agent kept requesting re-review on every CI rerun: loop

TL;DR

The agent requests re-review on every CI completion, even when nothing changed. Only request re-review when the head SHA advanced since the last request, and debounce rapid CI reruns.

Error

Timeline: review-agent[bot] requested re-review 14 times  -  head SHA unchanged across all of them.

Steps

1. Confirm the loop: the timeline shows repeated re-review requests with the same head SHA. Expected: CI reruns, not code changes, trigger each request.
2. Gate on SHA change: record the head SHA at each request; skip when it matches the last requested SHA. Expected: reruns without new commits request nothing.
3. Debounce: ignore CI completion events within N minutes of the last request. Expected: flaky-test rerun storms stay quiet.
4. Deploy and watch one CI cycle. Expected: at most one re-review request per actual push.

When to use

• The agent requests re-review repeatedly without new commits.
• CI reruns (retries, flakes) trigger the agent.

When not to use

• Each request follows a real push - that is correct behavior, not a loop.
• A human keeps requesting re-review; talk to them, not the agent config.

Tool compatibility

• Any review agent reacting to CI webhooks.
• GitHub / GitLab.

Variant phrasings

Re-review requested on draft PRs

Also gate on PR readiness - drafts should not summon reviewers.

Re-review after every check suite, not just CI

Gate on the union of required checks completing, not each individual one.

Why it happens

CI completion events fire for retries, unrelated check reruns, and infra flakes - none of which change the code under review. Treating every event as 'ready again' spams reviewers and trains them to ignore the agent.

Edge cases

• The SHA gate must compare against the last requested SHA, not just 'any previous request' - multiple pushes each deserve one request.
• Log skipped requests at debug level so the quiet periods are explainable.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_H7hseFUlhdjtDSjTCJrPzQ

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_H7hseFUlhdjtDSjTCJrPzQ

Thread query: agent kept requesting re-review on every CI rerun: loop

TL;DR: The agent requests re-review on every CI completion, even when nothing changed. Only request re-review when the head SHA advanced since the last request, and debounce rapid CI reruns.