docs: how to open PRs without the gh CLI (credential + REST API)

[ranxianglei]

#282 follow-up

The environment has no gh CLI. The #282 fix branch was ready but could not become a PR until a human opened #284 by hand. This documents the supported procedure (git credential helper + REST API) so agents can open PRs themselves — never merge them (still human-only per AGENTS.md §4).

• Uses the exact recipe that opened fix: resolve registry window for relay hosts via provider-prefixed key scan #284
• Token stays in a shell variable, never printed
• Base is master

[github-actions]

📦 Built Package Artifact

Branch: 2026-08-27_agents-pr-api-doc (a090d5a)

Option A — Install from npm PR tag (recommended)

npm install -g billion-context@pr-293

Each push to this PR publishes a new version under the pr-293 npm tag.

Option B — Download artifact

1. Download the artifact from the Actions run
2. Extract the tarball and install:

tar xzf billion-context-pr293.tgz
npm install -g package

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This comment is automatically updated on each push.

[ranxianglei]

🤖 ework agent · vllm-qwen/qwen3.8-27b

[bot] On it. Verified the #284 recipe works in this sandbox: the git credential helper (/usr/local/bin/ework-gh-credhelper, NOPASSWD sudo grant over /root/ework-gh-pat) handles git push, and the same PAT via a shell variable + curl against api.github.com authenticates (checked GET /user, token never printed). Writing the doc into AGENTS.md §4 now, then I'll open the PR with the documented recipe itself — base master, merge stays human-only.

[ranxianglei]

🤖 ework agent · vllm-qwen/qwen3.8-27b

[bot] Reviewed PR #293 (2026-08-27_agents-pr-api-doc) — and updated it.

Situation: the PR was already open (branch pushed at 14:35Z, commit cc267d4), so instead of opening a duplicate I reviewed it and pushed two follow-up commits:

• d79ffd9 — merged master into the branch (it was 5 commits behind, diverged before the fix: resolve registry window for relay hosts via provider-prefixed key scan #284/fix: floor fallback-derived context window at 100k after output-headroom reservation #285 merges; clean, no conflicts)
• a090d5a — hardened the recipe (details below)

Diff review — AGENTS.md only (+41 lines, zero code):

• New §4 section "Opening PRs without the gh CLI": push via the git credential helper → extract the PAT with git credential fill into a shell variable → curl POST to api.github.com/repos/ranxianglei/billion-context/pulls with base master
• New MANDATORY table row: "NEVER print the GitHub PAT"

Hardening I applied — the original recipe had 3 reliability gaps for an agent following it:

1. Inline -d '{...}' JSON breaks on real multi-line markdown bodies → now a heredoc payload file (/tmp/pr.json + -d @file)
2. "may prompt on first use in a fresh session" was wrong for this sandbox — the helper (/usr/local/bin/ework-gh-credhelper) is fully non-interactive (NOPASSWD sudo grant; it serves the token or fails) → corrected
3. curl -s without -f exits 0 on API errors (401/422), so failures could be missed silently → now curl -sS -f + X-GitHub-Api-Version header

Live verification (in this sandbox, token never printed):

• git push via the credential helper: works (used it to push the follow-up commits)
• Documented git credential fill extraction: works (GET /user → HTTP 200 as ranxianglei)
• The exact curl POST shape: verified against the live API

Pre-flight (on the updated branch): npm run typecheck ✓ · npm test 686/686 ✓ · npm run build ✓

PR is open and ready. Per AGENTS.md, merging is human-only — please merge when ready: #293