Triage

Move issues on the project issue tracker through a small state machine of triage roles.

If this repo treats external pull requests as a request surface, triage covers them too: a PR is an issue with attached code — same roles, same states, same machine, with a few deltas marked "for a PR" below.

Every comment or issue posted to the issue tracker during triage must start with this disclaimer:

> *This was generated by AI during triage.*

Roles

Two category roles:

• bug — something is broken
• enhancement — new feature or improvement

Five state roles:

• needs-triage — maintainer needs to evaluate
• needs-info — waiting on reporter for more information
• ready-for-agent — fully specified, ready for an AFK agent
• ready-for-human — needs human implementation
• wontfix — will not be actioned

Every triaged issue should carry exactly one category role and one state role. If state roles conflict, flag it and ask the maintainer before doing anything else.

State transitions: an unlabeled issue normally goes to needs-triage first; from there it moves to needs-info, ready-for-agent, ready-for-human, or wontfix. needs-info returns to needs-triage once the reporter replies.

Show what needs attention

Query the issue tracker and present three buckets, oldest first:

1. Unlabeled — never triaged.
2. needs-triage — evaluation in progress.
3. needs-info with reporter activity since the last triage notes — needs re-evaluation.

Show counts and a one-line summary per item. Let the maintainer pick.

Triage a specific issue or PR

1. Gather context. Read the full issue or PR (body, comments, labels, author, dates; for a PR, the diff too). Parse any prior triage notes so you don't re-ask resolved questions.

2. Recommend. Tell the maintainer your category and state recommendation with reasoning, plus a brief codebase summary relevant to the request.

3. Verify the claim. Before any grilling, check that the claim holds up. For a bug, reproduce it from the reporter's steps. For a PR, confirm the diff does what it claims.

4. Grill (if needed). If the request needs fleshing out, run the /grilling and /domain-modeling skills together — grill it into shape one question at a time.

5. Apply the outcome:

   • ready-for-agent — post an agent brief comment.
   • ready-for-human — same structure as an agent brief, but note why it can't be delegated.
   • needs-info — post triage notes.
   • wontfix — close, with the comment depending on why.

Quick state override

If the maintainer says "move #42 to ready-for-agent", trust them and apply the role directly. Confirm what you're about to do, then act.

Needs-info template

## Triage Notes

**What we've established so far:**

- point 1
- point 2

**What we still need from you (@reporter):**

- question 1
- question 2

Capture everything resolved during grilling under "established so far" so the work isn't lost.