story-issue-sync

name	story-issue-sync
description	Maintain bidirectional consistency between story markdown files and GitHub Issues. Use when syncing story status with GitHub.

SKILL: story-issue-sync

Purpose

Maintain bidirectional consistency between story files (docs/stories/*.md) and GitHub Issues. The file is authoritative for narrative and Gherkin. The issue is authoritative for labels, status, project board position, and DoD checklist state.

Ownership Model

Attribute	Authoritative source	Sync direction
Title	Story file (frontmatter title)	File → Issue
Body / Gherkin	Story file	File → Issue (on update)
issue_number	Issue (assigned at create)	Issue → File
issue_url	Issue	Issue → File
Labels	Issue	Issue → File (labels frontmatter)
Status / Phase	Issue labels	Issue → File (labels frontmatter)
DoD checklist	Issue body (task list)	Issue → File (on review)
Project board position	Project v2	Not persisted to file

Inputs / Outputs

Field	Source	Notes
story_file	docs/stories/*.md	Path to the story markdown file
issue_number	Issue (post-create)	Written back to story frontmatter
issue_node_id	gh issue create --json id	Passed to gh-projects skill for board add
issue_url	Issue (post-create)	Written back to story frontmatter

Create: File → Issue

When a new story file exists with issue_number: null:

STORY_FILE="docs/stories/user-auth-reset-password-20250416143000-0001.md"

# Extract frontmatter fields
TITLE=$(python3 -c "
import sys, re
text = open('$STORY_FILE').read()
m = re.search(r'^title:\s*[\"\'](.*?)[\"\']', text, re.MULTILINE)
print(m.group(1) if m else '')
")

LABELS=$(python3 -c "
import sys, re
text = open('$STORY_FILE').read()
m = re.findall(r'^\s+- [\"\'](.*?)[\"\']\s*$', text, re.MULTILINE)
print(','.join(m))
")

MILESTONE=$(python3 -c "
import sys, re
text = open('$STORY_FILE').read()
m = re.search(r'^milestone:\s*[\"\'](.*?)[\"\']', text, re.MULTILINE)
print(m.group(1) if m else '')
")

# Create the issue
RESULT=$(gh issue create \
  --title "$TITLE" \
  --body-file "$STORY_FILE" \
  --label "$LABELS" \
  --milestone "$MILESTONE" \
  --json number,url,id)

ISSUE_NUMBER=$(echo "$RESULT" | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['number'])")
ISSUE_URL=$(echo "$RESULT"    | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['url'])")

# Write back to story frontmatter
python3 - <<EOF
import re
text = open('$STORY_FILE').read()
text = re.sub(r'^issue_number: null', f'issue_number: $ISSUE_NUMBER', text, flags=re.MULTILINE)
text = re.sub(r'^issue_url: null', f'issue_url: "$ISSUE_URL"', text, flags=re.MULTILINE)
open('$STORY_FILE', 'w').write(text)
EOF

echo "[story-sync] CREATED  #$ISSUE_NUMBER  ← $STORY_FILE"

Update: File → Issue (body changed)

When story Gherkin or acceptance criteria are edited:

ISSUE_NUMBER=42
STORY_FILE="docs/stories/user-auth-reset-password-20250416143000-0001.md"

gh issue edit "$ISSUE_NUMBER" \
  --body-file "$STORY_FILE"

echo "[story-sync] BODY_UPDATE  #$ISSUE_NUMBER  ← $STORY_FILE"

Sync: Issue → File (labels changed)

When labels on the issue change (e.g., after PO updates priority or phase advances):

ISSUE_NUMBER=42
STORY_FILE="docs/stories/user-auth-reset-password-20250416143000-0001.md"

# Fetch current labels from issue
CURRENT_LABELS=$(gh issue view "$ISSUE_NUMBER" \
  --json labels \
  --jq '[.labels[].name] | join(",")')

# Rewrite labels block in frontmatter
python3 - <<EOF
import re
text = open('$STORY_FILE').read()
label_lines = '\n'.join(f'  - "{l}"' for l in "$CURRENT_LABELS".split(',') if l)
text = re.sub(
    r'^labels:\n(  - .*\n)+',
    f'labels:\n{label_lines}\n',
    text,
    flags=re.MULTILINE
)
open('$STORY_FILE', 'w').write(text)
EOF

echo "[story-sync] LABELS_SYNC  #$ISSUE_NUMBER  → $STORY_FILE"

Detect Drift (file vs issue)

Run before any update to check whether file and issue are in sync:

ISSUE_NUMBER=42
STORY_FILE="docs/stories/user-auth-reset-password-20250416143000-0001.md"

FILE_TITLE=$(python3 -c "
import re
m = re.search(r'^title:\s*[\"\'](.*?)[\"\']', open('$STORY_FILE').read(), re.MULTILINE)
print(m.group(1) if m else '')
")

ISSUE_TITLE=$(gh issue view "$ISSUE_NUMBER" --json title --jq '.title')

if [ "$FILE_TITLE" != "$ISSUE_TITLE" ]; then
  echo "[story-sync] DRIFT  title mismatch: file='$FILE_TITLE'  issue='$ISSUE_TITLE'"
  # File is authoritative for title — update the issue
  gh issue edit "$ISSUE_NUMBER" --title "$FILE_TITLE"
fi

Batch Sync (all stories)

find docs/stories -name "*.md" ! -name "_template.md" | while read -r f; do
  NUMBER=$(python3 -c "
import re
m = re.search(r'^issue_number:\s*(\d+)', open('$f').read(), re.MULTILINE)
print(m.group(1) if m else '')
")
  if [ -z "$NUMBER" ]; then
    echo "[story-sync] NEEDS_CREATE  $f"
  else
    echo "[story-sync] HAS_ISSUE    $f  → #$NUMBER"
  fi
done

Failure Modes

Condition	Action
Story has issue_number: null	Create the issue. Never skip.
Issue number in file but issue is closed	Log warning. Do not reopen automatically — escalate to human.
Title drift detected	File wins. Update issue title.
Labels on issue unknown to label set	Log: [story-sync] UNKNOWN_LABEL {name}. Do not remove.
Story file missing after issue exists	Log warning. Issue is not deleted. Human decides.

Logging

[story-sync] CREATED       #42  ← docs/stories/user-auth-reset-0001.md
[story-sync] BODY_UPDATE   #42  ← docs/stories/user-auth-reset-0001.md
[story-sync] LABELS_SYNC   #42  → docs/stories/user-auth-reset-0001.md
[story-sync] DRIFT         #42  title mismatch — issue updated
[story-sync] SKIP          #42  no changes detected