Add official build freshness check to vmr-codeflow-status skill by lewing · Pull Request #124146 · dotnet/runtime

lewing · 2026-02-08T17:57:38Z

Summary

Adds official build freshness checking, improved conflict/staleness detection, and better diagnostic output to the vmr-codeflow-status Copilot skill.

Motivation

When investigating widespread backflow staleness across dotnet repos, the root cause is often broken VMR official builds — not Maestro subscription issues. The skill previously had no way to surface this, leading to misleading "Maestro may be stuck" warnings. Open backflow PRs were also reported as healthy even when they had unresolved conflicts.

Changes

Build freshness check (`Get-VMRBuildFreshness`)

Queries aka.ms/dotnet/{channel}/daily/dotnet-sdk-win-x64.zip (301 redirect → ci.dot.net blob)
HEADs the blob to get Last-Modified timestamp = last successful official build publish
Maps VMR branches to aka.ms channels (main, preview, release)
Uses HttpClient throughout (no Invoke-WebRequest mixing), 15-second timeouts, proper disposal
Shown before per-branch analysis so users understand upstream context first

Smarter conflict/staleness detection (`Get-CodeflowPRHealth`)

Shared helper checks both backflow and forward flow PRs
Detects conflict/staleness from Maestro comments, then checks Codeflow verification status
Correctly distinguishes active conflicts from resolved ones ("✅ Conflict resolved")
Staleness resolution requires commits after the warning (not just Codeflow verification)
Open backflow PRs are now checked for health (previously just "✅ exists")

Better diagnostic messaging

When builds are stale: "backflow blocked upstream" instead of "Maestro may be stuck"
dotnet/dotnet self-check skips nonsensical self-backflow, shows only build freshness
Forward flow shows resolution status: "Conflict resolved", "Updated since staleness warning"

New: references/vmr-build-topology.md

Reference doc covering build pipeline structure, aka.ms technique, channel mapping, Version.Details.xml cross-referencing, darc validation, diagnosis patterns, bootstrap problem, and common failures.

Bug fixes

Merged PR selection uses closedAt comparison (not gh search --sort updated order)
gh search failures warn explicitly instead of silently treating as empty results
HttpResponseMessage objects properly disposed in all code paths

SKILL.md

Added Prerequisites section
Expanded Key Parameters table
Documented build freshness check in "What the Script Does"

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds an “official build freshness” signal to the vmr-codeflow-status skill to help distinguish missing backflow PRs caused by Maestro delays vs. broken VMR official builds, and documents the relevant VMR build topology/codeflow concepts.

Changes:

Introduces Get-VMRBuildFreshness and integrates it into -CheckMissing flow to query aka.ms redirects and blob Last-Modified timestamps.
Improves backflow PR selection logic (uses closedAt) and makes gh search failures explicitly warn.
Adds/updates reference documentation (vmr-codeflow-reference.md, vmr-build-topology.md) and expands SKILL.md.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File	Description
`.github/skills/vmr-codeflow-status/scripts/Get-CodeflowStatus.ps1`	New/updated script implementing missing-backflow detection, forward-flow scanning, and official build freshness checks.
`.github/skills/vmr-codeflow-status/references/vmr-codeflow-reference.md`	New reference explaining codeflow concepts, metadata, and common remediation commands.
`.github/skills/vmr-codeflow-status/references/vmr-build-topology.md`	New reference describing public vs official VMR builds and the aka.ms freshness technique.
`.github/skills/vmr-codeflow-status/SKILL.md`	Skill documentation updates (frontmatter/license, prerequisites, parameters, and behavior description).

.github/skills/vmr-codeflow-status/references/vmr-build-topology.md

.github/skills/vmr-codeflow-status/scripts/Get-CodeflowStatus.ps1

- Add Get-VMRBuildFreshness function that checks aka.ms shortlinks to determine when the last successful official VMR build was published - Integrate into CheckMissing mode: automatically reports build freshness when missing backflow PRs are detected - Add vmr-build-topology.md reference doc covering build pipeline structure, channel-to-branch mapping, bootstrap chicken-and-egg problem, and diagnostic patterns - Fix merged PR selection to use closedAt instead of search sort order - Add explicit error handling when gh search fails (auth/rate-limit) - Set HTTP timeouts (15s) and proper HttpClient disposal - Update SKILL.md: add license, prerequisites, expanded parameter docs

…sing

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

.github/skills/vmr-codeflow-status/scripts/Get-CodeflowStatus.ps1

lewing · 2026-02-08T18:17:51Z

it appears @copilot doesn't understand the license frontmatter yet

● ⚠ The following skills have warnings:
    • C:\Users\lewing\.copilot\skills\vmr-codeflow-status\SKILL.md: unknown field ignored: license

…check Replaces Invoke-WebRequest with HttpClient HEAD for consistency. Fixes Nullable<DateTimeOffset> handling in PowerShell (unwrapped automatically, so .Value doesn't work — must cast instead).

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

.github/skills/vmr-codeflow-status/scripts/Get-CodeflowStatus.ps1

.github/skills/vmr-codeflow-status/SKILL.md

…rting Previously the script flagged PRs as conflicted/stale based on Maestro comments alone. When someone resolves the conflict (e.g. via darc vmr resolve-conflict), no new comment is posted, but the Codeflow verification check turns green. Now checks that status before reporting, and shows 'Conflict resolved' when applicable.

…elper Previously open backflow PRs got a blanket '✅ exists' without checking if they had unresolved conflicts or staleness. Now uses the same Get-CodeflowPRHealth helper for both backflow and forward flow PRs, which checks Maestro comments and Codeflow verification status.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 5 comments.

.github/skills/vmr-codeflow-status/scripts/Get-CodeflowStatus.ps1

- Show build freshness BEFORE per-branch analysis for upstream context - Say 'backflow blocked upstream' instead of 'Maestro may be stuck' when official builds are stale (the real root cause) - Fix staleness resolution: only clear conflict on Codeflow verification SUCCESS, staleness needs commits after the warning to be 'resolved' - Skip self-backflow check for dotnet/dotnet (nonsensical), just show build freshness - Extract Get-CodeflowPRHealth into reusable helper

…lure, summary wording - Move HEAD request disposal into finally blocks (handles timeout/error) - Fix codeflowCheck array bug: Select-Object -First 1 for safe boolean test - Return 'Unknown' instead of 'Healthy' when API calls fail - Tighten repo validation regex to [A-Za-z0-9_.-]+/[A-Za-z0-9_.-]+ - Split summary: 'blocked open PRs' vs 'MISSING backflow PRs' - Remove stale 'CI status' comment from Get-CodeflowPRHealth

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

.github/skills/vmr-codeflow-status/scripts/Get-CodeflowStatus.ps1

- Don't count 'Unknown' health status as healthy/covered in backflow or forward flow counters (3 spots) - Verified gh pr checks uses 'state' field (not 'conclusion') — SUCCESS is the correct value to check - Review feedback: copilot-pull-request-reviewer round 4

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

.github/skills/vmr-codeflow-status/scripts/Get-CodeflowStatus.ps1

- Staleness resolution now parses timestamps as DateTimeOffset for robust comparison instead of lexicographic string comparison - Cache PR body in first pass to avoid double-fetching in per-branch loop - Review feedback: copilot-pull-request-reviewer round 5

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings February 8, 2026 17:57

github-actions bot added the needs-area-label An area label is needed to ensure this gets routed to the appropriate area owners label Feb 8, 2026

dotnet-policy-service bot assigned lewing Feb 8, 2026

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of lewing February 8, 2026 17:58 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Feb 8, 2026

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.github/skills/vmr-codeflow-status/scripts/Get-CodeflowStatus.ps1 Show resolved Hide resolved

.github/skills/vmr-codeflow-status/scripts/Get-CodeflowStatus.ps1 Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

lewing force-pushed the lewing/vmr-codeflow-build-freshness branch from 6c41176 to b7009c4 Compare February 8, 2026 18:04

lewing added area-skills Agent Skills and removed needs-area-label An area label is needed to ensure this gets routed to the appropriate area owners labels Feb 8, 2026

Address review: dispose HttpResponseMessage objects, keep UseBasicPar…

c702526

…sing

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings February 8, 2026 18:09

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of lewing February 8, 2026 18:09 View session

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.github/skills/vmr-codeflow-status/scripts/Get-CodeflowStatus.ps1 Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

Remove unsupported license frontmatter from SKILL.md

e03f094

Use HttpClient HEAD instead of Invoke-WebRequest for build freshness …

9134695

…check Replaces Invoke-WebRequest with HttpClient HEAD for consistency. Fixes Nullable<DateTimeOffset> handling in PowerShell (unwrapped automatically, so .Value doesn't work — must cast instead).

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings February 8, 2026 18:25

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of lewing February 8, 2026 18:26 View session

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.github/skills/vmr-codeflow-status/SKILL.md Show resolved Hide resolved

lewing added 2 commits February 8, 2026 12:41

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings February 8, 2026 18:51

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of lewing February 8, 2026 18:52 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Feb 8, 2026

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steveisok approved these changes Feb 8, 2026

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Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings February 8, 2026 19:10

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of lewing February 8, 2026 19:11 View session

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lewing added 2 commits February 8, 2026 13:19

Show branch → channel mapping in build freshness output

ec2d3bd

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings February 8, 2026 19:22

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of lewing February 8, 2026 19:23 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Feb 8, 2026

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.github/skills/vmr-codeflow-status/scripts/Get-CodeflowStatus.ps1 Show resolved Hide resolved

lewing merged commit bb9ae8f into main Feb 8, 2026
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dotnet-maestro bot mentioned this pull request Feb 9, 2026

[main] Source code updates from dotnet/runtime dotnet/dotnet#4727

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lewing commented Feb 8, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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Summary

Motivation

Changes

Build freshness check (Get-VMRBuildFreshness)

Smarter conflict/staleness detection (Get-CodeflowPRHealth)

Better diagnostic messaging

New: references/vmr-build-topology.md

Bug fixes

SKILL.md

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lewing commented Feb 8, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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lewing commented Feb 8, 2026 •

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Build freshness check (`Get-VMRBuildFreshness`)

Smarter conflict/staleness detection (`Get-CodeflowPRHealth`)

lewing commented Feb 8, 2026 •

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