name: gh-triage-issues
description: "Triage GitHub issues using the gh CLI. Analyzes new issues to apply labels, assess priority, detect duplicates, and optionally assign owners. Use when user asks to triage issues, label issues, check for duplicates, prioritize backlog, or process incoming issues. Triggers on phrases like 'triage issue #N', 'triage issues', 'label this issue', 'is this a duplicate', 'prioritize issue', 'process new issues in repo'."

gh-triage-issues

Triage GitHub issues: label, prioritize, detect duplicates, and assign.

Prerequisites

• gh CLI installed (apt install gh if missing)
• Authentication configured (gh auth status to verify)

Workflow

1. Parse Input

Determine mode:

• Single issue: owner/repo + issue number
• Batch triage: owner/repo + filter (e.g., unlabeled issues)

2. Fetch Issue Details

bash scripts/fetch_issue.sh <owner/repo> <issue_number>

3. Get Available Labels

bash scripts/list_labels.sh <owner/repo>

Cache this per-repo; labels rarely change mid-session.

4. Check for Duplicates

Extract key terms from title/body, then search:

bash scripts/find_duplicates.sh <owner/repo> "<key terms>"

If likely duplicate found:

• Comment linking to original issue
• Add duplicate label
• Close issue (with user confirmation)
• Stop triage here

5. Classify Issue Type

Determine primary type from content:

6. Assess Priority

Evaluate based on:

Priority labels (adapt to repo conventions):

• priority: critical — Security, data loss, wide breakage
• priority: high — Significant impact, no workaround
• priority: medium — Normal bugs/features
• priority: low — Minor issues, nice-to-haves

7. Add Area/Component Labels

If repo uses area labels (e.g., area/api, area/ui, component/auth), identify from:

• File paths mentioned
• Keywords in description
• Stack traces

8. Apply Labels

gh issue edit <issue_number> --repo <owner/repo> \
  --add-label "bug,priority: high,area/api"

9. Assign (Optional)

If repo has CODEOWNERS or known maintainers per area:

gh issue edit <issue_number> --repo <owner/repo> \
  --add-assignee "<username>"

Only assign if:

• Clear owner for the area
• User requested assignment
• Following repo's assignment conventions

10. Post Triage Comment (Optional)

For complex issues or when clarification needed:

gh issue comment <issue_number> --repo <owner/repo> --body "<comment>"

Comment templates:

Needs more info:

Thanks for reporting! To help us investigate, could you provide:

- Steps to reproduce
- Expected vs actual behavior
- Environment details (OS, version, etc.)

Duplicate detected:

This appears to be a duplicate of #<original>. Closing in favor of that issue.
Please add any additional context there. Reopen if this is actually distinct.

Triaged successfully:

Triaged: labeled as `<labels>`, priority `<priority>`.
<optional: assigned to @user or "Added to backlog for future planning.">

11. Report Summary

Provide user with:

• Labels applied
• Priority assessment rationale
• Duplicates found (if any)
• Assignment (if made)
• Any questions/blockers

Batch Triage Mode

To triage multiple issues:

# List unlabeled open issues
gh issue list --repo <owner/repo> --label "" --state open --limit 20

Then loop through each, applying the single-issue workflow.

For large backlogs, summarize findings:

## Triage Summary

| Issue | Type | Priority | Labels Applied | Notes        |
| ----- | ---- | -------- | -------------- | ------------ |
| #42   | bug  | high     | bug, area/api  | —            |
| #43   | dup  | —        | duplicate      | Dup of #12   |
| #44   | feat | medium   | enhancement    | Needs design |

Edge Cases

Issue lacks detail: Label needs-info, post comment requesting details, don't set priority yet.

Security issue: Label security, set critical priority, avoid discussing details publicly. Suggest private disclosure if repo supports it.

Issue is actually a PR or discussion: Redirect author to correct venue, close issue.

Author is first-time contributor: Be welcoming in tone; they may not know repo conventions.

Contentious/heated issue: Triage factually; don't engage in debates. Flag for maintainer attention if needed.