Triage

Triage

Move issues and external PRs through a state machine of triage roles, categorise, verify, grill if needed, and write agent-ready briefs. Use when issues or external PRs need categorising, verifying, and turning into agent-ready briefs. Triggers on: triage, triage the backlog, review these issues.

This skill is imported from mattpocock/skills (MIT) and is user-invoked upstream.

When to use this skill

• Move issues and external PRs through a state machine of triage roles, categorise, verify, grill if needed, and write agent-ready briefs.
• Use when issues or external PRs need categorising, verifying, and turning into agent-ready briefs.
• Triggers on: triage, triage the backlog, review these issues.

Instructions

Triage

Move issues on the project issue tracker through a small state machine of triage roles.

If this repo treats external pull requests as a request surface (see the issue-tracker config), triage covers them too: a PR is an issue with attached code, using the same roles, same states, and same machine, with a few deltas marked "for a PR" below. Resolve a bare #42 to an issue or PR per the tracker config.

Every comment or issue posted to the issue tracker during triage must start with this disclaimer:

> *This was generated by AI during triage.*

Reference docs

• AGENT-BRIEF.md: how to write durable agent briefs
• OUT-OF-SCOPE.md: how the .out-of-scope/ knowledge base works

Roles

Two category roles:

• bug: something is broken
• enhancement: new feature or improvement

Five state roles:

• needs-triage: maintainer needs to evaluate
• needs-info: waiting on reporter for more information
• ready-for-agent: fully specified, ready for an AFK agent
• ready-for-human: needs human implementation
• wontfix: will not be actioned

For a PR, the same states read against the attached code: ready-for-agent means a brief is attached and an agent should take the next step on the diff; ready-for-human means it's ready for a human to merge.

Every triaged issue should carry exactly one category role and one state role. If state roles conflict, flag it and ask the maintainer before doing anything else.

These are canonical role names. The actual label strings used in the issue tracker may differ. The mapping should have been provided to you. If not, tell the user to run /setup-matt-pocock-skills.

State transitions: an unlabeled issue normally goes to needs-triage first; from there it moves to needs-info, ready-for-agent, ready-for-human, or wontfix. needs-info returns to needs-triage once the reporter replies. The maintainer can override at any time; flag transitions that look unusual and ask before proceeding.

Invocation

The maintainer invokes /triage and describes what they want in natural language. Interpret the request and act. Examples:

• "Show me anything that needs my attention"
• "Let's look at #42" (issue or PR)
• "Move #42 to ready-for-agent"
• "What's ready for agents to pick up?"

Show what needs attention

Query the issue tracker and present three buckets, oldest first:

1. Unlabeled: never triaged.
2. needs-triage: evaluation in progress.
3. needs-info with reporter activity since the last triage notes: needs re-evaluation.

When PRs are in scope, include external PRs in these buckets and tag each line [PR] or [issue]. Discovery surfaces only external PRs (the tracker config defines who counts as external), so a collaborator's in-flight PR is not triage work. This filter is discovery-only; an explicitly named PR is always triaged regardless of author.

Show counts and a one-line summary per item. Let the maintainer pick.

Triage a specific issue or PR

1. Gather context. Read the full issue or PR (body, comments, labels, author, dates; for a PR, the diff too). Parse any prior triage notes so you don't re-ask resolved questions. Explore the codebase using the project's domain glossary, respecting ADRs in the area. Run two checks against the codebase: (a) redundancy: search for an existing implementation of the requested behavior by domain concept (not just the request's wording), and report where you looked. If found, it's an already-implemented wontfix (step 5). (b) prior rejection: read .out-of-scope/*.md and surface any that resembles this request.

2. Recommend. Tell the maintainer your category and state recommendation with reasoning, plus a brief codebase summary relevant to the request (including whether it's already implemented). Wait for direction.

3. Verify the claim. Before any grilling, check that the claim holds up. For a bug, reproduce it from the reporter's steps. For a PR, confirm the diff does what it claims: check it out, run the relevant tests or commands. Report what happened: confirmed (with code path), failed, or insufficient detail (a strong needs-info signal). A confirmed verification makes a much stronger agent brief.

4. Grill (if needed). If the request needs fleshing out, call the Skill tool twice, for "grilling" and "domain-modeling", and grill it into shape a round of questions at a time, sharpening domain terms and updating CONTEXT.md/ADRs inline as decisions land.

5. Apply the outcome:

   • ready-for-agent: post an agent brief comment (AGENT-BRIEF.md).
   • ready-for-human: same structure as an agent brief, but note why it can't be delegated (judgment calls, external access, design decisions, manual testing).
   • needs-info: post triage notes (template below).
   • For wontfix, close the issue, with the comment depending on why:
     • Already implemented: the change already exists in the codebase. Point to where it lives; do not write to .out-of-scope/ (that KB is for rejected requests, not built ones).
     • Rejected (bug): give a polite explanation, then close.
     • Rejected (enhancement): write to .out-of-scope/, link to it from a comment, then close (OUT-OF-SCOPE.md).
   • needs-triage: apply the role. Optional comment if there's partial progress.

Quick state override

If the maintainer says "move #42 to ready-for-agent", trust them and apply the role directly. Confirm what you're about to do (role changes, comment, close), then act. Skip grilling. If moving to ready-for-agent without a grilling session, ask whether they want to write an agent brief.

Needs-info template

## Triage Notes

**What we've established so far:**

- point 1
- point 2

**What we still need from you (@reporter):**

- question 1
- question 2

Capture everything resolved during grilling under "established so far" so the work isn't lost. Questions must be specific and actionable, not "please provide more info".

Resuming a previous session

If prior triage notes exist on the issue or PR, read them, check whether the reporter has answered any outstanding questions, and present an updated picture before continuing. Don't re-ask resolved questions.

Examples

• Apply this skill to one narrow scope first, confirm the output matches the shape described above, then widen to the full task.
• When a step needs a fact from the repository or the environment, look it up instead of asking the user for it.

Best practices

• Keep the upstream procedure intact; record deviations explicitly instead of silently improvising.
• Stop and hand control back to the user at every decision point this skill marks as theirs.
• Prefer small reversible changes, and state assumptions rather than burying them.

References

• Upstream skill: mattpocock/skills skills/engineering/triage/SKILL.md (commit 3cca18b, MIT)
• Companion doc: references/AGENT-BRIEF.md
• Companion doc: references/OUT-OF-SCOPE.md
• Project standards: .agent-skills/skill-standardization/SKILL.md
• Validator script: .agent-skills/skill-standardization/scripts/validate_skill.sh