feat: automate issue creation by britneywwc · Pull Request #53 · canonical/Bauer

britneywwc · 2026-06-09T08:26:50Z

Done

Remove dryRun flag and deprecated Copilot CLI check
Runs parser and creates issue on default
Takes in parseOnly flag that creates a parser without creating issue
Added issue creation automation. Parsed output is pushed to a remote branch that is referenced in the issue description
Overall workflow:
1. Bauer parses doc
2. Creates parsed output suggestions
3. Pushes suggestions to a remote branch
4. Creates issue description with reference to the remote branch
5. MANUALLY assign copilot to the issue (Note: this is a temporary solution as there is a separate ticket for this)
6. PR created automatically

QA

Clone the repository and build it locally with task build
Set up GH CLI
- Note: This part will be phased out with API implementation

Run the project on parse only mode (with --parse-only flag)

./bauer --doc-id "1WJ-N_Xkkx4r_6knxW7h200oIDyi4mVMzgh1xYt5xaU0" \
--github-repo <your-forked-repo>/canonical.com \
--credentials ./credentials.json \
--parse-only

See that no issue is created
Parser output is created locally in bauer-parse-output.json

Run the project on default mode (with issue creation)
```
./bauer --doc-id "1WJ-N_Xkkx4r_6knxW7h200oIDyi4mVMzgh1xYt5xaU0" \
--github-repo <your-forked-repo>/canonical.com \
--credentials ./credentials.json
```
- Validate that the issue is created
- Check that the remote SHA branch for the output file is referenced as expected
- See that issue is created
- MANUALLY assign to Copilot, and a PR is created to work on it
Example issue
Example PR

Issue / Card

Fixes WD-34220 and WD-37091

Screenshots

[If relevant, please include a screenshot.]

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR shifts Bauer from “run Copilot locally / create PR” toward an automated parse → push parse JSON to a branch → create a GitHub issue workflow, with a --parse-only mode to skip GitHub operations.

Changes:

Removes the prior dry-run/Copilot CLI execution path and introduces parse-first workflow behavior (parse-only vs parse-and-issue).
Adds GitHub automation helpers (commit specific files, push branch, create issues via gh, remote PR helper).
Updates prompt/description generation and README/docs to reflect the new execution modes and GH CLI auth.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 15 out of 15 changed files in this pull request and generated 7 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
README.md	Updates CLI usage, flags table, and documents parse-only vs parse-and-issue + GH auth.
internal/workflow/workflow.go	Reworks workflow to always parse first, then (optionally) push JSON to a branch and create an issue.
internal/workflow/api.go	Updates API request/validation and response messaging for parse-only vs parse-and-issue.
internal/prompt/README.md	Updates prompt docs to note shared issue/PR description usage.
internal/prompt/pr_description.go	Adds embedded PR/issue description rendering + JSON chunking helpers.
internal/prompt/pr_description_test.go	Adds tests asserting template references in generated PR description.
internal/orchestrator/orchestrator.go	Removes Copilot execution; keeps extraction/prompt generation pipeline with parse-only behavior.
internal/github/repo.go	Adds `CommitFiles` and `GetHeadCommitSHA` helpers used by the workflow.
internal/github/remote_pr.go	Adds remote branch/file/PR creation helper via `gh api` (no local clone).
internal/github/issue.go	Adds issue creation + comment helpers via `gh issue`.
internal/copilotcli/client.go	Deletes Copilot SDK client implementation (no longer used).
internal/config/config.go	Removes DryRun/Model fields; config now centers on parse-only + prompt generation inputs.
internal/config/cli.go	Removes dry-run/model flags; introduces/renames parse-only flag.
cmd/bauer/main.go	Updates CLI flags/output to support issue creation instead of PR creation.
cmd/app/types/config.go	Removes model fields from app API config.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

cmd/app/types/config.go:20

APIConfig removed Model/SummaryModel, but the v1 API handler still references rc.APIConfig.Model/SummaryModel when building a config.Config (see cmd/app/v1/api.go). This will not compile until that code path is updated.

type APIConfig struct {
	// CredentialsPath is the path to the Google Cloud service account JSON key file.
	CredentialsPath string

	// OutputDir is the directory where generated prompt files will be saved.
	// Default is "bauer-output" if not specified.
	BaseOutputDir string

	// TargetRepo is the path (relative or absolute) to the target repository
	// where tasks should be executed. If not specified, uses the current directory.
	TargetRepo string `json:"target_repo"`
}

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petesfrench · 2026-06-10T14:33:11Z

I ran it on Copy of canonical.com/ceph/support and there was a lot of noise for areas that don't have suggestions in the bau-doc-suggestions.json. Here is a snippet:

    {
      "id": "suggest.va7ijz9uih4d",
      "anchor": {
        "preceding_text": "n screenshots to view the templated section used on a live site. \nDon’t overth",
        "following_text": "  via the ribbon menu:\n\n\n\nThere are two automations under 🛠️Webpage templat"
      },
      "change": {
        "type": "insert",
        "new_text": " "
      },
      "verification": {
        "text_before_change": "n screenshots to view the templated section used on a live site. \nDon’t overth  via the ribbon menu:\n\n\n\nThere are two automations under 🛠️Webpage templat",
        "text_after_change": "n screenshots to view the templated section used on a live site. \nDon’t overth   via the ribbon menu:\n\n\n\nThere are two automations under 🛠️Webpage templat"
      },
      "location": {
        "section": "Body",
        "parent_heading": "Build with automations",
        "heading_level": 2,
        "in_table": true,
        "table": {
          "table_index": 9,
          "table_id": "table-9",
          "table_title": "",
          "row_index": 5,
          "column_index": 5,
          "column_header": "",
          "row_header": ""
        },
        "in_metadata": false
      },
      "position": {
        "start_index": 394,
        "end_index": 395
      }
    },
    ```
    And the CLI logs:
    ```
    2026/06/10 16:28:30 INFO Fetching document content... doc_id=1C2Rfz3P3YybgCpqM_-y_Ih8hvpyiRSkZHDLwO8Cpu4M
Fetching document 1C2Rfz3P3YybgCpqM_-y_Ih8hvpyiRSkZHDLwO8Cpu4M...
2026/06/10 16:28:36 INFO Document fetched successfully title="Copy of canonical.com/ceph/support" document_id=1C2Rfz3P3YybgCpqM_-y_Ih8hvpyiRSkZHDLwO8Cpu4M
Successfully fetched document: Copy of canonical.com/ceph/support
2026/06/10 16:28:36 INFO Suggestions extracted count=91
2026/06/10 16:28:36 INFO Document structure built headings=32 tables=76
2026/06/10 16:28:36 INFO Extracted actionable suggestions field_count=89
2026/06/10 16:28:36 INFO Grouped actionable suggestions location_groups=21
2026/06/10 16:28:36 INFO Extraction complete output_file=bauer-doc-suggestions.json extraction_duration=5.767147653s
2026/06/10 16:28:36 INFO Parse-only mode: returning early after extraction suggestion_count=89 file_count=15 total_duration=5.769781238s
2026/06/10 16:28:36 INFO workflow: parse-only mode complete output_file=/home/peter.french@canonical.com/canonical/projects/Bauer/bauer-output/bauer-parse-result.json
Status: success

petesfrench · 2026-06-10T15:22:02Z

Are you planning to move some of the more generic instructions (Vanilla guidelines, execution notes) into a custom agent?
Can we make the naming in credentials.json more clear? For example private_key_id - what is this a private key for
Once this is a service we will still have to run it from CLI?
This will create a lot of branches, what will the cleanup for this look like?
Is there a way to prevent duplication? For example, if additional changes are added to the same doc and a separate request is made, should it update the already existing branch? should it make a new branch with a duplication of the unresolved suggestions?

petesfrench · 2026-06-10T15:26:07Z

I ran on doc 1WJ-N_Xkkx4r_6knxW7h200oIDyi4mVMzgh1xYt5xaU0 and had some interesting results.

The issues created/jsons look the same: My issue & your issue

But our PRs were drastically different, with the description of mine halucinating changes that weren't suggested or made: My PR & your PR (yours also added a test that isn't needed)

britneywwc · 2026-06-11T04:38:34Z

I ran it on Copy of canonical.com/ceph/support and there was a lot of noise for areas that don't have suggestions in the bau-doc-suggestions.json.

Looking at the CLI logs, it seems like you did not pass the tab ID for the doc. This is the new copy doc 2.0 template so so we would have to pass in the tab ID for the page as well. If no tab ID is passed, it will pick up changes from the other instruction pages.

Can you try running it again with the tab ID?

--doc-id "1C2Rfz3P3YybgCpqM_-y_Ih8hvpyiRSkZHDLwO8Cpu4M/edit?tab=t.ly9ghy9ilvf"

britneywwc · 2026-06-11T04:46:11Z

Are you planning to move some of the more generic instructions (Vanilla guidelines, execution notes) into a custom agent?

Can you clarify what you mean by custom agent? The instructions are embedded in the prompt engine, so the engine carries the MD instruction files inside the binary executable.

Once this is a service we will still have to run it from CLI?

No, it will be an API service. We will pass in the values from the API call. For example, Jira webhook will call the endpoint with doc ID credentials, repository URL and so on.

This will create a lot of branches, what will the cleanup for this look like?

I was thinking of creating a workflow to delete the branches once it's merged

Is there a way to prevent duplication? For example, if additional changes are added to the same doc and a separate request is made, should it update the already existing branch? should it make a new branch with a duplication of the unresolved suggestions?

Ideally, we would only have one request at a time for the copy doc. With the current workflow logic, it will create a new branch with a duplication of unresolved suggestions. Whichever ticket runs Bauer, it will implement all unresolved suggestions on a copy doc.

To reduce duplication, maybe this could be something that can be discussed with the BAU panel/PMs. Wdyt?

* Can we make the naming in credentials.json more clear? For example private_key_id - what is this a private key for

Good call, will do!

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 20 out of 20 changed files in this pull request and generated 7 comments.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 20 out of 20 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

cmd/bauer/main.go:51

In --parse-only mode, --github-repo is allowed, but this code still attempts to fetch a GitHub token and can emit a misleading warning even though GitHub auth isn't required. Gate token retrieval on !parseOnly to match the advertised parse-only behavior.

	if *githubRepo != "" {
		var err error
		ghToken, err = github.GetGitHubToken()
		if err != nil {
			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "WARNING: Could not get GitHub token: %v\n", err)
		}
	}

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 20 out of 20 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

 ./bauer --doc-id <doc-id> \
-  --credentials <path-to-creds> \
-  --parse-only
+  --credentials <path-to-creds>
+  --github-repo <github-repo>
 ```


+  --credentials <path-to-creds>
+  --github-repo <github-repo>
 ```
+Additionally, you can run it with `--parse-only` without creeting an issue.


+	repoPromptDir := filepath.Base(filepath.Clean(input.OutputDir))
+	if repoPromptDir == "." {
+		repoPromptDir = ""
+	}


 1.  Build Bauer locally using the Local development steps above (`task build`)
-2. If running with GitHub integration (no `--parse-only`), ensure `copilot` is installed and authenticated
+2. If running with GitHub issue creation (no `--parse-only`), ensure GitHub CLI auth is available


britneywwc added 6 commits June 9, 2026 16:17

feat: update workflow to create issue on default

4e1f707

feat: remove dryRun flag

00b7524

feat: add GH issue creation

072138e

feat: commit parser output to remote branch

9ea4ef5

feat: implement issue desc builder

865ec63

docs: update docs with new flags

ec83266

britneywwc changed the title ~~feat: automate issue and PR creation~~ feat: automate issue creation Jun 9, 2026

britneywwc added Review: Code needed Review: QA needed labels Jun 9, 2026

britneywwc requested a review from petesfrench June 9, 2026 09:38

britneywwc force-pushed the automated-pr branch from b1bca1a to ec83266 Compare June 9, 2026 09:38

britneywwc added 2 commits June 9, 2026 17:52

docs: add GH CLI setup

5984c04

feat: remove deprecated dryRun and copilot SDK

27f94bd

britneywwc force-pushed the automated-pr branch from ca92dd8 to 27f94bd Compare June 10, 2026 07:59

petesfrench requested a review from Copilot June 10, 2026 08:15

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of petesfrench June 10, 2026 08:15 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Jun 10, 2026

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Address copilot code comments

5d0b92c

britneywwc added 2 commits June 11, 2026 15:17

chore: remove unused creds and update google_private_key

603f41f

chore: lint files

321b0e3

britneywwc requested a review from Copilot June 11, 2026 08:47

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of britneywwc June 11, 2026 08:47 View session

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chore: revert google_private_key renaming

067315f

britneywwc requested a review from Copilot June 11, 2026 10:25

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Comment thread README.md

Comment thread internal/workflow/workflow.go Outdated

Address copilot code comments

d89d85f

britneywwc force-pushed the automated-pr branch from 01c3fb6 to d89d85f Compare June 12, 2026 06:22

britneywwc added 2 commits June 12, 2026 15:31

feat: add branch cleanup instructions

e05166b

feat: add target PR branch instructions

34fa5a5

britneywwc requested a review from Copilot June 12, 2026 07:57

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britneywwc commented Jun 9, 2026 •

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