Triage

Triage — GitHub Issue & PR Investigator

When to Use

Don't use when: fixing a specific already-diagnosed issue (use /marshal); monitoring a single PR's CI (use /pr-watch); reviewing code quality outside of GitHub issues (use /review).

• /triage — triage all open, unlabeled issues
• /triage 10 — investigate issue #10 specifically
• /triage pr 13 — review PR #13
• /triage prs — review all open PRs
• /triage --batch — pull all open issues, classify, investigate, report
• /triage --stale — find issues older than 14 days with no activity
• After the issue-monitor SessionStart hook reports new issues

Codex PR review integration

For Codex-visible PRs, decide whether to use native @codex review, local Citadel triage, or both:

node scripts/codex-pr-review.js plan --repo <owner/repo> --pr <number> --risk <low|medium|high|local-only> --write

Use native @codex review when the diff is GitHub-visible and the main need is a focused P0/P1 review. Use local Citadel triage when the answer depends on unpushed files, local generated artifacts, or hands-on edits. Use both for large or risky PRs.

After Codex posts a GitHub review, fetch and ingest the review comments before deciding merge readiness:

node scripts/codex-review-fetch.js --repo <owner/repo> --pr <number> --write

Use --file <review-comments.json> with the same script when working from exported/offline review data.

Treat ingested P0/P1 findings as blockers until local verification confirms they are fixed or not applicable.

Inputs

Execution Protocol

Phase 0 — Environment Setup

1. Detect repo from git remote get-url origin, extract owner/repo
2. Verify gh auth status
3. Set $GH: Windows → "/c/Program Files/GitHub CLI/gh.exe", other → gh

Phase 1 — Issue Intake

Single issue (/triage 10):

$GH issue view <number> --repo <owner/repo> --json number,title,body,labels,state,comments,createdAt,updatedAt,author,assignees

Batch (/triage or --batch):

$GH issue list --repo <owner/repo> --state open --json number,title,labels,createdAt,updatedAt --limit 50

Filter to untriaged: issues with no labels, or missing priority/type label.

Stale (--stale):

$GH issue list --repo <owner/repo> --state open --json number,title,labels,createdAt,updatedAt --limit 100

Filter to issues with no activity in 14+ days.

Single PR (/triage pr 13):

$GH pr view <number> --repo <owner/repo> --json number,title,body,author,state,files,commits,comments,createdAt,headRefName,baseRefName,mergeable,reviewDecision
$GH pr diff <number> --repo <owner/repo>

All PRs (/triage prs):

$GH pr list --repo <owner/repo> --state open --json number,title,author,createdAt,labels --limit 50

Phase 1b — PR Review Protocol

PR Classification

PR Review Checklist

1. Read the full diff — not just the PR description.
2. Check for regressions against closed issues and recent commits.
3. Check for conflicts with in-flight work (same files as open PRs).
4. Verify the approach: correct solution, not overly complex.
5. Check cross-platform: Unix assumptions, Windows path handling.
6. Check conventions against existing project patterns.
7. Check for scope creep beyond the PR title.

PR Resolution

Write a per-PR resolution block (full template: docs/TRIAGE.md#pr-resolution-template) with:

• Author, type, files changed count, mergeable status
• What it does (1-3 sentences)
• Review findings, each with a file:line reference
• Issues found, split into Critical (blocks merge) and Non-critical (nice to fix, not blocking)
• Recommendation checkbox: Approve / Request changes (with the specific changes needed) / Close (with reason)

PR Actions

IMPORTANT: All PR actions are external. Show the user the exact comment text and get approval before posting.

Phase 2 — Classification

Type (exactly one):

Severity (bugs only):

Affected Component:

• Citadel hooks / skills / agents
• .claude/harness.json — project configuration
• .planning/ — planning/campaign system
• docs/ — documentation
• Root files — project setup

Phase 3 — Investigation

3a. Parse the Report

Extract: error messages, environment, reproduction steps, expected vs actual behavior, workarounds.

3b. Search the Codebase

1. Grep for exact error messages / error codes
2. Read files named in the issue
3. Find functions named in stack traces
4. Search for the bug class or anti-pattern
5. git log --oneline -20 -- <affected-files> for recent changes
6. Cross-reference similar issues

3c. Root Cause Analysis

For bugs:

1. What breaks — the specific code path
2. Why it breaks — root cause, not symptom
3. When introduced — git blame / log
4. Who is affected — scope
5. The fix — file:line references

For features/questions:

1. Already possible? Search existing functionality.
2. Where would it go? Which component/layer.
3. Effort: trivial / small / medium / large
4. Blockers: dependencies, architecture constraints

3d. Reproduce (when possible)

Set up conditions, run the failing command, confirm error matches, verify proposed fix resolves it.

Phase 4 — Resolution Plan

Write a per-issue resolution plan (full template: docs/TRIAGE.md#issue-resolution-plan-template) with:

• Type, severity, component, reproducible (yes / no / not-attempted)
• Root cause: 1-3 sentences explaining WHY
• Affected code: <file>:<line> entries with what is wrong at each
• Proposed fix: specific code changes with file:line references
• Impact: who is affected, whether a workaround exists, whether it is a breaking change
• Recommended action checkbox: Fix in next release / Needs more info from reporter / Won't fix (with reason) / Duplicate of #N

Phase 5 — Action

Auto-fix when: root cause clear and verified, fix contained to 1-3 files, no breaking changes, no architectural decisions needed.

Steps:

1. Branch: fix/issue-<number>-<slug>
2. Implement fix
3. Run typecheck/build
4. Commit: fix: <description> (closes #<number>)
5. Push and open PR linking the issue
6. Comment on the issue with the PR link

Comment with findings when fix needs discussion or user input: post root cause analysis, proposed fix, and questions.

Label only for questions/docs/features: add type + priority labels, optionally point to existing docs.

Phase 6 — Report

Output a Triage Summary table with columns # | Title | Type | Severity | Action | Status, one row per triaged item (example: docs/TRIAGE.md#triage-summary-example).

Label Taxonomy

Apply via $GH issue edit <number> --add-label "<label>":

Type: bug, feature, question, docs, infra Severity (bugs): critical, high, medium, low Status: needs-info, confirmed, wont-fix, duplicate

Auto-fix Handoff

---PR READY---
PR #<N>: <url>

To watch this PR automatically:
  Local  →  /pr-watch <N>
  Cloud  →  open in Claude Code web or mobile, toggle "Auto fix" ON
---

Contextual Gates

Disclosure: "Triaging GitHub issues and PRs. Read-only — no changes made without showing you first." Reversibility: green — investigation is read-only; any GitHub actions (labels, comments, PRs) shown to user for approval before posting Trust gates:

• Any: view triage report; all external actions require explicit approval

Quality Gates

• Every issue has a classification (type + severity for bugs)
• Every bug has root cause with file:line references
• Every auto-fix passes typecheck and build
• Every PR links to the issue it fixes
• Every issue has at least a label or comment
• No issue comment is generic or substanceless

Fringe Cases

gh not available or not authenticated: Stop and instruct: "Run gh auth login before using /triage."

No open issues or PRs: Report "No open issues found." and exit cleanly.

Empty/unparseable issue body: Classify as needs-info, comment requesting reproduction steps.

.planning/ missing: /triage reads from GitHub, not local state. Skip .planning/ writes if missing.

Anti-Patterns — Do NOT

• Post generic comments without substance
• Propose fixes without reading the actual code
• Label without investigating
• Auto-fix when root cause is unclear
• Close issues without explanation
• Guess at fixes — verify by reading code and running checks

gh CLI Notes

• Windows: "/c/Program Files/GitHub CLI/gh.exe" — always pass --repo <owner/repo>
• Comments: $GH issue comment <number> --repo <owner/repo> --body "..."
• Labels: $GH issue edit <number> --repo <owner/repo> --add-label "bug,high"

Exit Protocol

---HANDOFF---
- Triaged N issues: X bugs, Y features, Z questions
- Auto-fixed: <list of issue numbers with PR links>
- Needs attention: <list of issues requiring human decision>
- New labels applied: <count>
- Reversibility: green — investigation read-only; auto-fix PRs can be closed/reverted if unwanted
---