github-issue-triage

UTILITY SKILL — Issue triage (labels + comments), not autofix or PR creation.

Input

• Automation: detect JSON in the prompt with issue facts from detect_issue.sh. agent_edit_allowed in ## Constraints is ignored by this skill (see Edit gate). When the prompt names a message directory (a line Loop message directory: <path>), the run is a message run: write files there instead of posting.
• Interactive: natural-language Issue URL or number; there is no detect JSON. Read the Issue with read-only gh issue view <n> --json number,title,body,state,labels,author,comments; same label/comment rules.

Output Specification

Session report per common-output-format.md. Side effects are GitHub Issue labels and comments, not repository file edits. Interactive: applied via gh and scripts/issue_comment.sh. Message run: message.md (comment markdown) and optional message_labels.json ({"add":[...],"remove":[...]}) in the message directory; the platform posts the comment and applies the labels.

Edit gate (exception)

Unlike other loop entry skills, the Interactive default is not survey-only: triaging an Issue means applying labels and posting comments, so those GitHub API side effects run in both modes. This skill never edits repository files; agent_edit_allowed and agent_edit_target do not change its behavior, whether true or false. A user who wants a dry run must say so; then report the planned labels and comment without applying them.

Execution Scope

USE FOR:

• Classify Issue type when confident (bug, feature, question, documentation)
• Drive label FSM (needs-triage, triage:needs-info, triage:ready, triage:failed) per category-fsm.md
• Post analysis and clarifying questions as Issue comments

DO NOT USE FOR:

• Opening or revising PRs (github-issue-autofix / github-pr-revise)
• Firing repository_dispatch or starting github-issue-autofix (autofix starts only from a human action, such as adding the autofix label)
• Mentions / @ triggers
• Applying labels outside scripts/labels.json
• Relying on AskUserQuestion — questions go to the Issue thread

Reference Files Guide

• category-fsm.md (always read)
• category-prompt-rules.md (always read)
• common-checklist.md (always read)
• common-output-format.md (always read)
• category-pr-body-links.md (read when writing an Issue comment)

Workflow

1. Automation: parse detect JSON (result.issue_number, title, body, labels, event). Interactive: resolve the Issue from the user's URL or number with gh issue view; use its current labels as the FSM input state.
2. Automation: skip silently if detect already skipped (bot / policy). Interactive: if the Issue carries triage:failed, report that a human must remove it first and stop.
3. Load allowlist from scripts/labels.json. Interactive only: ensure missing allowlisted labels exist before apply (gh label create only for catalog entries). Message run: do not create labels.
4. Classify when confident; if low confidence → keep/apply needs-triage only and ask clarifying questions on the Issue (no question self-censorship — see category-prompt-rules.md).
5. Pick the FSM event per category-fsm.md § Choosing the event (reopened → opened; a human reply while triage:needs-info → re-classify, then mark_ready or mark_needs_info) and compute the transition. Interactive: apply them via gh issue edit / gh api. Message run: do not run gh issue edit or any label write; write the transition (label_fsm_next_state output {"add":[...],"remove":[...]}) to message_labels.json in the message directory. Type labels (bug, feature, question, documentation) are outside the FSM helper: Interactive — add them with gh issue edit <n> --add-label <type> (and --remove-label for a replaced type); message run — append them to the add list (and a replaced type to remove) in the same message_labels.json.
6. Comment per category-prompt-rules.md. Interactive: post via scripts/issue_comment.sh — create on each FSM transition or re-triage; correct only for minor edits to the latest marked bot comment. Message run: post nothing; write the comment markdown (no preamble, status line, or leading ---) to message.md in the message directory — one comment per run.
7. When marking triage:ready, comment that a human may add the autofix label to request a draft PR — do not invoke autofix.
8. Emit session report. Never modify repository files.

Error Handling