# Validate Issue Loop

> Use when the user asks to validate a GitHub issue and then autonomously drive it to a reviewed PR in one shot — "validate and work on this issue", "validate-issue-loop", "fully automate issue

- Skill: `richkuo/validate-issue-loop` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add richkuo/validate-issue-loop`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/richkuo/validate-issue-loop/raw
- Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: richkuo (https://skillmd.com/u/richkuo)
- Updated: 2026-09-21
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/richkuo/validate-issue-loop

---


# validate-issue-loop

Chain validate-issue → (conditional) update issue → work-on-issue-loop into one autonomous run, so an issue goes from "reported" to "PR through N rounds of review" without a human in the loop between steps. This is validate-issue's normal interactive handoff (its `→` next-step line) made unattended: the loop reads its own verdict and decides what to do next, instead of waiting for the user to type a reply.

**Do not skip validation.** Auto-implementing an issue whose factual claims or proposal you haven't traced against the code just reproduces the issue's own mistakes in a PR. Every step of validate-issue still runs; only the "wait for the user's reply" step is replaced by a decision table.

## Input

Same defaults as validate-issue: issue URL, `#<N>` / `<N>` / `owner/repo#N`, or nothing (defaults to the latest open issue in the current repo).

Optional `targetBranch` (orchestration form `{ issue, targetBranch }` or a prose "target branch <name>"): passed unchanged to every validate, plan, and build step in the chain, so the baseline and the PR base are that branch instead of the repo default. `work-on-issue` step 1 ("Target") owns its validation.

## Steps

### 1. Run validate-issue

Invoke the `validate-issue` skill for the target issue (Skill tool, `skill: validate-issue`). Let it run its full process — steps 0 through 8 — and produce its verdict block:

```
**#<N>: Update issue description? <Yes|No>**  ·  Complexity: <score>/100 — Capability <k> (Risk <r>, Uncertainty <u> — <driver>); Volume <v> (Scope <s>, Coupling <c>, Verification <x>) · fableplan: <yes|no>  ·  Scope: <OK | too large — split/umbrella/narrow>
```

Its final `→` next-step line is written for interactive use — in this loop, treat the verdict block as structured output to parse yourself, not a prompt to wait on. Don't ask the user to confirm; decide from the table in step 2.

### 2. Scope gate — stop if the issue is unsafe to auto-implement

Check the verdict's **Scope** field, **Architecture** section, and **Concerns** (for an already-addressing PR from validate-issue's step 1 linked-PR check) before doing anything else:

| Condition | Action |
|---|---|
| `Scope: too large` (validate-issue step 7 flagged split / umbrella / narrow) | **STOP.** Report the disposition and proposed parts; do not proceed to work-on-issue-loop. Implementing a multi-part issue as one PR reproduces the scope problem in the diff — that needs a human call on how to split it. |
| Architecture marked ❌ **Infeasible** | **STOP.** Report the infeasibility and the "Optimal direction" note; auto-implementing a design the validation itself rejected would ship the wrong fix. |
| A **merged** PR already implements the fix (verdict recommends closing/repurposing the issue) | **STOP.** Report the PR and the close/repurpose recommendation — there's nothing left to implement. |
| An **open** PR is already addressing the issue (named under Concerns) | **STOP.** Report the overlapping PR; whether to supersede, join, or wait on in-flight work is a human call — auto-implementing duplicates it. |

Otherwise (Scope: OK; architecture ✅/⚠️ or not applicable; no PR already addressing it), continue.

### 3. Apply the update-issue edits, if called for

If the verdict says **Update issue description? Yes**, apply validate-issue's step 11 now — the suggested title/body edits plus the stacked `Validated with LLM: …` attribution line — from the current checkout (no worktree for issue edits, per validate-issue step 0).

If **No**, skip straight to step 4.

### 4. Hand off to work-on-issue-loop

Invoke the `work-on-issue-loop` skill for the same issue number (Skill tool, `skill: work-on-issue-loop`). Pass the issue number through explicitly — don't let it re-resolve "latest issue" and risk picking a different one.

### 5. Report

Relay work-on-issue-loop's final summary to the user (PR URL, review cycles run, final verdict). Prefix it with a one-line note of what happened in steps 2–3 (issue updated or not; scope check passed) so the user sees the whole chain, not just the tail.

**Cap the whole report (prefix + relayed summary) at 55 words, plain simple English in ASD-STE100** — apply the Response Style rules in CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md, written for a reader with no context on this codebase or its internals.

## Red Flags — STOP

| Situation | Action |
|---|---|
| Tempted to skip validation and go straight to work-on-issue-loop | Never reorder — validate-first is the point of this skill |
| `Scope: too large`, Architecture ❌ Infeasible, or a PR already addressing the issue | Stop and report per step 2 — the cases the loop can't safely auto-resolve |
| Tempted to wait for a literal user reply to validate-issue's prompt | Parse the verdict yourself and proceed per step 2 |
| Verdict says Update issue description? Yes | Apply the edits before handing off; don't defer |