pr-buildr

AI-powered pull request builder. Generates PR titles and descriptions from your git diff and commit history.

Available as both a CLI tool and a VS Code extension.

How It Works

Detects your repo, current branch, and base branch
Gathers the git diff, commit log, and changed files
Sends context to an AI provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, or Ollama)
Generates a PR title and body following your repo's PR template (or a built-in default)
Lets you review and edit before creating
Creates the PR via the GitHub API

Installation

Requires Node.js 20+.

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/Tjhohn/Pr-Buildr.git
cd pr-buildr
pnpm install
pnpm run build

# Link the CLI globally
cd packages/cli
pnpm link --global

Now pr-buildr is available as a command.

Alternatively, run directly without linking:

node packages/cli/dist/index.js <command>

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description
`GITHUB_TOKEN`	Yes	GitHub token for creating PRs (see GitHub Token Setup)
`OPENAI_API_KEY`	If using OpenAI	API key from platform.openai.com/api-keys
`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`	If using Anthropic	API key from console.anthropic.com
`GH_TOKEN`	No	Fallback if `GITHUB_TOKEN` is not set (used by GitHub CLI)
`PR_BUILDR_PROVIDER`	No	Override AI provider (`openai`, `anthropic`, `ollama`, `openai-compatible`)
`PR_BUILDR_MODEL`	No	Override AI model (e.g., `gpt-4o`, `claude-sonnet-4-20250514`)
`PR_BUILDR_DEFAULT_BASE`	No	Override default base branch
`PR_BUILDR_JIRA_URL`	No	Jira project base URL (e.g., `https://company.atlassian.net`)
`PR_BUILDR_JIRA_KEY`	No	Jira project key (e.g., `AA`, `PRD`, `DATATEAM`)

GitHub Token Setup

pr-buildr needs a GitHub token to create pull requests. A fine-grained personal access token scoped to a single repo is recommended.

Create the token

Go to github.com/settings/personal-access-tokens/new
Token name: pr-buildr (or whatever you like)
Expiration: Choose a duration you're comfortable with
Repository access: Select "Only select repositories" → choose your repo
Permissions — set these three:

Permission	Access	Why
Pull requests	Read and write	Create PRs via the API
Contents	Read	Verify branches exist
Metadata	Read	Required by default

Click "Generate token" and copy it

Set the token

export GITHUB_TOKEN="github_pat_..."

Add it to your shell profile (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, etc.) to persist it.

Usage

Create a PR

# Full interactive flow — generates draft, lets you review/edit, then creates
# Will prompt to push branch to origin if needed
pr-buildr create

# Create as a draft PR
pr-buildr create --draft

# Skip review and create immediately
pr-buildr create --yes

# Use a specific AI provider and model
pr-buildr create --provider anthropic --model claude-sonnet-4-20250514

# Use Ollama (local, no API key needed — requires ollama serve running)
pr-buildr create --provider ollama

# Specify the base branch
pr-buildr create --base develop

# Include a Jira ticket in the PR title and body
pr-buildr create --jira AA-1234

# Skip AI generation — opens your editor for manual entry
pr-buildr create --no-ai --title "My PR title"

# Read PR body from a file
pr-buildr create --body-file ./pr-body.md --title "My PR title"

# Use a custom PR template
pr-buildr create --template ./my-template.md

Manage Base Branches

Useful for stacked PR workflows where each feature branch targets another feature branch instead of main.

# Save a base branch for the current branch
pr-buildr set-base feature/parent-branch

# Show the resolved base branch and where it came from
pr-buildr show-base

# Clear the saved base
pr-buildr clear-base

Configuration

# Interactive config file creation
pr-buildr config init

This creates a .pr-builder.json at the repo root. Example:

{
  "defaultBase": "main",
  "ai": {
    "provider": "openai",
    "model": "gpt-4o"
  },
  "github": {
    "draftByDefault": false
  },
  "jira": {
    "projectUrl": "https://company.atlassian.net",
    "projectKey": "AA"
  }
}

The config file is optional — pr-buildr works with just environment variables.

PR Template

pr-buildr looks for your repo's PR template in this order:

pull_request_template.md (repo root)
PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md (repo root)
.github/pull_request_template.md
.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
docs/pull_request_template.md

If none is found, a built-in default template is used.

AI Providers

Provider	Requires API Key	Notes
`openai` (default)	Yes (`OPENAI_API_KEY`)	Uses GPT-4o by default
`anthropic`	Yes (`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`)	Uses Claude Sonnet 4 by default
`ollama`	No	Requires Ollama running locally
`openai-compatible`	Optional	Any OpenAI-compatible API (configure `baseUrl` in config)

Jira Integration

pr-buildr includes a lightweight Jira integration — no Jira API calls or authentication required. It uses the Jira project key to detect ticket IDs from your branch name and includes them in the PR.

What it does

Detects ticket ID from the branch name using your configured project key (e.g., branch AA-1234-fix-login → ticket AA-1234)
Prepends ticket to PR title: AA-1234: <AI-generated title>
Adds Jira link in PR body: The AI is instructed to include the link, and a fallback ensures it's appended at the bottom if the AI omits it

Setup

Add to .pr-builder.json:

{
  "jira": {
    "projectUrl": "https://company.atlassian.net",
    "projectKey": "AA"
  }
}

Or set via environment variables:

export PR_BUILDR_JIRA_URL="https://company.atlassian.net"
export PR_BUILDR_JIRA_KEY="AA"

Or run pr-buildr config init which includes Jira setup prompts.

CLI flag

# Explicitly specify a Jira ticket (overrides branch name inference)
pr-buildr create --jira AA-1234

Disabling Jira

If your branch names happen to match the Jira pattern but you don't use Jira, you can disable it permanently:

{
  "jira": {
    "enabled": false
  }
}

Or select "Disable Jira integration" when prompted by the CLI.

VS Code Extension

PR Buildr also works as a VS Code extension with a full graphical interface.

Install from the VS Code Marketplace or search "PR Buildr" in the Extensions view.

Example

Access

Three ways to open the PR creation panel:

Source Control panel — click the git-pull-request icon in the Source Control title bar
Status bar — click "PR Buildr" in the bottom-left status bar
Command Palette — Ctrl+Shift+P → "PR Builder: Create Pull Request"

First-Time Setup

No environment variables needed. The extension handles everything through VS Code's UI:

GitHub auth — VS Code prompts you to sign in via GitHub OAuth on first use. Your token is stored securely by VS Code.
AI API key — If no key is found, you'll see a notification with a "Set API Key" button. This opens a masked input box. The key is stored in your OS keychain via VS Code's SecretStorage (encrypted, never in plain text files).

You can also set keys anytime via the command palette:

PR Builder: Set OpenAI API Key
PR Builder: Set Anthropic API Key
PR Builder: Set OpenAI-Compatible API Key

Jira in VS Code

If Jira is configured (URL + key in VS Code settings or .pr-builder.json), a Jira Ticket field appears in the webview, auto-filled from your branch name
If not configured, an Integrations dropdown appears where you can click to configure Jira
You can also set Jira settings directly in VS Code Settings (Ctrl+,)

Settings

Open VS Code Settings (Ctrl+,) and search "PR Buildr":

Setting	Default	Description
`pr-buildr.defaultProvider`	`openai`	AI provider (`openai`, `anthropic`, `ollama`, `openai-compatible`)
`pr-buildr.defaultModel`	(provider default)	AI model override
`pr-buildr.ollamaBaseUrl`	`http://127.0.0.1:11434`	Ollama server URL
`pr-buildr.openaiCompatibleBaseUrl`	(empty)	OpenAI-compatible server URL
`pr-buildr.jiraProjectUrl`	(empty)	Jira project base URL (e.g., `https://company.atlassian.net`)
`pr-buildr.jiraProjectKey`	(empty)	Jira project key (e.g., `AA`, `PRD`)

Commands

All available via Ctrl+Shift+P:

Command	Description
PR Builder: Create Pull Request	Open the PR creation panel
PR Builder: Set Base Branch	Pick a base branch for the current branch
PR Builder: Show Base Branch	Display the resolved base branch
PR Builder: Clear Base Branch	Remove the saved base branch
PR Builder: Regenerate Draft	Re-run AI generation on the active panel
PR Builder: Set OpenAI API Key	Store your OpenAI key securely
PR Builder: Set Anthropic API Key	Store your Anthropic key securely
PR Builder: Set OpenAI-Compatible API Key	Store a custom API key securely

Publishing the VS Code Extension

To publish a new version of the extension to the VS Code Marketplace:

Prerequisites

Azure DevOps account — sign up at dev.azure.com
Personal Access Token (PAT) — create one with Marketplace > Manage scope and All accessible organizations
Publisher account — create at marketplace.visualstudio.com/manage

One-time setup

# Login with your publisher ID and PAT
pnpm exec vsce login <your-publisher-id>

Package locally (test before publishing)

pnpm run pack-vscode
# Creates packages/vscode/pr-buildr-vscode-X.Y.Z.vsix

# Install and test locally
code --install-extension packages/vscode/pr-buildr-vscode-X.Y.Z.vsix

Publish

pnpm run publish-vscode

This builds all packages, then publishes the extension to the Marketplace.

Updating the version

Update the version field in packages/vscode/package.json before publishing a new release.

Development

Build

pnpm install
pnpm run build        # Build all packages (core, cli, vscode)
pnpm run test         # Run all tests (181 tests)

Test the VS Code extension

Open the project in VS Code
Press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host
In the new window, open a git repository
Use the Source Control button, status bar, or Command Palette to open PR Buildr

Project structure

pr-buildr/
├── packages/
│   ├── core/       @pr-buildr/core — shared library (config, git, AI, GitHub, Jira)
│   ├── cli/        @pr-buildr/cli  — command-line interface
│   └── vscode/     pr-buildr-vscode — VS Code extension
├── .pr-builder.json                 — per-repo configuration (optional)
└── package.json                     — monorepo root (build scripts)

License

MIT

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 26 Commits
.vscode		.vscode
packages		packages
.gitignore		.gitignore
.npmrc		.npmrc
.prettierrc		.prettierrc
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
package.json		package.json
pnpm-lock.yaml		pnpm-lock.yaml
pnpm-workspace.yaml		pnpm-workspace.yaml
tsconfig.base.json		tsconfig.base.json
vitest.workspace.ts		vitest.workspace.ts

Folders and files

Latest commit

History

Repository files navigation

pr-buildr

How It Works

Installation

Environment Variables

GitHub Token Setup

Create the token

Set the token

Usage

Create a PR

Manage Base Branches

Configuration

PR Template

AI Providers

Jira Integration

What it does

Setup

CLI flag

Disabling Jira

VS Code Extension

Example

Access

First-Time Setup

Jira in VS Code

Settings

Commands

Publishing the VS Code Extension

Prerequisites

One-time setup

Package locally (test before publishing)

Publish

Updating the version

Development

Build

Test the VS Code extension

Project structure

License

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