Triage Issues

Issue Triage Skill

Analyze open GitHub issues, classify each into a recipe route, group them into parallel implementation batches, and produce a structured triage report.

When to Use

• User says "triage issues", "prioritize issues", or "plan issue order"
• Before starting a multi-issue implementation sprint
• When a backlog needs sequencing into implementable batches
• As input to a pipeline that processes issues in batch order

Critical Constraints

NEVER:

• Modify any source code files
• Create or edit Python, YAML, or config files
• Guess recipe classification when confidence is low — escalate to user
• Apply GitHub labels when --no-label is passed
• Skip human escalation for ambiguous issues
• Add useless comments to the codebase — do not use the codebase as a notepad
• Create files outside temp/triage-issues/ directory

ALWAYS:

• Use model: "sonnet" when spawning all subagents via the Task tool
• Pause for human input on ambiguous classifications
• Write the triage report and manifest to temp/triage-issues/ (relative to the current working directory)
• Use gh CLI for all GitHub operations (not raw API calls)
• Include rationale for every recipe classification
• Record human decisions in the final report

Workflow

Step 0: Parse Arguments

Parse optional arguments from the user's invocation:

• --batch-size N — maximum issues per batch (default: 4)
• --no-label — skip GitHub label application after triage
• --dry-run — run analysis but skip label application even if --no-label is not set
• --collapse — invoke collapse-issues after split analysis to consolidate related issues
• --enrich — for each issue classified as recipe:implementation, generate and append structured requirements (REQ-{GRP}-NNN format) to the issue body. Skips issues that already have a ## Requirements section (idempotent). No effect on recipe:remediation issues.

Step 0.5 — Code-Index Initialization (required before any code-index tool call)

Call set_project_path with the repo root where this skill was invoked (not a worktree path):

mcp__code-index__set_project_path(path="{PROJECT_ROOT}")

Code-index tools require project-relative paths. Always use paths like:

src/<your_package>/some_module.py

NOT absolute paths like:

/absolute/path/to/src/<your_package>/some_module.py

Note: Code-index tools (find_files, search_code_advanced, get_file_summary, get_symbol_body) are only available when the code-index MCP server is configured. If set_project_path returns an error, fall back to native Glob and Grep tools for the same searches — they provide equivalent results without the code-index server.

Agents launched via run_skill inherit no code-index state from the parent session — this call is mandatory at the start of every headless session that uses code-index tools.

Step 1: Authenticate and Fetch Issues

# Verify GitHub authentication
gh auth status

# Fetch all open issues with required fields, excluding in-progress issues
gh issue list --state open --json number,title,body,labels,url,assignees --limit 200 \
  | jq '[.[] | select(.labels | map(.name) | contains(["in-progress"]) | not)]'

Issues carrying the in-progress label are actively being processed by a pipeline session and are excluded from triage to prevent duplicate work.

If gh auth status fails, abort with a clear error message.

If there are zero open issues (after filtering), skip to Step 7 and output an empty report.

Step 2a: Parallel Split Analysis

Before codebase analysis, run issue-splitter for every open issue to detect mixed-concern issues and expand the working set.

Launch up to 8 subagents in parallel (model: "sonnet"), one per issue. Each subagent invokes:

/autoskillit:issue-splitter --issue {N} --repo {owner/repo} [--no-label if --no-label was passed] [--dry-run if --dry-run was passed]

For each subagent result, parse the ---issue-splitter-result--- block and build the expanded working set:

• decision=no-split: keep the original issue in the working set; note the pre-classified route as a seed for Step 3 (Recipe Classification) — Step 3 still re-verifies
• decision=split: remove the original issue from the working set; add its sub_issues list instead
• decision=error: log a warning; keep the original issue as-is (fail-safe)

Proceed to Step 2c (if --collapse) or Step 2b with the expanded working set.

Flag propagation: When triage-issues is invoked with --no-label, pass --no-label to each issue-splitter call. When --dry-run is active, pass --dry-run. This ensures split analysis is observable without mutating GitHub.

Step 2c (optional): Collapse Related Issues

If --collapse was passed:

Invoke the collapse-issues skill to consolidate related issues before analysis:

/autoskillit:collapse-issues --repo {owner/repo} [--dry-run if --dry-run was passed] [--no-label if --no-label was passed]

Parse the ---collapse-issues-result--- block from the skill output:

• groups_formed: log "Collapsed N groups ({M} issues → {groups_formed} combined issues)"
• Update the working issue list: remove closed originals, add new combined issue numbers
• If the skill returns an error, log a warning but continue triage with the original issue list (fail-safe)

Flag propagation: --dry-run and --no-label are passed through to collapse-issues.

The collapse step runs after splitting is complete so it sees the fully-decomposed issue list.

Step 2b: Parallel Issue Analysis

Launch parallel subagents (up to 8) to analyze each issue. Each subagent receives one issue and must identify:

• Affected systems — which parts of the codebase the issue touches (e.g., recipe/, server/, execution/)
• Components — specific modules, classes, or functions referenced or implied
• File paths — explicitly mentioned files or files inferred from the description
• Dependencies — explicit issue references (#N) or inferred dependencies from content overlap

Use model: "sonnet" for all subagents.

Step 3: Recipe Classification

Classify each issue into a recipe route using the primary behavioral criterion — is existing behavior broken?

Is existing behavior broken?

• Yes — existing code crashes, raises an exception, returns wrong data, or fails an assertion when executed → recipe:remediation
• No — a capability is missing, a guard doesn't exist yet, a routing path was never built, or behavior needs to be added → recipe:implementation

The key distinction is broken vs. missing:

• Remediation fixes code that runs and errors. The code exists, it executes, and it produces a wrong result or exception.
• Implementation fills a gap. Nothing existing is broken — the capability, guard, or behavior simply doesn't exist yet. Even if the gap was discovered during a runtime scenario (e.g., an orchestrator made a wrong choice because no guardrail existed), if the fix is "add something new" rather than "fix something that errors", it routes to implementation.

Examples that route to remediation:

• A command that crashes with a traceback
• An API that returns wrong data (e.g., negative duration from clock regression)
• A file parser that raises an exception on valid input
• A test that fails with an assertion error due to a real code bug

Examples that route to implementation:

• Adding a new CLI flag, skill, or recipe step
• Adding a missing return field to a response JSON
• Adding orchestrator discipline rules or guardrails that don't exist yet
• A plan/recipe that scoped too narrowly (gap in design, not a crash)
• Improving error messages, refactoring, writing documentation
• Adding support for a new file format — regardless of scope or complexity

Common misclassification: "the orchestrator did the wrong thing" When an LLM orchestrator bypasses routing, retries instead of escalating, or ignores a failure — that is almost always a gap (missing guardrail, missing discipline rule), not a runtime error. The orchestrator didn't crash; it made an unguarded choice. Route to implementation unless the orchestrator hit an actual exception.

For each issue, record:

• The assigned route (implementation or remediation)
• Confidence level (high or low)
• Rationale (1 sentence explaining why)

Step 3b: Human Escalation for Ambiguous Issues

For each issue where you cannot confidently assign a recipe route, you MUST pause and present it to the user. Do NOT silently guess.

Present each ambiguous issue as follows:

Ambiguous Issue: #{number} — "{title}"

Summary: {1-2 sentence summary of what the issue asks for}

Conflicting Signals:

• Signal A suggests implementation: {reason}
• Signal B suggests remediation: {reason}

Decision needed: Route to implementation or remediation? (Or type "skip" to exclude)

Open questions that would change routing:

• {question that, if answered, would make the route clear}

Wait for the user's response before continuing to the next ambiguous issue. Record all human decisions for inclusion in the triage report.

Step 3c: Requirement Enrichment (only when --enrich is passed)

For each issue in the working set classified as recipe:implementation:

1. Fetch issue body:

   gh issue view {N} --json body -q .body
   

2. If ## Requirements section already present in the body: skip (idempotent).
3. In-context requirement generation using the issue title, body, and classification rationale already in context:
   • Trace: "What must be true for this functionality to exist?"
   • Group by co-implementation concern (short uppercase abbreviation, 2–5 letters).
   • Format: **REQ-{GRP}-NNN:** {single-sentence condition statement}.
4. If --dry-run or --no-label is active: print generated requirements to stdout per issue but skip gh issue edit. Record requirements_generated: true in manifest.
5. Otherwise, append via:

   gh issue edit {N} --body "$(gh issue view {N} --json body -q .body)
   

Requirements

{Group Name}

• REQ-{GRP}-001: ... ..."

6. If the issue is too vague for clean extraction: skip silently and record requirements_generated: false in the manifest for that issue.

This step is in-context only — no subagents are spawned for enrichment.

recipe:remediation issues are not enriched regardless of the --enrich flag.

Step 4: Build Conflict Graph

Build a conflict graph where:

• Each issue is a node
• Two issues share an edge if they touch overlapping systems, components, or file paths
• Edge weight reflects the degree of overlap (number of shared components)

Issues that touch completely independent systems have no edges and can safely run in parallel.

Step 5: Greedy Batch Partitioning

Partition issues into batches of at most batch_size using a greedy graph-coloring approach:

1. Sort issues by edge count (most conflicts first)
2. For each issue, assign it to the earliest batch where it has no conflicts with existing members
3. If all existing batches conflict, create a new batch
4. Issues with no conflicts go into the earliest batch with remaining capacity

Step 6: Order Batches

Order the batches for sequential execution:

1. Dependencies first — if issue B depends on issue A, A's batch must come before B's batch
2. Foundation first — batches touching infrastructure/core come before batches touching consumers
3. Priority labels — batches containing priority:high issues come earlier (tiebreaker)
4. Age — batches containing older issues come earlier (final tiebreaker)

Step 7: Write Outputs

Compute timestamp: YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS. Ensure temp/triage-issues/ exists.

7a. Triage report: temp/triage-issues/triage_report_{ts}.md

The report contains:

• Ordered list of batches with issues, recipe assignments, and rationale
• Dependency/conflict notes explaining batch separation
• Summary statistics (total issues, batch count, recipe distribution)
• Human decisions section (which issues were escalated, what was decided)

7b. Machine-readable manifest: temp/triage-issues/triage_manifest_{ts}.json

{
    "generated_at": "{ISO timestamp}",
    "batch_size": 4,
    "total_issues": 12,
    "batch_count": 3,
    "recipe_distribution": {"implementation": 8, "remediation": 4},
    "batches": [
        {
            "batch": 1,
            "priority": "first",
            "issues": [
                {
                    "number": 42,
                    "title": "Add user auth",
                    "recipe": "implementation",
                    "confidence": "high",
                    "systems": ["auth", "api"],
                    "rationale": "Well-defined feature with clear acceptance criteria",
                    "requirements_generated": true
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "skipped_issues": [],
    "human_decisions": [
        {"number": 55, "decision": "remediation", "reason": "User chose investigation-first"}
    ]
}

Issues not enriched (recipe:remediation, or --enrich not passed) emit "requirements_generated": null.

7c. Label application (unless --no-label is passed):

Ensure recipe labels exist (idempotent):

gh label create "recipe:implementation" --description "Route through implementation recipe" --color "0E8A16" --force
gh label create "recipe:remediation" --description "Route through remediation recipe" --color "D93F0B" --force

For each triaged issue, apply its recipe label:

gh issue edit {number} --add-label "recipe:{recipe}"

Output Location

temp/triage-issues/
  triage_report_{ts}.md       # Human-readable triage report
  triage_manifest_{ts}.json   # Machine-readable manifest for downstream pipelines

Output Fields (for recipe capture)

After the triage report and manifest are written, emit the following structured output tokens as the very last lines of your text output:

triage_report = {absolute_path_to_report_file}
triage_manifest = {absolute_path_to_manifest_file}
total_issues = {integer_count}
batch_count = {integer_count}
recipe_distribution = {json_distribution_dict}

These emit lines are consumed by capture: in orchestrating recipes. The triage_manifest path is the primary output used by downstream recipe steps.

Example emit block:

triage_report = temp/triage-issues/triage_report_20260310_120000.md
triage_manifest = temp/triage-issues/triage_manifest_20260310_120000.json
total_issues = 12
batch_count = 3
recipe_distribution = {"implementation": 8, "remediation": 4}

Related Skills

• /autoskillit:analyze-prs — Similar batch analysis pattern, but for PRs instead of issues
• /autoskillit:make-groups — Groups requirements for planning; triage-issues groups issues for execution
• /autoskillit:investigate — Can be used to deep-dive individual issues before triage