triage-issues-and-prs

name	triage-issues-and-prs
description	Turn an unbounded issue/PR backlog into a tractable system — a label taxonomy, SLA tiers, a reproduction gate for bugs, a stale policy, and a graceful decline path. Returns a TRIAGE policy, issue/PR templates, and label definitions. Prevents the silent-backlog burnout the project exists to avoid. Used by `oss-maintainer-strategist` (primary).

Skill: triage-issues-and-prs

Invoked by: oss-maintainer-strategist (primary).

When to invoke: "the backlog is out of control"; "set up triage"; "how do I handle drive-by issues/PRs?".

Output: a TRIAGE policy + a label taxonomy + issue/PR templates + a stale/decline policy.

The triage decision (per incoming item)

1. Is it actionable as written? No reproduction / no version / a question → apply needs-info (bug) or question and ask once; close after the stale window if unanswered. A bug with no reproduction is not yet a bug — that is the reproduction gate.
2. Is it in scope? Out of scope → wontfix / out-of-scope with a kind, specific decline ("this belongs in a plugin, not core, because…"). Declining fast and warmly beats six months of silence.
3. What kind, what priority? Apply exactly one type/* (bug/feature/docs/chore) and one priority/* label. Map priority to an SLA tier (first-response, not fix-time).
4. Is it a good contributor on-ramp? Small, well-scoped, low-context → good-first-issue / help-wanted. This is the top of the contributor funnel — curate it deliberately.
5. Is it security-sensitive? A vulnerability reported in a public issue → do not discuss it publicly; route to the private channel (coordinate-a-security-release) and minimize the public issue.

Label taxonomy (minimal, orthogonal)

Group	Labels	Rule
type/*	bug, feature, docs, chore, question	exactly one
priority/*	p0-critical, p1, p2, p3	exactly one; maps to first-response SLA
status/*	needs-info, needs-repro, blocked, ready, in-progress	reflects the gate it's waiting on
area/*	(project-specific)	optional, for routing
on-ramp	good-first-issue, help-wanted	curated, not automatic
disposition	wontfix, duplicate, out-of-scope	with a decline comment

SLA tiers (first response, not resolution)

Priority	First response	Meaning
p0-critical	24h	data loss / security / build broken on main
p1	3 business days	major feature broken, no workaround
p2	2 weeks	normal bug / feature
p3	best-effort	nice-to-have

Guardrails

• Triage SLA is a first-response promise, not a fix promise. Acknowledging within tier is the commitment; the fix has its own timeline.
• Every closed-without-merge item gets a reason. Silence is the failure mode. See ../../best-practices/triage-has-an-sla-and-a-decline-path.md.
• A stale-bot is a tool, not a policy. Auto-closing needs-info after a window is fine; auto-closing actionable bugs because nobody got to them is hostile — exempt priority/* and ready.
• Security never gets triaged in public. Reroute to the private channel immediately.