---
name: pr-management-mentor
mode: Mentoring
description: |
  Draft a teaching-register comment on a single GitHub issue or
  PR thread on the configured `<upstream>` repo (default: read
  from `<project-config>/project.md → upstream_repo`), aimed at a
  contributor who is missing repo context the maintainer would
  otherwise have to spell out. The skill reads the thread,
  decides whether a mentoring intervention is warranted, drafts
  one comment per the project's tone guide and convention
  pointers, runs the tone checklist, then waits for explicit
  maintainer confirmation before posting via `gh`. Does **not**
  triage (no labels, draft toggles, closes), review code (no
  diff comments, approve / request-changes), or open PRs — those
  are Triage and Drafting surfaces. Bows out and pings the
  configured maintainer team when the thread reaches
  `max_agent_turns`, when the contributor pushes back on a
  substantive design point, when the topic enters
  `out_of_scope_topics`, or when the contributor explicitly asks
  for a human.
when_to_use: |
  Invoke when a maintainer says "mentor PR NNN", "help the
  reporter on issue NNN", "draft a clarifying comment for NNN",
  "explain the convention to this contributor on NNN", or chains
  this skill after `pr-management-triage` flags a PR as "first
  contributor, missing repro / convention". Not appropriate for
  PRs already mid-review with a maintainer (the agent should
  not talk over a human reviewer), for security-sensitive
  threads (Mentoring always hands off these), or for any thread
  where the maintainer has *deliberately* not replied yet — ask
  before invoking.
license: Apache-2.0
---
<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
     https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 -->

<!-- Placeholder convention:
     <repo>   → target GitHub repository in `owner/name` form (default: read from `<project-config>/project.md → upstream_repo`)
     <viewer> → the authenticated GitHub login of the maintainer running the skill
     Substitute these before running any `gh` command below. -->

# pr-management-mentor

**Status: experimental.** First prototype of Mentoring
([conversational mentoring](../../../docs/mentoring/spec.md)). The
skill exists to make the spec executable on a single thread at
a time so we can iterate on tone wording, convention pointers,
and hand-off triggers against real contributor traffic before
hardening the contract.

This skill walks a maintainer through **one mentoring
intervention** on **one thread** (issue or PR). Its job is to
answer, for the invoked thread, one question:

> *Is there a one-comment teaching intervention that lowers the
> barrier to the contributor's next useful action — and if so,
> what does it say?*

If the answer is "no" (thread is already on track, maintainer
already engaging, scope exceeds Mentoring), the skill says so and
exits without posting. The agent's silence is a feature, not a
failure.

The full spec — scope, register, hand-off rules, adopter knobs
— lives in [`docs/mentoring/spec.md`](../../../docs/mentoring/spec.md).
This SKILL.md is the runtime; detail files break the loop out
topic-by-topic:

| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
| [`comment-templates.md`](comment-templates.md) | Verbatim mentoring-comment bodies for the four canonical interventions: missing-repro, missing-version, convention-pointer, why-question. |
| [`tone-checks.md`](tone-checks.md) | Pre-post checklist enforcing the spec's voice rules (no praise without specificity, no hedging, one ask per comment, etc.). The skill runs every draft through this list before showing it to the maintainer. |
| [`hand-off.md`](hand-off.md) | The hand-off comment template + the four trigger conditions that fire it. |

---

## Adopter overrides

Before running the default behaviour documented below, this
skill consults
[`.apache-steward-overrides/pr-management-mentor.md`](../../../docs/setup/agentic-overrides.md)
in the adopter repo if it exists, and applies any
agent-readable overrides it finds. See
[`docs/setup/agentic-overrides.md`](../../../docs/setup/agentic-overrides.md)
for the override file shape.

## Adopter contract

Per-project values live in
`<project-config>/mentoring-config.md`. See the template at
[`projects/_template/mentoring-config.md`](../../../projects/_template/mentoring-config.md).
The keys this skill reads:

| Key | Used for |
|---|---|
| `mentoring_invocation_command` | The slash-command name the maintainer types. |
| `maintainer_team_handle` | `@<org>/<team>` mentioned on hand-off. |
| `ai_attribution_footer` | Literal markdown appended to every contributor-facing comment. |
| `convention_pointers` | Trigger → docs-link → label table. The skill links rather than paraphrases. |
| `max_agent_turns` | Hard ceiling on consecutive agent comments per thread. Default 2. |
| `out_of_scope_topics` | Topics on which the skill always hands off without drafting. |

If any required key is missing, the skill aborts with a
config-error message and points at the template. It does not
guess defaults for project-specific values.

## Runtime loop

The skill runs against a single thread per invocation. The loop
is short on purpose — one comment in, one decision out:

1. **Resolve config**. Read `<project-config>/mentoring-config.md`.
   Abort if any required key is missing.
2. **Fetch the thread**. `gh issue view <N> --comments` (or
   `gh pr view <N> --comments`). Cap the read at the last
   `max_agent_turns + 5` comments — older context is not the
   audience.
3. **Out-of-scope check**. If the thread title or recent
   comments touch any `out_of_scope_topics` entry, **do not
   draft**. Surface "this thread is out of Mentoring scope —
   handing off" and run the [hand-off](hand-off.md) flow.
4. **Maintainer-already-engaged check**. If a maintainer (login
   in the configured committers team, see `pr-management-config.md →
   committers_team`) has commented in the last
   `max_agent_turns` turns, **do not draft**. The agent does
   not talk over a human reviewer.
5. **Pick the intervention**. Match the thread against the
   `convention_pointers` triggers. If exactly one fires, pick
   the matching template from
   [`comment-templates.md`](comment-templates.md). If multiple
   fire, ask the maintainer which one. If none fire, exit
   silently (no draft, no comment).
6. **Draft the comment**. Render the template with the
   contributor's `<author>` login and the matched
   `convention_pointers` row. Append the
   `ai_attribution_footer` exactly as configured.
7. **Run the tone checks**. Walk every rule in
   [`tone-checks.md`](tone-checks.md) against the draft. If any
   fail, revise and re-check. If revision can't satisfy a rule
   in two passes, surface the failing rule to the maintainer
   and ask for guidance — do not post a comment that fails
   tone.
8. **Show the maintainer**. Print the rendered comment, the
   matched trigger, and the convention-pointer link. Wait for
   explicit confirmation. Do not post on implicit signals.
9. **Post or discard**. On `yes`, post via
   `gh issue comment <N> --body-file <draft>` (or
   `gh pr comment`). On `no`, exit silently.
10. **Log**. Record the invocation outcome (drafted-and-posted,
    drafted-and-discarded, declined-pre-draft) to the
    framework's audit log so contributor-sentiment evaluation
    can be retrospective.

## Hand-off

Four triggers fire the hand-off flow (see
[`hand-off.md`](hand-off.md) for the comment template and the
detection logic):

1. Thread reaches `max_agent_turns`.
2. Contributor pushes back on a substantive design point and
   the skill's first answer didn't resolve it.
3. Topic enters `out_of_scope_topics` mid-thread.
4. Contributor explicitly asks for a human.

The hand-off comment is one line: `@<maintainer_team_handle>`,
a one-line summary of the open question, and silence
afterwards. The skill does not summarise the conversation; the
maintainer reads the thread.

## What this skill does not do

- **Code review.** No diff comments, no approvals, no
  request-changes submissions.
  [`pr-management-code-review`](../pr-management-code-review/SKILL.md)
  owns that.
- **Triage.** No labels, no draft toggles, no closes.
  [`pr-management-triage`](../pr-management-triage/SKILL.md)
  owns that.
- **Authoring fixes.** No PRs opened. That is Drafting.
- **Predicting maintainer decisions.** The skill never says
  "the maintainers will probably want X". It says "a
  maintainer will reply on this; in the meantime, here's the
  convention" and stops.
- **Mailing-list comments.** GitHub threads only.
  Mailing-list mentoring lives in the human maintainer's
  voice; the agent does not have a list-subscriber identity.
- **Auto-fire.** Every invocation is opt-in by a maintainer.
  No cron, no webhook, no auto-trigger. Auto-fire is a
  Auto-merge-shaped problem and inherits Auto-merge's sequencing
  constraint.

## Cross-references

- [`docs/mentoring/spec.md`](../../../docs/mentoring/spec.md) —
  the full spec this skill implements.
- [`docs/mentoring/README.md`](../../../docs/mentoring/README.md) —
  family overview + status.
- [`docs/modes.md` § Mentoring](../../../docs/modes.md#mentoring) —
  current implementation status (experimental once this skill
  ships).
- [`projects/_template/mentoring-config.md`](../../../projects/_template/mentoring-config.md) —
  adopter scaffold.
- [`MISSION.md` § Mentoring](../../../MISSION.md#technical-scope) —
  RAI empowerment framing.