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feat: conversational replies on review-comment threads (+ resolve when addressed) #326

@piekstra

Description

@piekstra

Problem statement

When cr posts an inline review-comment finding and a human replies in that thread (e.g. "fixed", "why?", "won't fix because X"), cr does not read or respond. The thread stays open with no acknowledgement, and resolution only happens on a full re-review after the code changes. There is no conversational loop on a comment thread.

Proposed change

Add the ability to respond to replies on cr's own open review-comment threads: detect a new human reply, read it together with the original finding + thread context, post a contextual in-thread reply (acknowledge / clarify / concede), and resolve the conversation once the thread is fully addressed. The GitHub in_reply_to (review-comment replies) and resolveReviewThread plumbing already exists in the gitprovider.

This has two parts:

  1. Engine (cr): a "respond to review-comment replies" capability — given a thread (original finding + replies), decide and post a reply, and resolve when done.
  2. Trigger: today cr acts on review requests. This needs a new signal — "unresolved replies on threads I authored." A menu-bar watcher (e.g. cr-daemon) could provide it by polling for new thread replies and invoking cr.

Why it matters

Closes the review loop so reviews feel interactive, cuts stale open threads, and lets authors get answers without forcing a full re-review cycle.

Additional context

Could land incrementally: start with resolve-on-acknowledgement (reply says the issue is addressed → resolve), then add generated replies for questions/pushback. Surfaced while dogfooding automated reviews via a reviewer machine account.

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