rennet

name	rennet
model	sonnet
effort	medium
allowed-tools	Task, Skill, Bash(gh:*), Bash(gh-issue-context:*), mcp__hallouminate__*, mcp__tilth__*
description	Fan sub-agents over open GitHub issues and triage each into a verdict, grounding adversarially against code intelligence, the repo wiki, and external research. Use when the user says "triage the issues", "/rennet", "go through the open issues", "what's still open", "sweep the backlog". Do NOT use to FILE new issues (that's /harness-doctor) or to fix/implement them (that's /cook).

/rennet — Issue Triage

Orchestrates adversarial grounding over open GitHub issues and assigns each a verdict from the taxonomy below. Works on the current repo only.

Args

Form	Behaviour
/rennet	Sweep current-repo open issues, cap 30
/rennet <N>	Deep-triage one issue by number
--label L	Narrow selection to issues carrying label L
--search Q	Narrow selection by search query Q
--cap N	Override the default 30-issue cap
--refresh	Re-triage issues already carrying a triage/* label (default skips them)

Verdicts

Verdict	Label	Comment	Close	Recommends
RESOLVED	triage/resolved	PR/commit/code evidence	yes completed (gated)	—
DUPLICATE	triage/duplicate	link canonical #M	yes duplicate (gated)	—
CLEAR-FIX	triage/clear-fix	fix path	no	/cook
NEEDS-DESIGN	triage/needs-design	open questions	no	/mold
DEFERRED	triage/deferred	what blocks it	no	—
STALE/INVALID	triage/stale	why the premise broke	no (left for user)	—
NEEDS-INFO	triage/needs-info	ask for repro	no	—

Protocol

1. SELECT

Fetch open issues:

gh issue list --state open \
  --json number,title,body,labels,createdAt,updatedAt,comments \
  --limit <cap>

Apply --label / --search filters if given. Unless --refresh was passed, drop any issue whose labels already include a triage/* entry.

For /rennet <N>, use gh issue view <N> (or gh-issue-context <N>), treat the issue as deep mode (needs_code: true, needs_research: true), and skip to step 3 directly.

2. CLASSIFY

Dispatch one cheap sub-agent (haiku) with the full issue list and instruct it to return a compact digest (≤2 KB):

Per issue:

{ number, tentative_bucket, needs_code: bool, needs_research: bool,
  dup_cluster_id: string|null, reason: string }

Plus a dup_clusters list (cross-issue dedup lives here — the classify agent holds every title/body, so it can cluster duplicates without an orchestrator explosion).

3. GROUND

For each issue flagged needs_code, dispatch the explorer phase-agent twice in parallel with opposed mandates:

• confirm-resolved: "Prove issue #N is RESOLVED: cite the PR/commit/current code, or the ADR (repo:<repo>:wiki) that settles it."
• refute-resolved: "Prove #N is still live: find the unhandled path / missing fix / absence of any settling ADR."

For each issue flagged needs_research, dispatch the researcher phase-agent twice in parallel with opposed mandates:

• premise-holds: "Prove the premise of #N still holds upstream."
• premise-broke: "Prove it is stale — find the upstream change that voids it."

Each dispatch returns: file:line or PR/commit citations, directional verdict, confidence. researcher also returns a research slug path.

Agreement rule: both directions agree → confidence <certain>. Directions disagree → CONTESTED, confidence <speculative>, close blocked, both sides recorded in the report.

4. VERDICT

For each issue, fold the opposing digests:

1. In single-issue mode (CLASSIFY skipped), derive the bucket directly from the grounding digests: RESOLVED if both explorer directions agree; CONTESTED if they disagree; STALE/INVALID if researcher proves the premise broke.
2. In sweep mode, start with the classify agent's tentative_bucket.
3. If needs_code or needs_research, promote or demote based on grounding results:
   • Both explorer directions agree on RESOLVED → RESOLVED <certain>
   • Explorer directions disagree → CONTESTED; keep CLEAR-FIX or NEEDS-DESIGN, never RESOLVED
   • Researcher proves premise broke → STALE/INVALID
   • Researcher contested → note it; prefer DEFERRED over STALE/INVALID
4. Draft a comment summarising the evidence (cite file:line, PR/commit, or research slug).
5. Record { verdict, confidence, recommended_skill, drafted_comment }.

5. REPORT

a. Ensure triage labels exist

For each triage/<verdict> label that will be applied, check if it exists and create it if not:

gh label create triage/resolved --color 0E8A16 --description "Issue resolved by existing code/PR"
gh label create triage/duplicate --color CCE5FF --description "Duplicate of another issue"
gh label create triage/clear-fix --color BFDADC --description "Fix path is clear; ready for /cook"
gh label create triage/needs-design --color FEF2C0 --description "Needs design before implementation"
gh label create triage/deferred --color E4E669 --description "Blocked or not yet actionable"
gh label create triage/stale --color EDEDED --description "Premise no longer holds"
gh label create triage/needs-info --color D93F0B --description "Needs reproduction or clarification"

(Skip gh label create for any label that already exists; gh label list to check first.)

b. Write the report

Write .cheese/triage/<repo>-<date>.md:

---
repo: <owner/repo>
date: <YYYY-MM-DD>
cap: <N>
filter: <label and/or search, or "none">
counts:
  resolved: N
  duplicate: N
  clear-fix: N
  needs-design: N
  deferred: N
  stale: N
  needs-info: N
  contested: N
---

## Summary

| # | Title | Verdict | Confidence | Recommends | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | title | VERDICT | <certain>/<speculative> | /skill or — | label+comment / CONTESTED |

## Issues

### #N — <title>

**Verdict**: VERDICT (`<certain>`)
**Recommended**: /cook

**Confirm direction** (explorer):
<findings, file:line citations>

**Refute direction** (explorer):
<findings or "agrees — no live path found">

**Drafted comment**: <text that will be posted>

Repeat the ### #N block for every triaged issue.

c. Apply labels and comments (ungated)

For each issue:

gh issue edit <N> --add-label triage/<verdict>
gh issue comment <N> --body "<drafted_comment>"

d. Propose closes (gated)

Collect all issues where verdict ∈ {RESOLVED, DUPLICATE} and confidence is <certain> and a citation is attached. Present the batch in a single confirmation prompt:

Ready to close the following issues (RESOLVED/DUPLICATE, <certain> confidence):
  #12 — "Title" (RESOLVED) — cited: commit abc1234
  #17 — "Title" (DUPLICATE of #5) — <certain>

Approve close? [y/N]

On approval, for each issue in the set:

# RESOLVED
gh issue close <N> --comment "Closing: <citation>" --reason completed

# DUPLICATE
gh issue close <N> --duplicate-of <M> --comment "<evidence linking canonical #M>"

CONTESTED issues are never in the close set. Issues where confidence is <speculative> are labeled but not proposed for close.

e. Report to the user

Output a compact summary:

## rennet — <repo> <date>

Triaged: <N> issues  Skipped (already labeled): <M>

Verdicts: RESOLVED <n> | DUPLICATE <n> | CLEAR-FIX <n> | NEEDS-DESIGN <n>
          DEFERRED <n> | STALE <n> | NEEDS-INFO <n> | CONTESTED <n>

Closed: <n> (approved) | Labeled: <n> | Commented: <n>

Report: .cheese/triage/<repo>-<date>.md

Idempotency

Default: skip issues already carrying any triage/* label — no duplicate comment, no re-label. --refresh overrides: re-triages from scratch, replaces the existing triage/* label, adds a new comment (does not edit the old one).

Agent dispatch contracts

Phase	Agent type	In	Out
CLASSIFY	cheap (haiku) sub-agent via Task	full issue list JSON	per-issue digest + dup clusters
GROUND: needs_code	explorer ×2	issue #, direction mandate	file:line citations, directional verdict, confidence
GROUND: needs_research	researcher ×2	issue #, direction mandate	claim table, confidence, research slug

Do not define new agent types. Reuse explorer and researcher as dispatched phase-agents.

gh command reference

# Select
gh issue list --state open --json number,title,body,labels,createdAt,updatedAt,comments --limit N
gh issue view <N>                  # single-issue mode (or gh-issue-context <N>)

# Label
gh label list --json name
gh label create triage/<v> --color <hex> --description "<desc>"
gh issue edit <N> --add-label triage/<verdict>

# Comment
gh issue comment <N> --body "<text>"

# Close
gh issue close <N> --comment "<text>" --reason completed
gh issue close <N> --duplicate-of <M>  # sets reason=duplicate automatically

What you don't do

• No cross-repo (--repo) — current repo only.
• No --auto flag — close always requires the one batch confirmation.
• No --dry-run — labels and comments are applied ungated; only closes are gated.
• No auto-handoff to /mold or /cook — the report recommends; the user dispatches.
• No code changes — triage only.