backlog-orchestrator

name	backlog-orchestrator
description	Drive a backlog of GitHub issues to PRs autonomously and sequentially. The loaded session becomes an orchestrator that triages issues into S/M/L tiers, spawns PAW implementer (and optional PAW Review) worker terminals that coordinate over telex instead of GitHub-comment polling, gates each PR through a preference/human-floor merge review, and auto-merges or routes to human review. Use when asked to work through a backlog/queue of issues autonomously, run an autonomous issue-fixing pipeline, or orchestrate PAW sessions across many issues.
compatibility	Requires macOS with iTerm2 or Terminal.app, or Windows with Windows Terminal, Copilot CLI on PATH, telex on PATH, GitHub CLI authenticated for the target repo, and the installed skills: launch-copilot-terminal, paw-pr-lifecycle, loop, and the PAW workflow skills (paw-lite / paw-review-workflow).

Backlog Orchestrator

Use this skill when the user wants to autonomously work through a backlog of GitHub issues: each issue is taken to a pull request by an autonomous PAW implementer session, optionally reviewed by an autonomous PAW reviewer session, and then either auto-merged or routed to human review by you, the orchestrator. The whole run is sequential — one issue end-to-end at a time — until every selected issue's PR is in a terminal state (merged, pending human review, or blocked).

You are the orchestrator. You do not write feature code. You triage, spawn workers, coordinate them over telex, gate merges, merge, and report.

The model in one paragraph

Worker sessions run in their own terminal windows/tabs (iTerm2/Terminal.app on macOS or Windows Terminal, via launch-copilot-terminal) and in their own git worktrees. On macOS, automatic terminal selection uses Terminal.app; iTerm2 is an explicit run-level choice because its first launch requires one-time macOS Automation consent. The implementer runs the PAW workflow (config Workflow Identity, e.g. paw-lite, loaded as a skill — not launched as the PAW agent) → opens a PR. If the tier calls for it, a reviewer — launched as the PAW-Review custom agent (--agent PAW-Review), with its prompt authorizing autonomous review submission — runs the PAW Review workflow → submits a real GitHub PR review. The implementer and reviewer hand off the review cycle over telex (not GitHub-comment polling loops): "review ready" → "review posted" → "re-review requested" → "+1". The implementer keeps using the loop-based merge sentry to repair CI failures and merge conflicts (this stays a loop — telex does not replace it). When the PR is merge-ready, the implementer posts its field report on the issue and messages you. You run a last-line preference / human-floor review (a subagent, not a correctness review) that reads that field report, then either squash-merge (and stand-down-merged) or route to human review. On a human-review route you do not stand the worker down: you send human-review-pending so the implementer's sentry keeps the PR mergeable until the builder merges; the implementer then messages you merged, and only then do you stand it down. Either way, you advance to the next issue.

The four phases

Phase	What you do	Reference
1. Station setup	Bind your telex station via the Copilot push bridge (per telex copilot skill).	references/telex-protocol.md
2. Triage	With the user: select issues, size S/M/L, set per-tier + per-issue config (impl PAW config, reviewer on/off + PAW Review config, merge disposition, care knob, posture).	references/triage.md
3. Per-issue execution	Sequentially launch implementer (+ optional reviewer), coordinate over telex until "ready for merge" or "blocked".	references/lifecycle.md
4. Merge gate + advance	Run the last-line review, decide merge vs human, merge, stand down workers, advance.	references/merge-gate.md
(cross-cutting) Reporting	Maintain the run ledger; produce the status/final report on demand.	references/reporting.md

Worker launch prompts are generated from bundled, parameterized templates: templates/implementer-prompt.md and templates/reviewer-prompt.md.

Prerequisites (verify before starting)

• telex on PATH. Read telex skill and telex copilot skill for the messaging model and the Copilot push-bridge workflow — all telex mechanics live there, not in this skill. Pick one telex store for the whole run (a local sqlite exchange is a fine default) so the orchestrator and all workers reach each other; capture it in the run manifest and inject it into every worker prompt. See references/telex-protocol.md for the run-specific contract.
• launch-copilot-terminal skill installed (resolve its actual installed path and select its host-specific .sh or .ps1 helper; do not assume ~/.copilot/skills). Workers are Copilot CLI terminals launched with --allow-all for autonomy. The reviewer is additionally launched with --agent PAW-Review, so the PAW-Review custom agent must be installed (~/.copilot/agents/PAW-Review.agent.md); confirm copilot --help lists --agent and the agent resolves. (The implementer is a general session that loads its PAW skill via the prompt — no --agent.)
• gh authenticated for the target repo. Follow the user's Copilot instructions for which gh account/config to use (personal vs work). The orchestrator and the workers must all use an account that can read the repo, push, open PRs, and (for the orchestrator) merge.
• The PAW skills and paw-pr-lifecycle + loop skills installed (workers rely on their lifecycle contract). On macOS the generated prompt uses shell-native gh commands and the Copilot recurring schedule sentry, so PowerShell-only lifecycle helpers are not required.

Operating principles

• Sequential. Exactly one implementer (+ optional reviewer) pair is being driven at a time. Do not pipeline issues in v1. "Pending human review" is terminal for advancement — you move on to the next issue and do not block on the human — but that issue's implementer stays alive in sentry mode (holding the PR mergeable) until the builder merges and you stand it down. So idle held workers from earlier issues may coexist with the one you are actively driving; that is expected, not pipelining.
• Telex = coordination; GitHub = source of truth. Reviews, PRs, and merges live on GitHub; telex only carries wakeups + pointers between sessions.
• You never run the merge sentry. That is the implementer's loop. You react to the implementer's "ready for merge" message.
• Autonomy with surfacing. Run hands-off. Surface to the user only: blockers, and the status/final report when asked. Everything you decide (especially preference debt and no-auto-merge calls) is recorded in the ledger so the report can bubble it up.
• Deferred work is tracked to a terminal disposition — symmetric to preference debt. Preference forks get harvest → well-lit bet → route/record; deferred/carry-forward work gets the same forcing function: the merge gate harvests it (field report + diff markers) at merge-ready, you record each item in the deferred table, and no item stays open — each reaches filed / folded / skipped(+reason) / done / moot, triaged with the builder. The run is not complete while any deferred item is open (merge-gate.md, reporting.md).
• The orchestrator owns durable shared state. Workers own only their worktree/PR/issue comments.
• Continuous improvement. Workers report process-feedback at finish; absorb those learnings and proactively improve this skill as you go (templates, telex protocol, triage, config).
• Fix what's broken (encoded builder value). If something is broken — failing CI, a build break, an obvious bug — fix it, even if it expands the PR's scope, especially when low-risk. It is a settled norm, not a preference fork to route; record the drive-by fix in the PR body and field report.

Quickstart runbook

1. Confirm prerequisites; pick a short run id (e.g. rb-2026-06-17a).
2. Stand up your station (telex-protocol.md).
3. Triage with the user → persist the run manifest (triage.md).
4. For each issue in order → execute (lifecycle.md) → merge gate (merge-gate.md) → record + advance.
5. When all issues are terminal, produce the final report (reporting.md).