Github Issue Hierarchy

GitHub Issue Hierarchy

Use this skill when issue creation needs hierarchy or issue types, not just a plain gh issue create.

Defaults

• If the user wants a plain issue with no parent and no issue type, gh issue create is enough.
• If the user gives a parent issue, asks for a sub-issue, or wants an issue type like Task or Epic, use the bundled helper: scripts/gh-issue-hierarchy.sh.
• Do not invent a parent issue. Link only when the user or current task context identifies one.

Workflow

1. Decide the repository.
   • Prefer an explicit repo from the user.
   • Otherwise use the current checkout or GITHUB_REPOSITORY.
2. Write the issue title and body from the current task context.
3. Check issue-type support when a type matters:
   • Run scripts/gh-issue-hierarchy.sh issue-types --repo owner/repo
   • If supported is false, the repo does not expose organization issue types. Do not force one.
   • If lookup_error is present, treat that as an org-level permission or feature-availability failure and tell the user plainly.
   • If supported is true, match the requested type name case-insensitively against the returned list.
4. Create the issue:
   • If a parent or issue type is involved, use the helper's create subcommand so the issue is created with parentIssueId and issueTypeId in one call.
5. Update existing issues when needed:
   • Use link to attach an existing child to a parent.
   • Use set-type to change an existing issue's type.

Commands

Check issue-type support for a repo:

roles/codex/files/skills/github-issue-hierarchy/scripts/gh-issue-hierarchy.sh issue-types \
  --repo owner/repo

Create a child issue with an org issue type:

roles/codex/files/skills/github-issue-hierarchy/scripts/gh-issue-hierarchy.sh create \
  --repo owner/repo \
  --title "Implement session refresh" \
  --body-file /tmp/issue-body.md \
  --parent "owner/repo#123" \
  --type Task

Link an existing issue as a sub-issue:

roles/codex/files/skills/github-issue-hierarchy/scripts/gh-issue-hierarchy.sh link \
  --parent "owner/repo#123" \
  --child "owner/repo#456"

Reassign a child that already has a parent:

roles/codex/files/skills/github-issue-hierarchy/scripts/gh-issue-hierarchy.sh link \
  --parent "owner/repo#123" \
  --child "owner/repo#456" \
  --replace-parent

Change an existing issue type:

roles/codex/files/skills/github-issue-hierarchy/scripts/gh-issue-hierarchy.sh set-type \
  "owner/repo#456" \
  --type Bug

Notes

• The current gh issue create and gh issue edit CLI surface still has no issue-type flag, so use the helper whenever issue types are relevant.
• GitHub documents REST sub-issue endpoints under /repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{issue_number}/sub_issues, but the helper uses GraphQL for create and link flows because createIssue, addSubIssue, and updateIssueIssueType compose cleanly with global node IDs.
• Organization issue types are discovered from the org-scoped REST endpoint. Personal repositories should be treated as having no issue-type support.
• Querying org issue types is permission-sensitive. A supported: false result with lookup_error usually means the token cannot read org issue-type settings, not necessarily that the repo can never use them.
• If lookup_error mentions admin:org, the current gh auth is too weak to discover type IDs by name. Tell the user and either skip the type or have them run gh auth refresh -h github.com -s admin:org.