Labels added after PR creation do not trigger Slack messages

[gergelyke-dd]

Describe the bug
Once an PR is created, labels added to it do not trigger Slack notifications

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Subscribe to pull using a label as a filter
2. Create a PR
3. Once the PR is open, add the label you created the filter for
4. No Slack message is triggered

Expected behavior
Slack message is triggered

[sanjeev9160]

@gergelyke-dd The way label filter works is that it filters any PR event based on the label present in it. When the PR is opened and if there is no label attached to it while opening, we don't process that event and we drop it. So there is no PR notification for the opened PR. Now later if we add label then we don't have any parent(opened) PR card for it so the PR edited(label) event can't do anything.
So to make sure that it works correctly, attach the label when you are opening the PR. That way you will receive the notification. Thanks.

[gergelyke-dd]

@sanjeev9160 any chance there's a workaround here for the use-case outlined above?

We'd like to use tags to signal different life-cycle events of a PR, and for that we'd like to use Slack notifications

[gileswells]

@sanjeev9160 would it be appropriate to make a feature request that there be a new trigger added to this integration that fires based on when a label is added or removed from a PR / issue?

My proposed use case:
When using the stale GitHub Action we want to be able to add the stale label and then have this GitHub integration pick up on that and send an update to the channel the subscription is in. Basically we'd like to have this command function at any point during a PR's lifecycle.

/github subscribe [repo] labeled:{name: "label name", event: "[added|removed|both]", type: "[issue|pull|both]"}
defaults would, i'd assume, be both for event and type properties.

If desired I can make this it's own issue ticket.

[sanjeev9160]

@gergelyke-dd @gileswells I have added it as a Feature request into the backlog. Thanks.

[dannysauer]

FWIW: this also breaks anyone using an autolabel github action, since those labels need the PR to be opened before the action can run. If there's a better way to make labels appear in the PR based on changed files before the PR is opened, I'm all ears.

[dannysauer]

Perhaps relevant: the alert does come through when a labeled PR is closed. Upon close of a PR with a filtered label which wasn't present at opening, the "new PR" message gets created, and the close comment gets posted as a reply which is CC'd to the channel as normal. So it seems there is logic hidden away somewhere which can create the top level post upon later filter-matching events. ;)

[benebene84]

Currently we manage this with a Slack workflow:

name: Send Slack Notifications

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [labeled]

jobs:
  build:
    if: contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'ready for review')
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Send custom JSON data to Slack workflow
        id: slack
        uses: slackapi/slack-github-action@v1.23.0
        with:
          payload: |
            {
              "pr_name": "${{ github.event.pull_request.title }}",
              "pr_link": "${{ github.event.pull_request.html_url }}"
            }
        env:
          SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL }}

But it would be great if this would work with the Github App in slack as well, then we could ditch this workflow.

[jodator]

@gergelyke-dd @gileswells I have added it as a Feature request into the backlog. Thanks.

That would be an awesome feature because it promotes automation. We also have labels added to PRs based on team who created it. This would allow us to filter PRs from our team only.

The goal is to do less "by hand" when creating a PR :)

ps.: I see that a close PR event creates a message on a slack channel (with configured filters for labels).

[AnthonyBarbier]

Any update on that? (Can the backlog be seen anywhere?)

We're interested in that feature too (For the same reasons as some of the other people mentioned: after the CI run succeeded a "needs review" label is added to the PR at which point it would be great to be able to send a Slack notification to people).

[pyrocks]

I have the exact same need...

[melibe23]

This is really needed on my end too. I would prefer not to make a workflow just for a label notification.

[c-hardch]

Hi @sanjeev9160 When this will be fixed?

[edengo]

Would like to add my name to this request.

Use Case: Code Owners have requested an automated way to know when a Pull is "Urgent" and requires their immediate priority over other reviews. Ideally this can be added as a label at anytime and then a slack notification will be sent alerting a slack channel with all owners in it for visibility.

[bigcakes]

We also need this feature to be able to add labels after the fact through automation and still have them routed properly

[gmolk]

Is this feature still in the backlog? This would be a game-changer for us in terms of automation.