Move auto-merge comments to separate job for reliable failure reporting

[Copilot]

Restructured the auto-merge workflow to ensure comments are posted reliably in all scenarios, including when the merge step fails with an exception.

Changes:

• Created a new comment-result job that runs separately from the auto-merge job
• Job uses if: always() to ensure it runs even when the auto-merge job fails
• Split comments into two conditional steps based on needs.auto-merge.result:
  • Comment merge success - Runs only when merge succeeds, includes "This PR was automatically merged as a small content change."
  • Comment merge failure - Runs only when merge fails, shows error message only

Before:

# Comments were steps within the auto-merge job
- name: Comment merge result
  if: always()
  with:
    message: |
      ${{ steps.auto-merge-pr.outcome == 'success' && '✅ **Auto-merge completed successfully!**' || '❌ **Auto-merge failed**' }}
      
      This PR was automatically merged as a small content change.

After:

# Comments are now in a separate job that acts as a catch-all
comment-result:
  name: Comment Merge Result
  needs: [detect-small-changes, auto-merge]
  if: always() && needs.detect-small-changes.outputs.is-small-change == 'true'
  steps:
    - name: Comment merge success
      if: needs.auto-merge.result == 'success'
      with:
        message: |
          ✅ **Auto-merge completed successfully!**
          
          This PR was automatically merged as a small content change.

    - name: Comment merge failure
      if: needs.auto-merge.result == 'failure'
      with:
        message: |
          ❌ **Auto-merge failed** - Please check the workflow logs for details.

Benefits:

• Failure comments now post even if the auto-merge job encounters an exception

• Better separation of concerns between merging and status reporting

• More reliable feedback to PR authors in all scenarios

• Affected routes: N/A (workflow change only)

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• Include Done Video or screenshots

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[wicksipedia]

@copilot I want this to run even if there is a failure in an earlier step. maybe the 2 actions should be a separate job? that way if any of the steps in the job fail it can be a catch all

[Copilot]

Done! I've moved the comment steps to a separate comment-result job that:

• Always runs with if: always() (when is-small-change is true)
• Acts as a catch-all for any failures in the auto-merge job
• Uses needs.auto-merge.result to determine success vs failure

This ensures the failure comment will post even if the auto-merge job encounters an exception that marks it as failed.

Changes in commit 6a1c86d

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR restructures the auto-merge workflow to improve reliability of status reporting by moving comment steps into a separate job that always runs, even when the merge operation fails with an exception.

Key changes:

• Created a new comment-result job that runs independently using if: always() to ensure execution regardless of the auto-merge job's outcome
• Split the single conditional comment step into two separate steps based on success/failure status
• Separated the informational message ("This PR was automatically merged...") to only appear in success scenarios

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[Copilot]

The failure comment condition only checks for failure status, but the auto-merge job could also have cancelled or skipped statuses. Consider handling these additional states to ensure users receive feedback in all non-success scenarios.

Suggested condition:

if: needs.auto-merge.result != 'success'

This would catch failure, cancelled, and skipped states, providing feedback whenever the merge doesn't complete successfully.

Suggested change

	if: needs.auto-merge.result == 'failure'
	if: needs.auto-merge.result != 'success'