Coding prompts · Prompt

Write a pull request description (prompt)

write-pull-request-description-prompt

A prompt that writes a pull request description reviewers can act on fast - a small diagram or tree of what changed, before-and-after evidence such as test output or screenshots, and a merge-danger note on how reversible the change is and what it could affect. Use when the user opens a PR, asks for a PR body, or wants reviewers to understand a change quickly.

Works with: Any AI Not yet model-tested; testing Jan 2027

View raw SKILL.mdInstall

Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or any AI chat, then tell it about your project. How it works

Install in Claude Code, Cursor or Codex (optional)

Only for AI coding tools that read skill folders. Run one line in a terminal, in your project folder. It downloads this skill's text files from TheSkillVault and nothing else; you can read them first with “View raw SKILL.md”.

Claude Code (all your projects)

curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/write-pull-request-description-prompt/raw' -o ~/'.claude/skills/write-pull-request-description-prompt/SKILL.md' && curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/write-pull-request-description-prompt/files/LICENSE.txt' -o ~/'.claude/skills/write-pull-request-description-prompt/LICENSE.txt'

Cursor (this project)

curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/write-pull-request-description-prompt/raw' -o '.cursor/skills/write-pull-request-description-prompt/SKILL.md' && curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/write-pull-request-description-prompt/files/LICENSE.txt' -o '.cursor/skills/write-pull-request-description-prompt/LICENSE.txt'

Codex and other Agent Skills tools (this project)

curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/write-pull-request-description-prompt/raw' -o '.agents/skills/write-pull-request-description-prompt/SKILL.md' && curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/write-pull-request-description-prompt/files/LICENSE.txt' -o '.agents/skills/write-pull-request-description-prompt/LICENSE.txt'

Or connect the whole library over MCP

Add TheSkillVault to Cursor or add this to your app's MCP settings (read-only; help):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "theskillvault": {
      "url": "https://theskillvault.ai/mcp"
    }
  }
}

A good PR body shows the change, proves it works and says how risky it is to merge. This prompt writes that in a few lines.

When to use

  • You are opening a pull request and need a description.
  • Reviewers keep asking "what does this do?" or "did you test it?".
  • A change is risky and you want the risk stated up front.

Steps

  1. Get the diff: git diff main...HEAD (or the PR's "Files changed").
  2. Collect evidence: test output, a screenshot or a before-and-after.
  3. Paste both into the prompt below.
  4. Check the merge-danger section is honest, then paste the result into the PR.

Prompt

Write a pull request description for the change below. No preamble, keep prose short.

## Summary
Show the change in the smallest useful view: pseudocode for logic, a call tree for control flow, a file tree for structure, or a short diff sketch. Add one or two sentences on why.

## Evidence
- Before: what happened before (failing test, bug output, screenshot).
- After: what happens now (passing test, output, screenshot).

## Merge danger
- Door: one-way (hard to undo: data migrations, public API changes, deletes) or two-way (easy to revert).
- Blast radius: one word (tiny, local, module, app-wide), plus what could break if it is wrong.

DIFF:
{{DIFF}}

EVIDENCE:
{{TEST OUTPUT OR NOTES}}

How to adapt

  • Team has a PR template? Paste it and ask the AI to fill it using these rules.
  • For a tiny fix, ask for the summary and evidence only.

Gotchas

  • Scan the diff for API keys, tokens and .env values before pasting it into any AI tool.
  • Do not let the AI invent evidence. If you have no test output, it should say "not tested".

Portability

Works on GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket with any chat AI or coding agent. No tool lock-in. For the commit itself, use write-commit-message-prompt.

Done when

  • The description shows what changed, proof it works and the merge risk.
  • A reviewer can understand it without opening every file.

Example prompt

"Write the PR description for my branch. Here is the diff and the test output."

---

Adapted from "pr" in mattpocock/skills (MIT, Copyright (c) 2026 Matt Pocock). The upstream skill credits Dex Horthy / Humanlayer ("show-me") as inspiration. See LICENSE.txt.

Bundled files

Licence

Adapted from Matt Pocock (mattpocock/skills, pr); inspired by Dex Horthy / Humanlayer (show-me) (Copyright (c) 2026 Matt Pocock), MIT License. Adapted by TheSkillVault: rewrote the PR template guidance as a paste-in prompt with original examples; dropped glossary-file dependency; added steps, adapt notes, secrets check and done-when.

Licence: MIT License. Attribution when you reuse it: Based on work by Matt Pocock (mattpocock/skills, pr); inspired by Dex Horthy / Humanlayer (show-me) (Copyright (c) 2026 Matt Pocock, MIT License), https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/a496f5513d4a4cf889bc48e189e579f4b0bdf6aa/skills/engineering/pr; adapted by TheSkillVault, https://theskillvault.ai