PR Analysis

Analyze pull request pipeline impact, run security-focused reviews, and track PRs from merge to production deployment.

Instructions

Step 1: Establish Scope

Confirm the service, repository, and PR details.

Call MCP tool: harness_list
Parameters:
  resource_type: "pipeline"
  org_id: "<organization>"
  project_id: "<project>"

Step 2: Identify the PR Analysis Task

Determine which analysis the user needs:

1. PR Pipeline Impact Analysis – Which pipelines, services, and environments are affected
2. Security-Focused PR Review – Check for secrets, vulnerabilities, and compliance issues
3. PR to Production Tracker – Track a PR from merge through deployment and verification

Step 3: PR Pipeline Impact Analysis

Gather from the user:

• Service name and repository
• PR description and changed components (files/directories modified)

Identify affected resources:

Call MCP tool: harness_list
Parameters:
  resource_type: "trigger"
  org_id: "<organization>"
  project_id: "<project>"

Analyze impact:

• Pipelines triggered: Which CI/CD pipelines will fire on merge (based on triggers and path filters)
• Services affected: Which Harness services reference the changed code or manifests
• Environments reached: Which environments will receive the change (dev, staging, prod)
• Downstream impact: Other services that depend on the changed service
• Infrastructure changes: Any Terraform, Helm, or Kubernetes manifest changes

Present findings as:

• DIRECT IMPACT: Pipelines and services directly triggered
• INDIRECT IMPACT: Downstream services and dependent deployments
• RISK LEVEL: Low (test/docs only), Medium (application code), High (infrastructure/security/config)

Step 4: Security-Focused PR Review

Gather from the user:

• Service name and repository
• PR description and changed components

Security checklist:

Secrets and Credentials:

• Scan for hardcoded secrets, API keys, tokens, or passwords in the diff
• Check for new environment variables that should use Harness Secrets
• Verify no secrets are logged or exposed in error messages

Dependency Changes:

• Check for new dependencies with known CVEs
• Verify license compatibility of new dependencies
• Flag dependencies from untrusted or deprecated sources

Configuration Security:

• Check for overly permissive RBAC or IAM changes
• Verify network policies and security group modifications
• Review any changes to authentication or authorization logic

Compliance:

• Verify changes don’t violate OPA policies configured in Harness
• Check if changes require additional security review or approval
• Flag changes to compliance-sensitive code paths (PII handling, encryption)

Present findings as a structured security report with PASS/FAIL/WARNING per category.

Step 5: PR to Production Tracker

Gather from the user:

• Service name, PR title, and target environment
• Expected deployment window

Track the PR lifecycle:

Stage 1 – Merge:

• PR merged to target branch
• CI pipeline triggered

Stage 2 – Build:

Call MCP tool: harness_list
Parameters:
  resource_type: "execution"
  org_id: "<organization>"
  project_id: "<project>"

• Build pipeline status and duration
• Test results and coverage delta
• Security scan results

Stage 3 – Deploy to Staging:

• Staging deployment pipeline status
• Verification results in staging

Stage 4 – Production Deployment:

• Production pipeline status
• Canary or blue-green deployment progress
• Health check results post-deployment

Stage 5 – Verification:

• Error rate comparison: pre-deploy vs. post-deploy
• Latency comparison: pre-deploy vs. post-deploy
• SLO compliance check

Present a timeline view showing the PR’s journey with status at each stage and elapsed time.

Examples

• “What pipelines will this PR trigger?” – Analyze triggers, path filters, and downstream services to identify all affected pipelines
• “Review this PR for security issues before merge” – Run security checklist covering secrets, dependencies, RBAC, and compliance
• “Track my PR from merge to production” – Monitor the PR through build, staging deploy, production deploy, and verification
• “What is the blast radius of this code change?” – Identify all services, environments, and pipelines impacted

Performance Notes

• Pipeline impact analysis depends on correctly configured triggers – misconfigured path filters can miss affected pipelines.
• Security reviews should be automated in the CI pipeline, not just done manually – use Harness STO for continuous scanning.
• PR tracking is most useful for critical changes – routine PRs may not need full lifecycle tracking.
• Track PR-to-production cycle time over time to identify process bottlenecks (part of DORA Lead Time for Changes).

Troubleshooting

Pipeline Impact Not Matching Actual Triggers

• Check trigger path filters – glob patterns may not match the actual file paths changed
• Verify branch conditions on triggers (e.g., main-only vs. all branches)
• Look for manual triggers or scheduled pipelines that also deploy the same service

Security Review False Positives

• Common false positives: test fixtures with dummy credentials, documentation examples
• Add exceptions for test directories and example files
• Verify secret scanning rules match the actual secret formats in use

PR Tracking Losing Visibility After Merge

• Verify the CI trigger fires on merge to the target branch
• Check that pipeline identifiers in the tracker match the actual pipeline names
• Ensure deployment pipelines have the correct artifact reference to pick up the new build