Agentic Coders with GitHub Comments and Actions: Automating Real Development

This morning, on the couch, half-watching Baby Shark YouTube videos with my two-year-old, from my mobile phone, I created two GitHub issues, decided on an implementation plan and coded two fully-developed feature PRs—without writing a single line of code.

How?

By simply commenting on my GitHub issues. I've integrated MyCoder, an open source agentic coding assistant, directly into GitHub Actions, and it handled everything else automatically.

Real-World Coding Automation (with Toddlers)

This morning I woke up with an idea. Once I had my toddler setup downstairs with a sandwich I sat down on the sofa, Baby Shark videos playing, and created Github issues for them.

Example 1: Multiple-Line Custom Prompts (Issue #249 → PR #250)

Issue #249 identified a limitation: MyCoder's config supported only single-line prompts. This was really straight forward so to turn it into a PR, I simply typed: "/mycoder can you turn this into a PR?"

Without further guidance, MyCoder:

• Enhanced configuration to accept multi-line prompts
• Updated relevant documentation
• Opened PR #250—ready to merge

All this happened automatically, no manual coding involved, while I was helping my daughter was eating her sandwich.

Example 2: Custom CLI Commands (Issue #251 → PR #252)

I posted Issue #251 requesting custom CLI commands. It was a little more of a complex issue. So starting small, I asked:

/mycoder Can you create an implementation plan?

MyCoder swiftly presented a thoughtful implementation plan. After briefly reviewing, I refined the idea:

/mycoder let's only do the JavaScript executor, skip the simple string option. Can you create the PR?

Within minutes, MyCoder delivered PR #252, exactly matching my refined instructions—again, zero manual coding.

My daughter was done with the sandwich, so we cleaned up, and headed off for daycare down the street.

Agentic Coding—Beyond "Vibe Coding"

Some developers mistakenly think AI coding is limited to hobbyists, beginners, or small-scale "vibe" projects. They're overlooking the real revolution:

Agentic coding integrated into automation workflows is about freeing human developers from repetitive, error-prone tasks. Medium-to-large businesses and enterprise developers stand to gain immense productivity and quality advantages.

Just Imagine What's Next

What we've done with MyCoder so far barely scratches the surface. Imagine automated workflows that:

• Update Documentation Automatically: Every PR triggers comprehensive doc updates.
• Improve Test Coverage Automatically: AI-generated tests fill coverage gaps immediately upon PR creation.
• Conduct Smart, Contextual Code Reviews: Automated reviews that check PRs against original issue specs and coding standards.
• Perform Goal-Oriented UI Testing: Test your web app without any hard-coded selectors, providing semantic feedback on navigation and usability.

Getting Started: Easier Than You Think

Integrating MyCoder into your GitHub workflows requires minimal setup. Here's a simplified GitHub Action YAML configuration for a private repo (if the repo is public you need to be a bit safer so others can not trigger it maliciously):

name: MyCoder Agent

on: issue_comment

jobs:
  automate-task:
    if: contains(github.event.comment.body, '/mycoder')
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
      - run: |
          npm install -g mycoder
          mycoder --githubMode true "Do what I asked in the issue comment."

Automation doesn’t need complex setups—it's remarkably easy to integrate.