Triage

triage

Score and prioritize all open issues in a repository using a structured priority system. The output is a triage report saved as markdown and HTML to .github/reviews/issues/.

When to Use It

• Weekly issue grooming before sprint planning
• After a release when new issues flood in and need sorting
• Before a project milestone to find what is blocking or high-priority
• Getting a snapshot of issue health across a repository

How to Launch It

In GitHub Copilot Chat:

/triage owner/repo

With date range:

/triage owner/repo last 7 days
/triage owner/repo since 2026-02-01

What to Expect

1. Collect all open issues — Fetches issues with labels, reactions, comments, and milestone data
2. Score each issue — Applies the priority scoring formula
3. Classify — Assigns priority tier P0 through P4
4. Generate report — Structured triage report with prioritized table and action recommendations
5. Save — Written to .github/reviews/issues/triage-{date}.md and .html

Priority Scoring Formula

Signal	Points
@mention of a maintainer	+3
Linked to current release/milestone	+3
Labeled P0 or P1	+2
5+ 👍 reactions	+2
Reply awaited (no maintainer response)	+2
5+ comments (active discussion)	+1
Older than 30 days (staleness)	+1
Security label	+5
Confirmed reproducible	+1

Priority Tiers

Tier	Score	Action
P0	10+	Act in current sprint
P1	7-9	Plan for next sprint
P2	4-6	Backlog — schedule when possible
P3	2-3	Low priority — address if time allows
P4	0-1	Icebox — revisit in future quarter

Sample Report Section

## P0 — Critical (2 issues)
| # | Title | Score | Why |
|---|-------|-------|-----|
| 88 | Login fails after session expires | 12 | @mention + milestone + P0 label |
| 91 | Data export corrupts UTF-8 chars  | 10 | Security + 8 reactions |

Output Files

File	Contents
.github/reviews/issues/triage-{date}.md	Full triage report
.github/reviews/issues/triage-{date}.html	Accessible HTML version

Example Variations

/triage owner/repo                        # Full triage
/triage owner/repo last 7 days            # Recent issues only
/triage owner/repo label:bug              # Only bug issues
/triage owner/repo milestone:"v2.0"       # Scoped to a milestone

Connected Agents

Agent	Role
issue-tracker agent	Executes this prompt

Related Prompts

• my-issues — issues assigned to or @mentioning you
• issue-reply — reply to a specific issue
• project-status — per-column project board status
• refine-issue — add acceptance criteria to an issue