_args: |
      --plugin-dir .claude/plugins/pr-review-toolkit
      --allowed-tools "Bash(gh issue view:*),Bash(gh search:*),..."

    prompt: |
      You have access to the pr-review-toolkit agents. Use them for comprehensive review:
      1. Use silent-failure-hunter to scan for error handling issues
      2. Use type-design-analyzer to review any new TypeScript types
      3. Use pr-test-analyzer to evaluate test coverage
      4. Use code-reviewer for overall guideline adherence

Alternative: Standalone Agents (No Plugin Wrapper)

If --plugin-dir doesn't work with the action, we can copy just the agent markdown files:

.claude/agents/
├── code-reviewer.md
├── code-simplifier.md
├── comment-analyzer.md
├── pr-test-analyzer.md
├── silent-failure-hunter.md
└── type-design-analyzer.md

These would be available as standard agents without the plugin namespace.

Implementation Tasks

• Clone pr-review-toolkit from anthropics/claude-code/plugins/pr-review-toolkit
• Add to .claude/plugins/
• Test --plugin-dir flag works with claude-code-action
• Update workflow to pass --plugin-dir via claude_args
• Update prompt to instruct Claude to use the agents
• Test on a real PR to verify agents are accessible
• Document the vendoring approach in CONTRIBUTING.md

Open Questions

1. Does --plugin-dir work with claude-code-action? Need to test.
2. Should we use git submodule (auto-updates) or vendored copy (stability)?
3. Do we need to modify the plugin for CI context?

References

• pr-review-toolkit source
• Claude Code Plugins Reference
• claude-code-action configuration
• Issue #664 - Local plugin support
• PR #761 - Local marketplace paths

[github-actions]

Triage Summary

This issue has been labeled as:

• enhancement - Adding pr-review-toolkit plugin support to GitHub Actions
• good first issue - Well-documented with clear implementation steps

Priority Assessment: Medium priority

• Improves CI/CD review quality but doesn't block existing functionality
• Requires investigation of open questions (e.g., --plugin-dir compatibility)

Next Steps:

1. Test whether --plugin-dir flag works with claude-code-action
2. Decide between git submodule vs vendored copy approach
3. Implement based on findings

The issue is well-structured with clear tasks, proposed solutions, and relevant references. Ready for implementation once the open questions are answered.

[matthew-petty]

Implementation Update

Completed in this session:

• Issue triage workflow improvements (PR coming):
  • Removed hardcoded label list - now fetches labels dynamically with gh label list
  • Removed instruction to leave comments on issues - now applies needs:clarification label instead
  • Restricted allowed tools to prevent accidental commenting

Blocked - Waiting on upstream:

• PR review workflow improvements: Disabled temporarily pending anthropics/claude-code-action#761 merge
  • Once merged, we can use --plugin-dir to load vendored pr-review-toolkit
  • The gh-pr-review extension approach is ready to implement for resolvable inline comments

References:

• gh-pr-review extension - CLI extension for inline PR review comments
• claude-code-action PR #761 - Local marketplace paths support