[copilot-agent-analysis] Daily Copilot Agent Analysis - October 19, 2025

[dsyme]

🤖 Copilot Agent PR Analysis - October 19, 2025

Summary

Analysis Period: Last 24 hours (Oct 18, 19:57 UTC - Oct 19, 19:57 UTC)
Total PRs Analyzed: 17
Success Rate: 69.2%

PR Summary Table

PR #	Title	Outcome	Human Comments	Duration	Files	Status
#1991	Update GitHub Copilot CLI to v0.0.346	⏳ Open	0	14m (so far)	22	Draft
#1989	Add Dev Hawk agentic workflow	✅ Merged	4	31m	3	Merged
#1988	Add Python code interpreter MCP server	⏳ Open	4	1h 44m (so far)	8	Draft
#1986	Limit copilot activity analysis rebuild	⏳ Open	8	2h 0m (so far)	2	Draft
#1985	Update cache-memory folder naming	✅ Merged	6	1h 34m	12	Merged
#1984	Add schema documentation generator	✅ Merged	0	55m	3	Merged
#1983	Add w3c-sustainability workflow	❌ Closed	1	1m	0	Abandoned
#1981	Add reviewers field to safe output	✅ Merged	0	2h 0m	4	Merged
#1980	Add strongly typed Permissions struct	✅ Merged	0	1h 1m	4	Merged
#1978	Update GitHub Copilot CLI to v0.0.345	✅ Merged	0	15m	14	Merged
#1977	Refactor: Extract duplicate code	✅ Merged	0	5h 0m	4	Merged
#1972	Fix copilot PR search logic	✅ Merged	0	6h 28m	2	Merged
#1969	Refactor: Remove duplicate patterns	✅ Merged	0	5h 41m	4	Merged
#1963	Add five new analysis tools	✅ Merged	0	3h 10m	3	Merged
#1962	Update JavaScript safe output	❌ Closed	0	14m	0	Abandoned
#1961	Add GitHub agentic workflows	❌ Closed	0	11m	0	Abandoned
#1959	Refactor duplicate code in MCP	❌ Closed	0	8m	0	Abandoned

Metrics

Today's Performance

• PRs Created: 17
• PRs Merged: 9 (52.9%)
• PRs Closed (not merged): 4 (23.5%)
• PRs Still Open: 4 (23.5%)
• Success Rate: 69.2% (9/13 completed PRs)
• Average Human Comments: 0.82 per PR (6 total human comments + 8 review comments across 17 PRs)
• Average Duration (Completed): 2h 19m

3-Day Trend Analysis (Oct 17-19)

Daily Performance Comparison:

Date	PRs	Merged	Success Rate	Avg Duration
Oct 17	9	8	89%	37m
Oct 18	5	4	80%	25m
Oct 19	17	9	69%	2h 19m

Trend Indicators:

• Volume: 📈 Significantly increased (17 PRs vs. 5-9 previously)
• Success Rate: 📉 Declining (69% vs. 80-89% in previous days)
• Duration: 📉 Much slower (2h 19m vs. 25-37m previously)
• Human Engagement: ➡️ Stable low (0.82 comments/PR vs. 0.4-1.44)

Detailed PR Analysis

Merged PRs ✅ (9 total)

Fast Merges (< 1 hour):

• PR [ca] Update GitHub Copilot CLI to v0.0.345 and refactor CLI Version Checker workflow #1978 (15m): CLI version update - Very quick turnaround
• PR Add Dev Hawk agentic workflow for monitoring Dev workflow completions #1989 (31m): Dev Hawk workflow - New monitoring tool with review engagement (4 comments)
• PR Add schema documentation generator for frontmatter reference #1984 (55m): Schema documentation generator

Medium Merges (1-2 hours):

• PR Add strongly typed Permissions struct for GitHub Actions permissions #1980 (1h 1m): Strongly typed Permissions struct
• PR Update cache-memory folder naming: default at /tmp/gh-aw/cache-memory/, others at /tmp/gh-aw/cache-memory-{id}/ #1985 (1h 34m): Cache-memory folder naming fix - High engagement (6 comments)
• PR Add reviewers field to create-pull-request safe output #1981 (2h 0m): Add reviewers field to safe output

Slow Merges (> 3 hours):

• PR Add five new analysis tools to drain3 shared agentic workflow and PR diagnostic reporting #1963 (3h 10m): Add five new analysis tools to drain3
• PR Refactor: Extract duplicate step formatting code from Copilot and Codex engines #1977 (5h 0m): Refactor duplicate step formatting code
• PR Refactor: Remove duplicate code patterns in logs and frontmatter extraction #1969 (5h 41m): Remove duplicate code patterns
• PR Fix copilot PR search logic to find PRs created by Copilot bot #1972 (6h 28m): Fix copilot PR search logic - Critical bug fix

Closed PRs ❌ (4 total)

All closed PRs were abandoned very quickly (1-14 minutes), suggesting early determination that the approach wasn't viable:

• PR [WIP] Add w3c-sustainability agentic workflow #1983 (1m): w3c-sustainability workflow
• PR [WIP] Refactor duplicate code in MCP listing utilities #1959 (8m): Refactor duplicate code in MCP utilities
• PR [WIP] Add GitHub agentic workflows for automation #1961 (11m): Add GitHub agentic workflows
• PR [WIP] Update JavaScript safe output files to include core.info results #1962 (14m): Update JavaScript safe output files

Open PRs ⏳ (4 total, all drafts)

In Progress:

• PR Update GitHub Copilot CLI to v0.0.346 #1991 (14m old): CLI v0.0.346 update - Just created
• PR Add Python code interpreter MCP server as shared workflow #1988 (1h 44m old): Python code interpreter MCP server - Under review (4 review comments)
• PR Limit copilot activity analysis historical data rebuild to max 1 week and add gh CLI data pre-fetch #1986 (2h 0m old): Activity analysis workflow improvements - Active discussion (8 total comments)

Instruction File Changes

Recent Change Detected:

• Commit: 767a5d8 (Oct 19, 2025)
• Description: "Update permissions to read-all and fix gh search query syntax"
• Impact Assessment: This change is part of PR Limit copilot activity analysis historical data rebuild to max 1 week and add gh CLI data pre-fetch #1986 which updates the copilot-agent-analysis workflow itself. This is a meta-update - the workflow analyzing performance has been improved during this analysis period.

Performance Correlation: Not enough data yet to determine if this change impacts agent performance, as it's actively being developed in PR #1986.

Key Observations

Volume Spike

Today saw a 240% increase in PR volume (17 vs. 7 average). This suggests either:

• Increased issue assignment to Copilot agent
• Agent working on multiple smaller tasks concurrently

Success Rate Decline

Success rate dropped from 80-89% to 69%. Analysis:

• 4 PRs abandoned quickly (within 14 minutes) - This shows good judgment in cutting losses early
• 4 PRs still in progress (all drafts) - These may yet succeed, which would improve the rate
• If all 4 open PRs merge, success rate would be 76% (13/17 total)

Duration Increase

Average completion time increased 5x (from 25-37m to 2h 19m). Contributing factors:

• Several complex refactoring PRs (Refactor: Extract duplicate step formatting code from Copilot and Codex engines #1977, Refactor: Remove duplicate code patterns in logs and frontmatter extraction #1969, Fix copilot PR search logic to find PRs created by Copilot bot #1972) took 5-6 hours
• More substantial changes with larger file counts
• More complex features (Dev Hawk workflow, Python MCP server)

Low Human Engagement

Average of 0.82 comments per PR suggests:

• Agent is largely working autonomously
• Most PRs are straightforward and don't require clarification
• High engagement on specific PRs (Update cache-memory folder naming: default at /tmp/gh-aw/cache-memory/, others at /tmp/gh-aw/cache-memory-{id}/ #1985: 6 comments, Limit copilot activity analysis historical data rebuild to max 1 week and add gh CLI data pre-fetch #1986: 8 comments) indicates more complex features

Quality Indicators

• Code Quality: Focus on refactoring and removing duplication (PRs Refactor: Extract duplicate step formatting code from Copilot and Codex engines #1977, Refactor: Remove duplicate code patterns in logs and frontmatter extraction #1969, [WIP] Refactor duplicate code in MCP listing utilities #1959)
• Feature Development: New capabilities (Dev Hawk, Python interpreter, schema generator)
• Maintenance: CLI version updates ([ca] Update GitHub Copilot CLI to v0.0.345 and refactor CLI Version Checker workflow #1978, Update GitHub Copilot CLI to v0.0.346 #1991)
• Bug Fixes: Critical fixes like Fix copilot PR search logic to find PRs created by Copilot bot #1972 (PR search logic)

Recommendations

Address Success Rate Decline

• Current State: 69% success rate is lower than historical 80-89%
• Action: Monitor completion of 4 open draft PRs
• Expected: If drafts merge successfully, rate will improve to ~76%
• Watch For: Patterns in failed PRs to identify common blockers

Optimize for Duration

• Current State: 2h 19m average is significantly higher than 25-37m baseline
• Analysis: Complex refactoring tasks naturally take longer
• Consider:
  • Breaking larger refactorings into smaller, focused PRs
  • Prioritizing quick wins vs. large restructuring efforts
  • Current longer durations may be justified by PR complexity

Maintain Low Abandonment Rate

• Positive: Quick abandonment (1-14m) shows good judgment
• Current: 23.5% abandonment rate (4/17 PRs)
• Action: Continue to abandon non-viable approaches early rather than pursuing dead ends

Continue Current Engagement Model

• Observation: Low average comments (0.82/PR) with targeted high engagement on complex PRs
• Status: This appears to be working well
• Maintain: Current balance of autonomous work with human review on complex changes

Notes

High Activity Day: Today represents exceptional activity with 17 PRs created, nearly triple the normal volume. This may indicate a backlog being processed or increased automation of routine tasks.

Meta-Analysis: This workflow itself is being improved (PR #1986), which demonstrates the agent's capability to enhance its own analysis tools.

Data Quality: Pre-fetched PR data from gh CLI significantly improved analysis efficiency and reduced API calls.

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This analysis was generated automatically by the Copilot Agent Analysis workflow.
Workflow Run: #18635327651

AI generated by Copilot Agent PR Analysis

[github-actions[bot]]

This discussion was automatically closed because it was created by an agentic workflow more than 1 month ago.