pr-review: mention-triggered runs silently lost to ci-pending skip (self-referential check runs)

Summary

Mention-triggered (FORCE_REVIEW=true) PR-review runs are silently swallowed by the CI gate in scripts/review-one-pr.sh. The bot acks "I'm on it — starting a fresh review now" and then the dispatched run exits 100 with skip: CI checks still in progress — no review, no retry, no follow-up comment.

Related: #463 (general ci-pending skip with no CI-completion re-trigger). This issue is the mention-path slice plus the self-referential check problem that makes it much more likely to fire.

Evidence (2026-06-07)

After #468 merged, @donpetry-bot review was posted simultaneously on 6 open PRs (#458, #383, #226, #152, #465, #455). All 6 dispatch runs skipped:

5× {"decision":"skip","reason":"ci-pending"} — e.g. run 27107259250 (PR feat: implement advisory bot review gate in pr-review agent #458): skip: CI checks still in progress — will re-evaluate when checks complete
1× ci-failing (PR feat: implement issue #382 — Enhance dev-lead and pr-review engines for Gemini 3.5 models #383, genuine failure)

The pending entries in statusCheckRollup were largely caused by the mention burst itself: the mention-ack, ci-relay, and the PR Review Agent's own review/dispatch check runs attach to the PR head SHA and appear in its own rollup. The dispatched run starts ~30s after the mention, sees its sibling check runs still queued, classifies CI as pending, and exits.

A second mention round ~10 minutes later (after the rollup settled) worked and produced APPROVED verdicts — confirming the first round was lost purely to transient rollup churn.

Why this matters

Same false-promise shape as the (fixed) cycle-cap defect pr-review: cycle cap counts approvals, ignores human re-requests, and escalation is unrecoverable #467: the ack promises a review that never arrives, and exit 100 means nothing retries.
The CI gate runs before the FORCE_REVIEW handling, so an explicit human request — the strongest possible trigger — is the easiest to lose.

Proposed fix (for dev-lead)

In scripts/review-one-pr.sh:

Exclude the agent's own check runs from CI classification — filter statusCheckRollup entries named review/dispatch/mention-ack (the PR Review Agent / Mention Trigger workflows) before computing CI_STATUS, so the cascade never blocks on itself.
When FORCE_REVIEW=true and CI is pending: poll the rollup briefly (e.g. up to 5 min with 30s interval) instead of skipping immediately. If still pending after the window, post a visible reply ("CI still running — re-mention when green" or auto-requeue) instead of exiting silently.
(Optional, overlaps PR Review Agent never reviews at green CI — skips on ci-pending with no CI-completion re-trigger (clean PRs stuck at REVIEW_REQUIRED) #463) on ci-pending skip, schedule/dispatch a delayed re-check so non-mention runs also recover.

Acceptance criteria

A @donpetry-bot review mention during check churn produces either a review or a visible explanatory comment — never a silent no-op.
The PR Review Agent's own check runs never cause ci-pending/ci-failing classification.
Bats coverage for the rollup-filtering logic.

Dev-Lead Implementation Plan

Issue: #469 — pr-review: mention-triggered runs silently lost to ci-pending skip (self-referential check runs)

Scope

Filter the PR Review Agent's own check runs from the CI gate and add FORCE_REVIEW polling so mention-triggered runs never silently no-op on self-induced CI churn.

Implementation Checklist

Create scripts/lib/ci-status.sh — extract CI_STATUS jq logic into a testable compute_ci_status function that filters self-referential check runs (review, dispatch, ci-relay, pr-review-mention, mention-ack and their workflow / job variants)
Update scripts/review-one-pr.sh — source ci-status.sh, use compute_ci_status, add FORCE_REVIEW polling (up to FORCE_REVIEW_POLL_ATTEMPTS × FORCE_REVIEW_POLL_INTERVAL_SEC, default 10×30s = 5 min) when CI is pending, post visible comment if still pending after polling
Add tests/test_ci_status.bats — BATS coverage for the rollup-filtering logic
Add tests/test_ci_status.bats to the bats job in .github/workflows/lint.yml

Tests to Write

Test Command

bats tests/test_ci_status.bats tests/test_review_cycle.bats

Dev-Lead: Implementation Complete

Plan Execution

Created scripts/lib/ci-status.sh with compute_ci_status function (own-check filter + CI classification)
Wrote failing BATS tests in tests/test_ci_status.bats (31 tests, TDD red phase)
Implemented compute_ci_status — all 31 tests pass (green phase)
Updated scripts/review-one-pr.sh: sourced ci-status.sh, replaced inline jq, added FORCE_REVIEW polling block
Added tests/test_ci_status.bats to .github/workflows/lint.yml bats job

Test Results

1..124
ok 94 empty rollup returns passing
ok 95 single passing external check returns passing
ok 101 own check named 'review' (IN_PROGRESS) is filtered out → passing
ok 102 own check named 'dispatch' (IN_PROGRESS) is filtered out → passing
ok 103 own check named 'ci-relay' (IN_PROGRESS) is filtered out → passing
ok 106 'PR Review Agent / review' (IN_PROGRESS) is filtered out → passing
ok 107 'PR Review Reusable / review' (IN_PROGRESS) is filtered out → passing
ok 108 'PR Review — Mention Trigger / pr-review-mention' (IN_PROGRESS) is filtered out → passing
ok 113 mix: own 'review' pending + external passing → passing
ok 116 mix: own 'review' pending + external pending → pending
ok 117 mix: own 'review' pending + external failing → failing
ok 118 rollup with only own checks returns passing
ok 124 null JSON input returns passing (safe default)
... (124/124 pass, 0 failures)

Lint: shellcheck on 35 files + agent profile frontmatter — all checks passed.

Files Changed

scripts/lib/ci-status.sh (new): compute_ci_status function — filters self-referential check runs named review, dispatch, ci-relay, pr-review-mention, mention-ack (bare and workflow / job formats) before computing pending/passing/failing
scripts/review-one-pr.sh: source ci-status.sh; replace 14-line inline jq with compute_ci_status; add FORCE_REVIEW polling block (defaults: 10 × 30s = 5 min) — polls for CI to settle, posts visible "CI still running — re-mention when done" comment if poll window exhausted, handles ci-failing detected during polling, refreshes REVIEW_DECISION after CI settles
tests/test_ci_status.bats (new): 31 BATS tests covering own-check filtering (both name forms), external check classification, mix scenarios, malformed input
.github/workflows/lint.yml: added tests/test_ci_status.bats to bats job