bootstrap-issue-config

name	bootstrap-issue-config
description	Bootstrap the issue triage configuration for a repository by analyzing existing issues, labels, and contributors to generate `.gitlab/issue-triage/config.json` and `.gitlab/CODEOWNERS`. Use when setting up triage automation on a new or existing repository for the first time.

Bootstrap issue triage configuration

Analyze the target repository and generate (or update) the issue triage configuration files used by the triage-new-issues GitLab CI job.

Outputs

This skill produces two files:

1. .gitlab/issue-triage/config.json — label definitions used during triage.
2. .gitlab/CODEOWNERS — CODEOWNERS-style ownership mappings from path patterns to GitLab usernames.

Workflow

1. Discover existing labels

• Use glab label list --repo <owner>/<repo> --per-page 100 --output json to fetch labels currently defined on the repository. If more pages are needed, repeat with --page.
• Classify each label into one of three categories:
  • area labels — identify a component or subsystem (e.g. area:api, area:docs).
  • feature labels — identify a capability or request type (e.g. enhancement, bug, documentation).
  • status labels — identify workflow state (e.g. triaged, needs-info, wontfix).
• If the repository has very few or no labels, seed the config with sensible defaults:
  • triaged (status), bug (feature), enhancement (feature), documentation (feature), needs-info (status), duplicate (status)
  • repro:high, repro:medium, repro:low, repro:unknown (status)

2. Analyze recent issues

• Use glab issue list --repo <owner>/<repo> --all --per-page 100 --output json to fetch recent issues.
• If issues use labels that are not yet captured, add them to the appropriate category.
• Look at .gitlab/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ for template files — template names and labels referenced in templates can inform label discovery.

3. Generate or update config.json

• Read any existing .gitlab/issue-triage/config.json.
• Merge newly discovered labels into the existing labels object. Do not remove labels that already exist in the config — only add or update.
• The config must contain only the labels key. Do not include stakeholders or default_experts.
• labels must be a flat object keyed by the exact GitLab label name, including prefixes such as area:workflow or repro:high. Do not nest labels by category.
• Each label entry must have color (6-character hex without #) and description (one-sentence summary):

  {
    "labels": {
      "triaged": {
        "color": "0E8A16",
        "description": "Initial triage has been completed for this issue"
      },
      "area:workflow": {
        "color": "7057FF",
        "description": "GitLab CI, Python automation, or integration"
      }
    }
  }
  

• Write the result to .gitlab/issue-triage/config.json.
• Validate with jq . .gitlab/issue-triage/config.json.

4. Generate or update .gitlab/CODEOWNERS

• Inspect CODEOWNERS if it exists for initial ownership hints.
• Use git log --format='%aN <%aE>' --since='6 months ago' -- <path> and glab api to identify recent contributors to major directories.
• Read any existing .gitlab/CODEOWNERS file and merge new entries rather than overwriting.
• Write the file using CODEOWNERS conventions:

  # Syntax follows CODEOWNERS conventions: later rules take precedence.
  # GitLab may request code owner review when branch protection requires it.
  
  # --- Section comment ---
  /path/pattern/ @owner1 @owner2
  

• Each line maps a path glob to one or more @username owners.

5. Create missing labels

• For every label in the final config.json that does not already exist on the repository, create it:

  glab label create --name "<name>" --color "<color>" --description "<description>" --repo <owner>/<repo>
  

• Skip labels that already exist (the glab label create command will error on duplicates — ignore those errors).

6. Note repo-local companion skills (do not scaffold)

The reusable agent roles that support a repo-specific companion are:

• .agents/skills/review-mr-repo/SKILL.md
• .agents/skills/review-spec-repo/SKILL.md
• .agents/skills/triage-issue-repo/SKILL.md
• .agents/skills/dedupe-issue-repo/SKILL.md

Do not create these files during bootstrap. The prompt-construction layer treats a missing companion file and a body-only frontmatter stub the same way, so there is no value in materializing an empty file during bootstrap. Each file gets created on-demand by the matching update-<agent> self-improvement loop (or by a maintainer) the first time there is evidence-backed content to add. Bootstrap only needs to ensure the directory convention is documented; the files themselves stay absent until a real rule lands.

If a companion file already exists in the repo, leave it untouched; bootstrap is additive.

7. Validate and summarize

• Re-validate config.json with jq.
• Print a short summary of:
  • How many labels were discovered vs. newly created.
  • How many codeowner entries were written.
  • Which repo-local companion skills are already present in the repo (if any).
  • Any warnings (e.g. no issues found, no CODEOWNERS file).

Idempotency

This skill is designed to be run multiple times safely. Re-running will:

• Merge new labels into the existing config without removing old ones.
• Merge new codeowner entries without duplicating existing lines.
• Skip label creation for labels that already exist on the repository.

Assumptions

• The glab CLI is authenticated and has access to the target repository.
• The skill is run from the repository root.
• The target repository is the current working directory unless the prompt specifies otherwise.