Skill: Fix CI

What This Skill Does

Provides a structured debugging workflow for CI failures. Instead of the common pattern of "read error → guess fix → push → wait → repeat", this skill enforces: analyze logs → identify root cause → reproduce locally → fix → verify locally → push once.

When to Use

When CI checks fail on a PR or push
When the user says "CI is red" or "fix the pipeline"
After pr-ready detects CI failures

Do NOT use this for writing new CI pipelines — use ci-setup for that.

Execution Model

Always: the primary agent runs this skill directly.
Rationale: CI fixes require terminal access (running tests locally), file edits, and iterative debugging — all primary agent capabilities.
Token budget: ~3-8k tokens depending on failure complexity.

Workflow

Step 1: Get CI Status

Determine which CI checks failed:

# For GitHub Actions
gh run list --limit 5
gh run view <run-id> --log-failed

If the user provides a run ID or URL, use that directly.

Step 2: Categorize the Failure

CI failures fall into predictable categories:

Category	Indicators	Typical Fix
Lint/Format	eslint, ruff, prettier, markdownlint errors	Auto-fix or targeted code change
Type Check	tsc, mypy, pyright errors	Fix type annotations
Test Failure	pytest, jest, vitest failures	Fix test or implementation
Build Failure	compile errors, missing dependencies	Fix imports, install deps
Config Error	YAML syntax, invalid action version	Fix config file
Environment	missing secrets, wrong runner, timeout	Fix workflow config
Dependency	lockfile conflict, version mismatch	Update lockfile

Step 3: Extract Root Cause

Read the failed job's logs and identify:

Which job failed (name, step)
The actual error message (not just the summary)
The file and line (if applicable)
Whether it's a flaky failure (check if the same test passed on the previous run)

gh run view <run-id> --log-failed 2>&1 | tail -50

Step 4: Reproduce Locally

Before fixing, verify the failure reproduces locally:

Lint: run the same linter locally
Tests: run the specific failing test
Build: run the build command
Type check: run the type checker

If it doesn't reproduce locally, the issue is environment-specific (secrets, runner version, caching).

Step 5: Apply Fix

Apply the minimal fix for the identified root cause:

One fix per failure category: don't mix lint fixes with test fixes
Smallest possible change: avoid refactoring while fixing CI
Run the same check locally after applying the fix

Step 6: Verify Locally

Run the exact same commands that CI runs:

# Example for a typical project
npm run lint        # or: ruff check .
npm test            # or: pytest
npm run build       # or: python -m build
npm run typecheck   # or: mypy .

All must pass before pushing.

Step 7: Push and Monitor

git add -A
git commit -m "fix: <category> — <what was wrong>"
git push

Then monitor the CI run:

gh run watch

Rules

Read logs first: never guess at CI fixes. Always read the actual error output.
Reproduce locally: verify the failure before fixing. Pushing blind fixes wastes CI minutes and time.
One category at a time: fix lint issues separately from test failures. This makes the fix commit clear and revertable.
Minimal fix: do not refactor, optimize, or "improve" code while fixing CI. Fix only the failure.
Verify before push: run the same checks locally. Never push and hope.
No built-in explore agent: do NOT use the built-in explore subagent type.

fix-ci