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@holstein13 holstein13 commented Dec 2, 2025

Summary

  • Adds new skill for systematically analyzing and implementing fixes for GitHub issues
  • Phase-based workflow: Fetch → Analyze → Plan → Checkpoint → Implement → Verify
  • Includes feasibility assessment with complexity rating (1-10)
  • Three determination paths: CAN PROCEED, REQUIRES CLARIFICATION, BEYOND SCOPE
  • User checkpoint before any implementation (never auto-commits)

Change Type

  • feat: - New feature (MINOR: x.X.0)

Breaking Changes

N/A

Test Plan

  • Skill follows writing-skills guidelines (frontmatter, description format, sections)
  • Description starts with "Use when..." and is in third person
  • Includes Quick Reference table, Common Mistakes, Safety Measures
  • Word count within guidelines (~175 lines)

Context

This skill fills a gap in the superpowers collection - there's currently no workflow for handling GitHub issues. This provides a structured approach that:

  1. Prevents wasted effort - Assessment phase catches issues that need clarification or are too complex before implementation starts
  2. Ensures user control - Mandatory checkpoint before any code changes
  3. Integrates with existing skills - Pairs with finishing-a-development-branch and systematic-debugging

The complementary skill creating-github-issues (for the opposite workflow) will be submitted as a separate PR.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Summary by CodeRabbit

  • Documentation
    • Added comprehensive GitHub issue resolution guidance: a structured workflow (fetch, analyze, assess feasibility, choose path, user checkpoint, implement, complete), decision trees, checkpoint approvals, branch/testing guidance, safety measures, common mistakes and fixes, quick-reference tables, templates, and example commands to support the full issue-resolution process.

✏️ Tip: You can customize this high-level summary in your review settings.

Systematic workflow for analyzing and implementing fixes for GitHub issues:
- Phase-based approach: Fetch → Analyze → Plan → Checkpoint → Implement
- Feasibility assessment with complexity rating
- Three determination paths: proceed, clarify, or beyond scope
- User checkpoint before implementation (never auto-commit)
- Safety measures and common mistakes documented

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude <[email protected]>
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coderabbitai bot commented Dec 2, 2025

Walkthrough

Adds a new Markdown skill document at skills/resolving-github-issues/SKILL.md that specifies a formal GitHub issue resolution workflow: fetch issue, analyze codebase, assess feasibility, determine path (CAN PROCEED / REQUIRES CLARIFICATION / BEYOND SCOPE), user checkpoint, implement, and complete, plus examples and safety guidance.

Changes

Cohort / File(s) Summary
GitHub Issue Resolution Skill Document
skills/resolving-github-issues/SKILL.md
New documentation introducing a structured workflow for resolving GitHub issues, decision gates and paths, quick-reference table, example commands (e.g., gh issue view, git log, git diff), branch/testing guidance, common mistakes with fixes, safety measures, and templated plans/approval checkpoints.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~10 minutes

  • Verify workflow stages are clear and logically ordered
  • Check example commands for accuracy and formatting
  • Validate decision criteria, branch naming, and checkpoint descriptions
  • Confirm common mistakes and safety measures are realistic and actionable

Poem

🐇 I hop through issues, sniff and trace,

Fetch the ticket, study the place.
Branch, test, and ask before I sew—
A tidy fix, then off I go! 🥕

Pre-merge checks and finishing touches

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)
Check name Status Explanation
Description Check ✅ Passed Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check ✅ Passed The title 'feat: add resolving-github-issues skill' accurately describes the main change—a new skill document for resolving GitHub issues.
Docstring Coverage ✅ Passed No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
✨ Finishing touches
🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)
  • Create PR with unit tests
  • Post copyable unit tests in a comment

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Actionable comments posted: 0

🧹 Nitpick comments (2)
skills/resolving-github-issues/SKILL.md (2)

68-68: Add language specifiers to fenced code blocks. Lines 68, 82, and 89 contain template code blocks without language identifiers. These should specify a language (e.g., ```text or ```diff) to comply with Markdown best practices.

Apply this diff to add language specifiers:

- ```
+ ```text
  IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
- ```
+ ```text
  REQUIRES CLARIFICATION
- ```
+ ```text
  COMPLEXITY WARNING

Also applies to: 82-82, 89-89


139-156: Use heading syntax for Common Mistakes subsections instead of bold emphasis. Lines 141, 145, 149, and 153 use **bold** formatting for section headers within the Common Mistakes section. Markdown convention and linting rules recommend using heading syntax (e.g., ### Starting implementation without checkpoint) for better semantic structure and accessibility.

Apply this diff to convert emphasis to headings:

- **Starting implementation without checkpoint**
+ ### Starting implementation without checkpoint

- **Skipping codebase analysis**
+ ### Skipping codebase analysis

- **Underestimating complexity**
+ ### Underestimating complexity

- **Auto-committing or pushing**
+ ### Auto-committing or pushing
📜 Review details

Configuration used: CodeRabbit UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 8462c20 and c1ac8f7.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)
  • skills/resolving-github-issues/SKILL.md (1 hunks)
🧰 Additional context used
🪛 LanguageTool
skills/resolving-github-issues/SKILL.md

[style] ~101-~101: Consider using a more formal alternative.
Context: ...tinue?" - REQUIRES CLARIFICATION: "Need more info. Want me to comment on the issue?" - BE...

(MORE_INFO)

🪛 markdownlint-cli2 (0.18.1)
skills/resolving-github-issues/SKILL.md

68-68: Fenced code blocks should have a language specified

(MD040, fenced-code-language)


82-82: Fenced code blocks should have a language specified

(MD040, fenced-code-language)


89-89: Fenced code blocks should have a language specified

(MD040, fenced-code-language)


141-141: Emphasis used instead of a heading

(MD036, no-emphasis-as-heading)


145-145: Emphasis used instead of a heading

(MD036, no-emphasis-as-heading)


149-149: Emphasis used instead of a heading

(MD036, no-emphasis-as-heading)


153-153: Emphasis used instead of a heading

(MD036, no-emphasis-as-heading)

🔇 Additional comments (4)
skills/resolving-github-issues/SKILL.md (4)

1-14: Well-structured frontmatter and clear introduction. The description starts with "Use when..." as required and comprehensively summarizes the skill's purpose. The core principle (Fetch → Analyze → Plan → Checkpoint → Implement → Verify) is well articulated, and the "announce at start" instruction sets appropriate context.


29-126: Comprehensive, logical workflow with seven clearly defined phases. Each phase has specific actionable steps (e.g., gh issue view, git commands), clear outputs, and decision criteria. The progression from Fetch → Analyze → Assess → Determine → Checkpoint → Implement → Complete is well-reasoned and prevents premature implementation.


96-169: User control and safety measures are explicit and well-enforced. Phase 5 mandates approval before proceeding; Phase 7 offers options rather than auto-proceeding; the Safety Measures section explicitly prohibits auto-commit/push (lines 160, 163). The repeated emphasis on checkpoints and approval aligns perfectly with the PR requirement that "the skill never auto-commits."


171-176: Integration references are clear and contextually appropriate. The skill correctly identifies complementary workflows (finishing-a-development-branch, systematic-debugging) and notes the creating-github-issues skill as the inverse workflow. Verify that the referenced skills exist in the codebase by confirming their SKILL.md files are present in the skills directory.

- Add language specifiers (text) to fenced code blocks (lines 68, 82, 89)
- Convert bold text to proper ### headings in Common Mistakes section

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude <[email protected]>
@holstein13
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coderabbitai bot commented Dec 2, 2025

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Review triggered.

Note: CodeRabbit is an incremental review system and does not re-review already reviewed commits. This command is applicable only when automatic reviews are paused.

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Actionable comments posted: 0

🧹 Nitpick comments (1)
skills/resolving-github-issues/SKILL.md (1)

98-102: Minor: Inconsistent formality in checkpoint prompts.

Line 100 uses the more formal "Shall I continue?" while lines 101–102 use the informal "Want me to..." Consider standardizing to maintain consistent tone:

- REQUIRES CLARIFICATION: "Need more info. Want me to comment on the issue?"
+ REQUIRES CLARIFICATION: "Need more info. Should I comment on the issue?"
- BEYOND SCOPE: "This needs [X]. Want me to document findings on issue?"
+ BEYOND SCOPE: "This needs [X]. Should I document findings on the issue?"

This aligns with the formal "Shall I..." on line 100 and improves the professional tone during user interactions.

📜 Review details

Configuration used: CodeRabbit UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between c1ac8f7 and 3a45cf4.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)
  • skills/resolving-github-issues/SKILL.md (1 hunks)
🧰 Additional context used
🪛 LanguageTool
skills/resolving-github-issues/SKILL.md

[style] ~101-~101: Consider using a more formal alternative.
Context: ...tinue?" - REQUIRES CLARIFICATION: "Need more info. Want me to comment on the issue?" - BE...

(MORE_INFO)

🔇 Additional comments (7)
skills/resolving-github-issues/SKILL.md (7)

1-4: Well-formatted front matter and clear trigger description.

The metadata and description effectively communicate the skill's purpose and when to invoke it. The "Use when..." trigger phrasing is appropriate for a skill document.


6-25: Clear overview with well-defined usage scope.

The "When to Use" and "Don't use for" sections prevent scope creep and clearly delineate this skill from related workflows. The announcement guidance is a nice touch for transparency.


27-126: Comprehensive and logically sound phase workflow.

The seven-phase structure effectively separates information gathering, decision-making, and execution. The placement of the user checkpoint (Phase 5) before implementation is a strong control point that prevents wasted effort and maintains user agency. The feasibility assessment table is practical and covers key risk dimensions.


127-137: Excellent quick reference table.

The table effectively summarizes all seven phases with clear phase names, actions, and outputs. Useful for quick review and as a mental model reminder.


139-155: Well-chosen common mistakes with practical fixes.

Each mistake directly reinforces a key safety principle (checkpoint enforcement, thorough analysis, conservative complexity ratings, no auto-commit). The structure of problem → fix is clear and actionable.


157-169: Comprehensive safety measures aligned with workflow phases.

The "Never" and "Always" sections effectively reinforce the core principles: user control (no auto-commits, checkpoints), change safety (testing, diffs), and destructive action prevention (force-push restrictions). These directly support the skill's goal of user-centric issue resolution.


171-175: Clear skill integrations with appropriate cross-references.

The integration section effectively identifies downstream workflows (finishing-a-development-branch), conditional-use scenarios (systematic-debugging for complex bugs), and complementary opposites (creating-github-issues). This helps users understand how the skill fits into the broader ecosystem.

@obra
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obra commented Dec 2, 2025

Hi! Claude, in my experience, has no problem resolving github issues. Can you tell me about the problems that led to this skill and your other github-related skill?

@holstein13
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holstein13 commented Dec 2, 2025 via email

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2 participants