Dev Inbox

Dev Inbox

Triage anything that comes up during a session — bugs, features, improvements, fleeting ideas — and route it to the right place so it is never lost and always discoverable by future sessions.

This skill works in any context: software development, writing, design, or any task.

Intake Gate

Run this gate before acting on every multi-request message:

1. Identify the explicit active objective from the active task artifact or the user's latest scoped instruction.
2. Split every bullet, sentence-level request, and aside into atomic items.
3. Classify each item as active-objective work, a blocking prerequisite, or unrelated/deferred inbox work.
4. Route explicit inbox items before returning to active-objective work.

Conversation history, open files, and git diff are context, not proof that an item belongs to the active objective. Mere presence in the current conversation does not make a topic current-task work.

After a resume, handoff, or context compaction, audit the recovered context for any explicit recording request that lacks a confirmed destination. Persist it before continuing the active objective.

Decision Tree

User says something
│
├─ Is it part of the current task?
│   (Current task = active task artifact or latest explicitly scoped objective)
│   ├─ YES → Do it directly. Stop here.
│   └─ NO ↓
│
├─ Does it block the current task?
│   ├─ YES → Handle it first, then return to current task.
│   └─ NO ↓
│
├─ Priority?
│   ├─ HIGH — would cause data loss, money loss, security issue, or blocks others
│   ├─ NORMAL — clearly needs doing, but not urgent
│   └─ LOW — nice-to-have, fleeting thought, cosmetic
│
└─ Record it + ensure future discoverability

Classification

Assign one type and one priority:

Priority: high / normal / low

Interaction Pattern

Explicit request

Treat an explicit request to record or defer an item as consent. This includes phrases such as "记一下", "以后再说", "log this", "track this", and direct dev-inbox invocation.

1. Classify the item.
2. Check for an existing related record.
3. Persist or merge it without asking for confirmation again.
4. Report the record location, then return to the active objective.

Ask one focused question only when deduplication is genuinely ambiguous.

Proactive inference

When you identify something that doesn't belong to the current task, respond with a concrete suggestion — not an open question:

This doesn't seem related to the current task. I suggest recording it as:

Type: fix | Priority: normal Title: Receipt is not generated after order submission

Confirm?

The user responds with one word (yes/no/adjust). Then execute.

Regression Examples

Multi-topic explicit request

User:

继续修 Browser UI。另外打开会话特别慢，用 Dev-inbox 记一下，后面再说。

Expected order:

1. Split the Browser UI work and session-opening performance problem into separate items.
2. Deduplicate and persist the performance item first because the user explicitly requested recording.
3. Report where it was recorded.
4. Return to the Browser UI objective.

Resume recovery

If a resume summary says the user requested an item be recorded but no destination or confirmation exists, treat it as unresolved. Deduplicate and persist it before resuming the active objective.

Where to Record

Detect the environment and pick the best destination. The goal is future discoverability — the record must surface in a future session without the user remembering it exists.

Priority order:

1. GitHub remote + gh CLI available

   • Check: git remote get-url origin 2>/dev/null && command -v gh
   • Action: gh issue create with title, label, and body
   • Why discoverable: Agent can gh issue list --state open --label <type>
   • Merge logic: Search open issues with same label + similar title keywords. If found → append checklist item. If unsure → ask user.

2. Agent memory system available (Devin memories, Claude memory, etc.)

   • Action: Write to memory with [TODO] prefix and type/priority metadata
   • Why discoverable: Automatically loaded on next session start

3. Project directory exists

   • Action: Append to TODO.md in project root (create if absent)
   • Format: Grouped by type, each item has priority tag
   • Why discoverable: Agent should read TODO.md at session start

4. None of the above

   • Action: Output formatted content for the user to place manually
   • Format: Ready to paste anywhere

After recording, confirm:

Recorded: [type] [title]
Location: [where it was saved]
Discovery: [how a future session will find it]

Record Templates

Adapt detail level to priority — lower priority = lighter format.

fix (high/normal)

## Problem
[What is broken / wrong]

## Expected
[What should happen]

## Context
[Where/when discovered, related task if any]

fix (low)

- [One-line description of what's wrong]

add

## What
[What to add]

## Why
[Why it matters]

improve

- [What it is now] → [What it should be]

idea

- [One sentence]

Merge Logic

Before creating a new record, check if a related one already exists:

• GitHub Issues: gh issue list --state open --label <type> — scan titles for keyword overlap
• TODO.md: Scan same type section for similar items
• Memory: Check for [TODO] entries with similar content

If a match is found → append as a sub-item or checklist entry. If uncertain → ask: "This looks related to [existing item]. Add to it, or create separate?"

GitHub Issue Labels

When using GitHub Issues, apply these labels (create if they don't exist):

gh label create "fix" --color "d73a4a" --description "Something is broken" 2>/dev/null
gh label create "add" --color "0075ca" --description "New feature or content" 2>/dev/null
gh label create "improve" --color "a2eeef" --description "Enhancement to existing" 2>/dev/null
gh label create "idea" --color "e4e669" --description "Exploration, maybe later" 2>/dev/null
gh label create "high" --color "b60205" --description "High priority" 2>/dev/null
gh label create "low" --color "c5def5" --description "Low priority" 2>/dev/null

No-gh Fallback

If gh is not installed but a GitHub remote exists, output:

I can't create the issue automatically (gh CLI not found).
Here's the issue ready to paste:

Title: [title]
Labels: [type], [priority]
Body:
---
[formatted body]
---

Create it at: [repo URL]/issues/new

Anti-patterns

• Do not interrupt the user's flow with long explanations. Keep triage to 2–3 lines.
• Do not ask open-ended questions like "What do you want to do with this?" — propose a concrete action.
• Do not ask for confirmation after an explicit recording or deferral request; the request is consent.
• Do not create records that can't be found later. Always state the discovery path.
• Do not duplicate: always check for existing related records first.
• Do not use this skill for things that ARE part of the current task — just do them.
• Do not treat every topic in the conversation, open files, or git diff as part of the active objective.
• Do not resume active work while a recovered explicit recording request remains unresolved.
• Do not generate a file and leave it disconnected. The record must be in a system the agent will check.

Relationship to Other Skills

• session-handoff / close-loop: At session end, mention count of items recorded this session (e.g., "Recorded 3 items to dev-inbox this session"). No need to re-save — items are already persisted.
• handoff-receiver: When resuming, check for pending inbox items as part of context loading.