Engram Issue Creation

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• Creating a GitHub issue (bug report or feature request)
• Helping a contributor file an issue
• Triaging or approving issues as a maintainer

Critical Rules

1. Blank issues are disabled — MUST use a template (bug report or feature request)
2. Every issue gets status:needs-review automatically on creation
3. A maintainer MUST add status:approved before any PR can be opened
4. Questions go to Discussions, not issues

Workflow

1. Search existing issues for duplicates
2. Choose the correct template (Bug Report or Feature Request)
3. Fill in ALL required fields
4. Check pre-flight checkboxes
5. Submit → issue gets status:needs-review automatically
6. Wait for maintainer to add status:approved
7. Only then open a PR linking this issue

Issue Templates

Bug Report

Template: .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.yml Auto-labels: bug, status:needs-review

Required Fields

Optional Fields

Example — Bug Report via CLI

gh issue create --template "bug_report.yml" \
  --title "fix(store): duplicate observations on concurrent saves" \
  --body "
### Pre-flight Checks
- [x] I have searched existing issues and this is not a duplicate
- [x] I understand this issue needs status:approved before a PR can be opened

### Bug Description
When two agents save observations concurrently, duplicates are created.

### Steps to Reproduce
1. Start two engram instances pointing to the same DB
2. Both save an observation with the same title simultaneously
3. Query observations — duplicates appear

### Expected Behavior
The second save should upsert, not insert a duplicate.

### Actual Behavior
Two identical observations exist with different IDs.

### Operating System
macOS

### Engram Version
0.3.1

### Agent / Client
Claude Code

### Relevant Logs
\`\`\`
UNIQUE constraint failed: observations.title
\`\`\`
"

Feature Request

Template: .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/feature_request.yml Auto-labels: enhancement, status:needs-review

Required Fields

Optional Fields

Example — Feature Request via CLI

gh issue create --template "feature_request.yml" \
  --title "feat(cli): add --json flag to mem search" \
  --body "
### Pre-flight Checks
- [x] I have searched existing issues and this is not a duplicate
- [x] I understand this issue needs status:approved before a PR can be opened

### Problem Description
When scripting with engram, parsing the human-readable output of mem search is fragile. There's no machine-readable output format.

### Proposed Solution
Add a \`--json\` flag to \`engram mem search\` that outputs results as JSON.

Example:
\`\`\`bash
engram mem search \"auth middleware\" --json
\`\`\`

Expected output:
\`\`\`json
[{\"id\": 42, \"title\": \"JWT auth middleware\", \"type\": \"decision\", ...}]
\`\`\`

### Affected Area
CLI (commands, flags)

### Alternatives Considered
Using \`jq\` to parse the current output, but it's unreliable since the format isn't structured.
"

Label System

Applied Automatically on Issue Creation

Applied by Maintainers

Maintainer Approval Workflow

1. New issue arrives with status:needs-review
2. Review the issue — is it valid, clear, and in scope?
3. If YES → add status:approved label
4. If NO → comment with reason, close if needed
5. Contributor can now open a PR linking this issue

Decision Tree

Is it a bug?                    → Use Bug Report template
Is it a new feature/improvement? → Use Feature Request template
Is it a question?               → Use Discussions, NOT issues
Is it a duplicate?              → Link to existing issue, close

Commands

# Search existing issues before creating
gh issue list --search "keyword"

# Create bug report
gh issue create --template "bug_report.yml" --title "fix(scope): description"

# Create feature request
gh issue create --template "feature_request.yml" --title "feat(scope): description"

# Maintainer: approve an issue
gh issue edit <number> --add-label "status:approved"

# Maintainer: add priority
gh issue edit <number> --add-label "priority:high"