📝 PR Summarizer for Async Teams
Auto-generate PR descriptions from the diff, summarize for Slack, and produce weekly 'what shipped' digests — no more 'update your PR description' nags.
The problem
Engineers hate writing PR descriptions. Managers need them for reviews, standups, and retros. The result is empty 'wip' descriptions, slow reviews, and missing context in decision-making. It's a coordination tax nobody wants to pay.
The outcome
Every PR gets an auto-generated description: what changed, why (pulled from linked issues), risk level, files touched. Slack gets a daily digest of merged work. Friday gets a 'this week we shipped' summary for leadership. Engineers keep writing 'wip'.
Why OpenClaw
OpenClaw's cron routines handle the scheduling (daily digest, weekly summary) natively. The skill ecosystem has GitHub/GitLab integrations already. Self-hosted means no per-PR fees, which adds up at 500+ PRs/month.
Alternatives worth considering
- Hermes — Better if you want continuous summaries (updates on every significant commit, not just merges)
- Claude Cowork — For solo devs or small teams — just paste diffs into a Project and ask
Setup steps
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Step 1: Install the GitHub skill
Read access to repos, write access to PR descriptions only (not code, not branches). Use a dedicated service account so the audit trail shows bot activity clearly.
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Step 2: Write the 'PR description' prompt
Input: diff + linked issue. Output: 4-section description (Summary, Why, Risk, Testing). Length capped at 300 words. Dev reviews and edits before merging.
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Step 3: Schedule the daily Slack digest
Every weekday at 9am, post a summary of PRs merged yesterday to #engineering. Group by project. Link each PR. Total length capped so it's one Slack message, not a thread.
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Step 4: Add the Friday leadership summary
Higher altitude. Not individual PRs — themes (we shipped 3 user-facing features, 12 bug fixes, started migration to X). Written for a non-engineer audience.
Example prompt
Given this PR diff and linked issue, write a PR description with 4 sections: Summary (1 paragraph), Why (link to issue goal), Risk (touched areas, rollback plan), Testing (how to verify). Under 300 words.Pitfalls to avoid
- Letting the bot auto-merge. Description generation yes. Merging no. Keep humans in the approval loop.
- Summarizing every commit. Merged PRs yes, individual commits no. Signal-to-noise matters in Slack.
- Sending leadership summaries that are just PR lists. Leadership wants themes, not ledgers. Spend prompt engineering effort here — it's the highest-visibility output.
Cost breakdown (monthly)
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Haiku (per-PR descriptions, bulk) | $5–15 |
| Sonnet (Friday leadership summary) | $2–8 |
| OpenClaw hosting | $0 |
Total: $10–30/month. Costs assume typical usage; heavy use can run higher.
Related guides
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