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[refactoring] Skill extraction: slash-command status-comment/reaction preamble guidance #50760

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Skill: Slash-command status-comment/reaction preamble

Description: Workflows triggered via on.slash_command frequently pair the trigger with a status-comment: true (and often reaction: <emoji>) top-level on: block to give users immediate feedback that the command was received and is processing. This exact on.slash_command + status-comment: true combination appears in 34 workflows, and the pattern (with varying command names/events) is copy-pasted rather than centralized, meaning UX tweaks (e.g. changing default reaction emoji, adding a timeout note) require editing every workflow individually.

Current usage: 34 workflows combine slash_command: and status-comment: true, e.g. archie.md, cloclo.md, q.md, and most smoke-* command-trigger test workflows (smoke-claude-on-copilot.md, smoke-copilot.md, smoke-agent-scoped-approved.md, smoke-agent-all-none.md, smoke-cursor.md, smoke-multi-pr.md, smoke-project.md, smoke-otel-backends.md, etc.). Since slash_command.name and events are inherently workflow-specific, this is lower complexity to fully extract than #1/#2, but the shared documentation/reminder about the on-block pattern and its interaction with status-comment/reaction still has value as a reference snippet, and a subset of pure test/smoke workflows could share a parameterizable base.

Proposed shared component: .github/workflows/shared/slash-command-status-preamble.md — a documentation-style shared import (like shared/reporting.md) capturing the recommended defaults and gotchas for command-triggered workflows (e.g. always pair status-comment: true with a reaction: for fast UX feedback; recommended strategy: centralized vs decentralized guidance), rather than a literal frontmatter merge (since name/events differ per workflow).

Estimated impact: 34 workflows; primarily a consistency/maintenance win (reduces UX drift between command workflows) rather than large line savings (~1-2 lines/workflow). Priority: Medium given moderate count but lower per-file savings and higher extraction complexity (values are workflow-specific, not directly mergeable).

Migration plan:

  1. Create shared/slash-command-status-preamble.md as a documentation-only shared file (no frontmatter merge) summarizing best practice: pair status-comment: true with reaction:, and note strategy: centralized vs decentralized tradeoffs.
  2. Audit the 34 files for inconsistencies (e.g. some have reaction: and some don't) and file follow-up cleanup PRs to standardize.
  3. For workflows in smoke-*.md that are near-identical scaffolding (e.g. guard-policy smoke tests), consider a deeper refactor using a real shared on: fragment via imports, since their slash_command.name differs but structure is otherwise identical — evaluate after step 2.

Example usage:

---
name: My Command
imports:
  - shared/slash-command-status-preamble.md
on:
  slash_command:
    name: mycmd
    strategy: centralized
  reaction: eyes
  status-comment: true
---

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  • expires on Aug 7, 2026, 8:48 PM UTC-08:00

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