fix: simplify matching to header-only, drop bot ID check

Legacy comments without headers will naturally age out. No need
for bot ID fallback logic that was broken anyway (wrong default ID).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

action.yml

@@ -199,6 +199,7 @@ runs:
         INCLUDE_COMMENTS_BY_ACTOR: ${{ inputs.include_comments_by_actor }}
         EXCLUDE_COMMENTS_BY_ACTOR: ${{ inputs.exclude_comments_by_actor }}
         GITHUB_RUN_ID: ${{ github.run_id }}
+        GITHUB_JOB: ${{ github.job }}
         USE_STICKY_COMMENT: ${{ inputs.use_sticky_comment }}
         DEFAULT_WORKFLOW_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
         USE_COMMIT_SIGNING: ${{ inputs.use_commit_signing }}

src/github/context.ts

@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ type BaseContext = {
     branchPrefix: string;
     branchNameTemplate?: string;
     useStickyComment: boolean;
+    jobId: string;
     useCommitSigning: boolean;
     sshSigningKey: string;
     botId: string;
@@ -150,6 +151,7 @@ export function parseGitHubContext(): GitHubContext {
       branchPrefix: process.env.BRANCH_PREFIX ?? "claude/",
       branchNameTemplate: process.env.BRANCH_NAME_TEMPLATE,
       useStickyComment: process.env.USE_STICKY_COMMENT === "true",
+      jobId: process.env.GITHUB_JOB || "",
       useCommitSigning: process.env.USE_COMMIT_SIGNING === "true",
       sshSigningKey: process.env.SSH_SIGNING_KEY || "",
       botId: process.env.BOT_ID ?? String(CLAUDE_APP_BOT_ID),

src/github/operations/comment-logic.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { GITHUB_SERVER_URL } from "../api/config";
+import { extractBotHeader } from "./comments/common";
 
 export type ExecutionDetails = {
   total_cost_usd?: number;
@@ -79,11 +80,19 @@ export function updateCommentBody(input: CommentUpdateInput): string {
     errorDetails,
   } = input;
 
+  // Extract and preserve bot header for sticky comment identification
+  const botHeader = extractBotHeader(originalBody);
+
   // Extract content from the original comment body
   // First, remove the "Claude Code is working…" or "Claude Code is working..." message
   const workingPattern = /Claude Code is working[…\.]{1,3}(?:\s*<img[^>]*>)?/i;
   let bodyContent = originalBody.replace(workingPattern, "").trim();
 
+  // Remove bot header from body content since we'll prepend it at the end
+  if (botHeader) {
+    bodyContent = bodyContent.replace(/^<!--\s*bot:\s*\S+\s*-->\n?/, "").trim();
+  }
+
   // Check if there's a PR link in the content
   let prLinkFromContent = "";
 
@@ -199,5 +208,10 @@ export function updateCommentBody(input: CommentUpdateInput): string {
   // Add the cleaned body content
   newBody += bodyContent;
 
+  // Prepend bot header if it existed in the original comment
+  if (botHeader) {
+    return (botHeader + newBody).trim();
+  }
+
   return newBody.trim();
 }

src/github/operations/comments/common.ts

@@ -24,10 +24,17 @@ export function createBranchLink(
 export function createCommentBody(
   jobRunLink: string,
   branchLink: string = "",
+  botName: string = "",
 ): string {
-  return `Claude Code is working… ${SPINNER_HTML}
+  const header = botName ? `<!-- bot: ${botName} -->\n` : "";
+  return `${header}Claude Code is working… ${SPINNER_HTML}
 
 I'll analyze this and get back to you.
 
 ${jobRunLink}${branchLink}`;
 }
+
+export function extractBotHeader(body: string): string {
+  const match = body.match(/^(<!--\s*bot:\s*\S+\s*-->\n?)/);
+  return match?.[1] ?? "";
+}

src/github/operations/comments/create-initial.ts

@@ -14,16 +14,21 @@ import {
 } from "../../context";
 import type { Octokit } from "@octokit/rest";
 
-const CLAUDE_APP_BOT_ID = 209825114;
+function escapeRegex(str: string): string {
+  return str.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, "\\$&");
+}
 
 export async function createInitialComment(
   octokit: Octokit,
   context: ParsedGitHubContext,
 ) {
   const { owner, repo } = context.repository;
+  const botIdentifier = context.inputs.useStickyComment
+    ? context.inputs.jobId
+    : "";
 
   const jobRunLink = createJobRunLink(owner, repo, context.runId);
-  const initialBody = createCommentBody(jobRunLink);
+  const initialBody = createCommentBody(jobRunLink, "", botIdentifier);
 
   try {
     let response;
@@ -33,20 +38,27 @@ export async function createInitialComment(
       context.isPR &&
       isPullRequestEvent(context)
     ) {
-      const comments = await octokit.rest.issues.listComments({
-        owner,
-        repo,
-        issue_number: context.entityNumber,
-      });
-      const existingComment = comments.data.find((comment) => {
-        const idMatch = comment.user?.id === CLAUDE_APP_BOT_ID;
-        const botNameMatch =
-          comment.user?.type === "Bot" &&
-          comment.user?.login.toLowerCase().includes("claude");
-        const bodyMatch = comment.body === initialBody;
+      // Use pagination to fetch all comments (handles PRs with 30+ comments)
+      const comments = await octokit.paginate(
+        octokit.rest.issues.listComments,
+        {
+          owner,
+          repo,
+          issue_number: context.entityNumber,
+          per_page: 100,
+        },
+      );
 
-        return idMatch || botNameMatch || bodyMatch;
+      const existingComment = comments.find((comment) => {
+        if (!botIdentifier) return false;
+
+        const headerPattern = new RegExp(
+          `<!--\\s*bot:\\s*${escapeRegex(botIdentifier)}\\s*-->`,
+          "i",
+        );
+        return headerPattern.test(comment.body || "");
       });
+
       if (existingComment) {
         response = await octokit.rest.issues.updateComment({
           owner,

src/github/operations/comments/update-with-branch.ts

@@ -33,7 +33,10 @@ export async function updateTrackingComment(
     branchLink = createBranchLink(owner, repo, branch);
   }
 
-  const updatedBody = createCommentBody(jobRunLink, branchLink);
+  const botIdentifier = context.inputs.useStickyComment
+    ? context.inputs.jobId
+    : "";
+  const updatedBody = createCommentBody(jobRunLink, branchLink, botIdentifier);
 
   // Update the existing comment with the branch link
   try {

src/mcp/github-comment-server.ts

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { StdioServerTransport } from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/stdio.js"
 import { z } from "zod";
 import { GITHUB_API_URL } from "../github/api/config";
 import { Octokit } from "@octokit/rest";
+import { extractBotHeader } from "../github/operations/comments/common";
 import { updateClaudeComment } from "../github/operations/comments/update-claude-comment";
 import { sanitizeContent } from "../github/utils/sanitizer";
 
@@ -55,13 +56,31 @@ server.tool(
       const isPullRequestReviewComment =
         eventName === "pull_request_review_comment";
 
+      // Fetch current comment to preserve the bot header for sticky comment functionality
+      const currentComment = isPullRequestReviewComment
+        ? await octokit.rest.pulls.getReviewComment({
+            owner,
+            repo,
+            comment_id: commentId,
+          })
+        : await octokit.rest.issues.getComment({
+            owner,
+            repo,
+            comment_id: commentId,
+          });
+
+      // Extract bot header if present (e.g., "<!-- bot: claude-code-review -->")
+      const botHeader = extractBotHeader(currentComment.data.body || "");
+
+      // Sanitize then prepend header to preserve sticky comment identification
       const sanitizedBody = sanitizeContent(body);
+      const bodyWithHeader = botHeader + sanitizedBody;
 
       const result = await updateClaudeComment(octokit, {
         owner,
         repo,
         commentId,
-        body: sanitizedBody,
+        body: bodyWithHeader,
         isPullRequestReviewComment,
       });
 

test/comment-logic.test.ts

@@ -443,4 +443,79 @@ describe("updateCommentBody", () => {
       expect(result).not.toContain("tree/claude/issue-123");
     });
   });
+
+  describe("bot header preservation", () => {
+    it("should preserve bot header through comment update", () => {
+      const input: CommentUpdateInput = {
+        currentBody:
+          "<!-- bot: claude-review -->\nClaude Code is working…\n\nI'll analyze this and get back to you.\n\n[View job run](https://github.com/owner/repo/actions/runs/123)",
+        actionFailed: false,
+        executionDetails: { duration_ms: 30000 },
+        jobUrl: "https://github.com/owner/repo/actions/runs/123",
+        triggerUsername: "test-user",
+      };
+
+      const result = updateCommentBody(input);
+      expect(result).toStartWith("<!-- bot: claude-review -->\n");
+      expect(result).toContain("Claude finished @test-user's task");
+    });
+
+    it("should preserve bot header with different bot names", () => {
+      const input: CommentUpdateInput = {
+        currentBody:
+          "<!-- bot: claude-docs-review -->\nClaude Code is working...",
+        actionFailed: false,
+        executionDetails: { duration_ms: 30000 },
+        jobUrl: "https://github.com/owner/repo/actions/runs/123",
+        triggerUsername: "user",
+      };
+
+      const result = updateCommentBody(input);
+      expect(result).toStartWith("<!-- bot: claude-docs-review -->");
+    });
+
+    it("should work without bot header", () => {
+      const input: CommentUpdateInput = {
+        currentBody:
+          "Claude Code is working…\n\nI'll analyze this and get back to you.",
+        actionFailed: false,
+        executionDetails: { duration_ms: 30000 },
+        jobUrl: "https://github.com/owner/repo/actions/runs/123",
+        triggerUsername: "test-user",
+      };
+
+      const result = updateCommentBody(input);
+      expect(result).not.toContain("<!-- bot:");
+      expect(result).toContain("Claude finished @test-user's task");
+    });
+
+    it("should preserve bot header when action fails", () => {
+      const input: CommentUpdateInput = {
+        currentBody: "<!-- bot: claude-review -->\nClaude Code is working…",
+        actionFailed: true,
+        executionDetails: { duration_ms: 10000 },
+        jobUrl: "https://github.com/owner/repo/actions/runs/123",
+        errorDetails: "Something went wrong",
+      };
+
+      const result = updateCommentBody(input);
+      expect(result).toStartWith("<!-- bot: claude-review -->");
+      expect(result).toContain("**Claude encountered an error after 10s**");
+    });
+
+    it("should not preserve bot header if not at start of comment", () => {
+      const input: CommentUpdateInput = {
+        currentBody:
+          "Some text before\n<!-- bot: claude-review -->\nClaude Code is working…",
+        actionFailed: false,
+        executionDetails: { duration_ms: 5000 },
+        jobUrl: "https://github.com/owner/repo/actions/runs/123",
+        triggerUsername: "testuser",
+      };
+
+      const result = updateCommentBody(input);
+      expect(result.startsWith("<!-- bot:")).toBe(false);
+      expect(result).toContain("**Claude finished");
+    });
+  });
 });

test/install-mcp-server.test.ts

@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ describe("prepareMcpConfig", () => {
       labelTrigger: "",
       branchPrefix: "",
       useStickyComment: false,
+      jobId: "",
       useCommitSigning: false,
       sshSigningKey: "",
       botId: String(CLAUDE_APP_BOT_ID),

test/mockContext.ts

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ const defaultInputs = {
   labelTrigger: "",
   branchPrefix: "claude/",
   useStickyComment: false,
+  jobId: "",
   useCommitSigning: false,
   sshSigningKey: "",
   botId: String(CLAUDE_APP_BOT_ID),

test/modes/detector.test.ts

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ describe("detectMode with enhanced routing", () => {
       labelTrigger: "",
       branchPrefix: "claude/",
       useStickyComment: false,
+      jobId: "",
       useCommitSigning: false,
       sshSigningKey: "",
       botId: "123456",

test/permissions.test.ts

@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ describe("checkWritePermissions", () => {
       labelTrigger: "",
       branchPrefix: "claude/",
       useStickyComment: false,
+      jobId: "",
       useCommitSigning: false,
       sshSigningKey: "",
       botId: String(CLAUDE_APP_BOT_ID),

test/sanitizer.test.ts

@@ -360,4 +360,8 @@ describe("stripHtmlComments (legacy)", () => {
       "Hello World",
     );
   });
+
+  it("should strip all HTML comments including bot headers", () => {
+    expect(stripHtmlComments("<!-- bot: claude-review -->Text")).toBe("Text");
+  });
 });