issue-manager

Issue Manager

Create and manage GitHub Issues with intent-focused templates. All issues follow the Intent Officer model: define intent and outcomes, engineers decide implementation.

Core Principle: Intent Over Implementation

Every issue defines outcomes and behaviors, not implementation steps. The implementing agent (CTO, engineer) decides the approach. Stories describe what the system should do from the user's or operator's perspective — never how to build it internally.

When to Use This Skill

• Creating a new Epic with child Stories/Tasks
• Creating standalone Stories, Tasks, or Bugs
• Importing existing GitHub Epics to local markdown for rework
• Reviewing existing issues for quality (too implementation-heavy?)
• Converting ADR decisions into Epics with proper story breakdown
• Rewriting implementation-focused issues into intent-focused ones

Issue Types

Type	When	Template
Epic	Business goal spanning multiple stories	references/epic-template.md
Story	User-facing feature or capability	references/story-template.md
Task	Technical work that isn't user-facing	references/task-template.md
Bug	Defect report with repro steps	references/bug-template.md

Script Location

The CLI script is at scripts/gh-issues.js relative to this SKILL.md file. When invoking it, use the absolute path to the installed plugin location.

The plugin cache at ~/.claude/plugins/cache/ keeps multiple versions side-by-side. The canonical active version is recorded in ~/.claude/plugins/installed_plugins.json under the installPath field. Use it to resolve the correct script:

# Resolve via installed_plugins.json (canonical — always points to the active version)
GH_ISSUES=$(python3 -c "
import json, pathlib
data = json.loads((pathlib.Path.home() / '.claude/plugins/installed_plugins.json').read_text())
entry = data.get('plugins', {}).get('issue-manager@lafollettlabs-claude-plugins', [{}])[0]
print(pathlib.Path(entry['installPath']) / 'skills/issue-manager/scripts/gh-issues.js')
" 2>/dev/null)

# Fallback for manual install (no version ambiguity)
[ -z "$GH_ISSUES" ] && GH_ISSUES=$(find ~/.claude/skills -path "*/issue-manager/scripts/gh-issues.js" -print -quit 2>/dev/null)