Document AI Control Panel pattern

[strawgate]

Ie an automatic comment added to PRs with a bunch of check boxes which enable or disable (make them match or not match conditionals).

This was the author can control whether merge conflicts are fixed automatically, whether the branch is automatically updated, if they want an extra ai reviewer, automatically fix CI issues, update PR body, etc.

[github-actions]

3 related issues

• [information-architecture] PR Review skip label control is undocumented in trigger tables #581 — documents a missing label-based PR control in workflow docs, which is similar to this issue’s request to document operator-facing controls.
• Add label to prevent PR body updates #279 — adds a label-based opt-out for PR body updates, a concrete example of the control pattern this issue proposes to document.
• Let's add more features to the PR body updater #298 — discusses adding multi-level tuning controls for PR body updates, which aligns with documenting configurable AI-behavior controls.

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[github-actions]

tl;dr: There is no documented or implemented “AI Control Panel” checkbox-comment pattern today; controls are fragmented across slash commands, labels, and manual dispatch, so I recommend documenting a unified control taxonomy first, then introducing a reusable checkbox-comment contract that maps to existing workflow conditions.

1) Recommendation

Create a new docs section for an AI Control Panel pattern that standardizes PR-level controls (what each toggle means, defaults, precedence, and how each maps to existing labels/conditions/inputs). Then, as a follow-up implementation issue, add a reusable checkbox-comment parser/dispatcher that writes the same canonical controls used by existing workflows.

2) Findings

• No checkbox-control pattern found in current docs/workflows
  • rg -n -i "\[ \]|checkbox|check boxes|task list" gh-agent-workflows returned no matches.
• PR comment automation currently uses slash-command gating, not checkboxes
  • .github/workflows/trigger-mention-in-pr.yml:20-21 gates execution on startsWith(github.event.comment.body, '/ai').
  • gh-agent-workflows/mention-in-pr/README.md:23-24 documents /ai prefix filtering.
• Other controls are label-based and workflow-specific
  • gh-agent-workflows/pr-review/example.yml:15-16 uses skip-auto-pr-review.
  • gh-agent-workflows/update-pr-body/example.yml:13 uses skip-pr-body-update.
  • gh-agent-workflows/pr-review-addresser/example.yml:19-21 uses skip-auto-pr-review-addresser.
• At least one existing documentation gap confirms control-surface drift
  • gh-agent-workflows/pr-review/README.md:21-24 and gh-agent-workflows/pr-review-fork/README.md:35-37 list trigger types but do not document the skip-label condition present in examples (skip-auto-pr-review).
• Some requested controls are currently manual, not PR-comment toggles
  • gh-agent-workflows/pr-actions-fixer/README.md:23 and gh-agent-workflows/pr-actions-fixer/example.yml:3-8 show workflow_dispatch + required workflow-run-id input.

Related prior work

• Issue #216 + PR #219: introduced update-pr-body workflow.
• Issue #279 + PR #286: added skip-pr-body-update label opt-out and doc update.
• Issue #581 (open): tracks skip-label documentation inconsistency in trigger tables.

3) Verification

I ran focused repo checks to verify control surfaces and gaps:

$ rg -n "startsWith\(github\.event\.comment\.body, '/ai'\)" .github/workflows
.github/workflows/trigger-mention-in-pr.yml:20:      startsWith(github.event.comment.body, '/ai') &&
.github/workflows/trigger-mention-in-issue.yml:19:      startsWith(github.event.comment.body, '/ai')

$ rg -n "skip-auto-pr-review|skip-pr-body-update|skip-auto-pr-review-addresser" gh-agent-workflows
gh-agent-workflows/pr-review/example.yml:16:      !contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'skip-auto-pr-review')
gh-agent-workflows/update-pr-body/example.yml:13:    if: github.event.pull_request.draft == false && !contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'skip-pr-body-update')
gh-agent-workflows/pr-review-addresser/example.yml:21:      !contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'skip-auto-pr-review-addresser')
...

$ rg -n -i "\[ \]|checkbox|check boxes|task list" gh-agent-workflows
# no matches

4) Detailed Action Plan

1. Add a canonical docs page/section for AI Control Panel pattern
   • Candidate location: docs/ (new page) and link from README.md + relevant workflow READMEs.
   • Define a normalized control schema: control key, scope (per-PR/per-run), default, and mapped behavior.
2. Document control mapping to current workflows (first pass)
   • mention-in-pr: command-triggered behavior (gh-agent-workflows/mention-in-pr/README.md:23-24, .github/workflows/trigger-mention-in-pr.yml:20-21).
   • pr-review / pr-review-fork: skip-auto-pr-review mapping (gh-agent-workflows/pr-review/example.yml:15-16, gh-agent-workflows/pr-review-fork/example.yml:35-36).
   • pr-review-addresser: skip-auto-pr-review-addresser mapping (gh-agent-workflows/pr-review-addresser/example.yml:19-21).
   • update-pr-body: skip-pr-body-update mapping (gh-agent-workflows/update-pr-body/example.yml:13, README.md:21).
   • pr-actions-fixer: manual dispatch constraints (gh-agent-workflows/pr-actions-fixer/example.yml:3-8, README.md:23,29).
3. Fix known doc drift while adding pattern docs
   • Update gh-agent-workflows/pr-review/README.md and gh-agent-workflows/pr-review-fork/README.md Trigger tables to include skip-label condition (align with issue #581).
4. Define checkbox-comment contract for follow-up implementation issue
   • One canonical PR comment format with task-list checkboxes.
   • Explicit precedence rules when checkbox state conflicts with labels/manual inputs.
   • Idempotency rules for comment edits and reruns.
5. Open a follow-up implementation issue/PR plan
   • Implement parser/dispatcher workflow that translates checkbox state into canonical controls (likely labels + optional dispatch hooks), then update trigger docs/examples accordingly.

5) Related Items

Type	Link	Relevance
Issue	#607	Current request to document AI Control Panel pattern
Issue	#581	Existing documentation gap for skip-label controls
Issue	#279	Prior request for PR-body skip label
Issue	#216	Initial update-pr-body workflow request
PR	#286	Implemented skip-pr-body-update label behavior
PR	#219	Added update-pr-body workflow
File	.github/workflows/trigger-mention-in-pr.yml:20-21	Slash-command trigger (/ai)
File	gh-agent-workflows/mention-in-pr/README.md:23-24	User-facing slash-command trigger docs
File	gh-agent-workflows/pr-review/example.yml:15-16	skip-auto-pr-review condition
File	gh-agent-workflows/pr-review/README.md:21-24	Trigger table currently missing condition column
File	gh-agent-workflows/update-pr-body/example.yml:13	skip-pr-body-update condition
File	gh-agent-workflows/pr-actions-fixer/example.yml:3-8	Manual dispatch + required run ID

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