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Systemic Issue Triage

Groups incoming bug reports by shared root cause so fixes shrink the system instead of piling on patches.

Source Download skill
Repository
Gentleman-Programming/gentle-ai
Stars
8,181
Licence
MIT
Files
1 file

What it does

When an AI agent is asked to triage issues or plan fixes for a bug backlog, this skill makes it sort every report into one of five buckets (superseded, duplicate, real new bug, feature request, or unclear) and group real bugs by their shared root cause rather than patching each one separately. It also pushes the agent to prefer deleting or simplifying code over adding new states, flags, or gates, and to close issues only against named tests. It is written for a specific project, so its rules refer to that project's own files and conventions.

Great for

  • Maintainers of a busy open-source project who receive many overlapping bug reports
  • Developers planning a batch of fixes for a backlog who want to avoid over-engineering
  • Teams that want issues closed only with reproducible test evidence

Skip it if

  • Projects that are not the gentle-ai repository: it points to CONTRIBUTING.md and another skill (issue-creation, backlog-triage) that a different codebase will not have, so the rules may not apply or make sense.
  • Quick one-off bug fixes where a full triage process is unnecessary overhead.
  • Anyone expecting the skill to change labels or close issues automatically: its text says label and close authority belongs to the delegated skills and human decisions, so it is guidance, not an automation tool.

Try asking

  • “Triage these 12 new issues from the community report flood and group them by root cause.”
  • “Plan one fix batch for the three issues in the setup subsystem that all fail on the same dead-end message.”
  • “Check whether this new bug report is already covered by an in-flight redesign.”
  • “Review whether my proposed fix adds a new state or flag and suggest a simpler design instead.”
Step-by-step guide: how to use Systemic Issue TriageInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

Install in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Download the skill

    The ZIP contains the 1 original files, the MIT licence and an attribution note.

    systemic-issue-triage.zip
  2. 2

    Add it to your agent

    Claude Code (all projects)

    mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && unzip systemic-issue-triage.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

    Claude Code / Agent SDK (this project only)

    mkdir -p .claude/skills && unzip systemic-issue-triage.zip -d .claude/skills/

    Claude apps (web/desktop): Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill, and choose the ZIP.

  3. 3

    Ask for the task

    No special command needed — the agent reads the skill's description and loads it when your request matches. Try one of the prompts above.

Get better results

  • Give the agent the actual issue list or links so it can assign buckets and cite evidence per issue.
  • Point it at the repository's CONTRIBUTING.md and the referenced sibling skills, otherwise the label and mutation rules cannot be followed.
  • Ask it to reproduce each report on a fresh build before accepting a 'fixed' claim, since the skill requires this.

What's inside

  • SKILL.md

Redistributed unmodified from Gentleman-Programming/gentle-ai under the MIT licence. The assessment was drafted with AI from the skill's files on 2026-10-29. Skills can instruct your agent to run code — read SKILL.md and any scripts before installing.