start-milestone

name	start-milestone
description	Begin active work on a GitHub milestone. Args: {milestone-number}. Lists all open issues in the milestone, shows current label state, asks for confirmation, then bulk-transitions status labels from 'status:needs-grooming' to 'status:in-progress' and updates GitHub Projects V2 Status to 'In Progress'. Use after group-items-to-milestone when the team is ready to begin the sprint or release cycle.
argument-hint	{milestone-number}
user-invocable	true

Start Milestone

Transition a milestone from planning to active: bulk-update labels and Project board status.

API references: milestones.md | projects-v2.md

Arguments

$ARGUMENTS — milestone number (required).

/start-milestone 3

Workflow

Step 1: Resolve Milestone

gh api repos/Jamie-BitFlight/claude_skills/milestones/{number} \
  --jq '[.number, .title, .state, .open_issues, .closed_issues] | @tsv'

If milestone is closed, report and stop.

If open_issues == 0, warn: "No open issues. Add items first with /group-items-to-milestone {number}"

Step 2: List Issues

gh issue list -R Jamie-BitFlight/claude_skills \
  --milestone "{title}" \
  --state open \
  --json number,title,labels \
  --jq '.[] | [.number, .title, (.labels | map(.name) | join(","))] | @tsv'

Step 3: Confirm

Start milestone "{title}" — {N} open issues

Issues to transition (status:needs-grooming → status:in-progress):
  #12  SAM: Error Recovery        [priority:p1, status:needs-grooming]
  #8   gitlab-skill: Remove URL   [priority:p1, status:needs-grooming]
  #14  create-backlog-item skill  [priority:p2, status:needs-grooming]

Proceed?

Use AskUserQuestion with Yes / No options. Stop without changes if No.

Step 4: Ensure Label Exists

gh label create "status:in-progress" \
  --color "#0075ca" \
  --description "Work is actively in progress" \
  -R Jamie-BitFlight/claude_skills 2>/dev/null || true

Step 5: Bulk Label Transition

Use the Python automation script (preferred — avoids per-issue bash loops):

uv run .claude/skills/gh/scripts/github_project_setup.py milestone start \
  --number {number} --repo Jamie-BitFlight/claude_skills

Or, to preview changes without applying them:

uv run .claude/skills/gh/scripts/github_project_setup.py milestone start \
  --number {number} --dry-run

The script removes status:needs-grooming and adds status:in-progress to each open issue, creates the label if missing, reports per-issue results, and exits non-zero if any issue fails.

Fallback — if the script is unavailable, edit issues individually:

gh issue edit {number} \
  -R Jamie-BitFlight/claude_skills \
  --add-label "status:in-progress" \
  --remove-label "status:needs-grooming"

Log successes and failures; continue on per-issue failures.

Step 6: Update Project V2

If a GitHub Project exists (gh project list --owner Jamie-BitFlight), set Status = In Progress for each issue's project item via GraphQL — see projects-v2.md.

Step 7: Report

Milestone #{N} "{title}" started.

  {count} issues transitioned to status:in-progress
  {failed_count} issues failed (see details above)

Work on individual items:
  /work-backlog-item {title}

Track progress:
  gh issue list -R Jamie-BitFlight/claude_skills --milestone "{title}" --state open

Error Handling

• Milestone not found: list open milestones and stop.
• Milestone already closed: report closed date and stop.
• Label edit fails for specific issue: log and continue; report failures at end.
• User declines confirmation: stop without changes.
• gh not installed: run uv run .claude/skills/gh/scripts/setup_gh.py first.