shipper_advance

shipper_advance

Advance an issue by one workflow stage (shipper next). Dispatches to the appropriate stage command based on the current label. Runs in headless mode — may take several minutes for implementation and PR review stages. Refuses to operate on shipper:new issues because grooming requires interactive input.

When to use

Use this for the normal one-step workflow progression once an issue has moved past intake. Use shipper_groom instead for shipper:new issues when experimental MCP grooming is enabled.

Behavior hints

• openWorldHint: true — The tool reaches GitHub or other external systems outside the MCP server.

Input schema

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
issue	integer	yes	-	GitHub issue number.

Example call

{
  "issue": 42
}

Example result

Stage: shipper:planned -> shipper:implemented (accept)
PR: https://github.com/owner/repo/pull/17

---
Implementation complete.

Session log: /tmp/shipper/session.log

Error modes

• Interactive grooming required: Issue # is at shipper:new. Grooming must be done interactively by a human (it asks clarifying questions and edits the issue body). Ask the user to run shipper groom <issue> in their terminal; once the issue moves past shipper:new, you can retry this tool.
• Missing stage transition metadata: Unable to recover the stage transition from post-run metadata.
• Timed out worker: [timed out] shipper next —mode headless
• Failed worker: [exit ] shipper next —mode headless
• GitHub or session lookup failure: Command failed: gh

Related tools

• shipper_get_issue
• shipper_get_pr_checks
• shipper_answer_question