Assign Issue Skill

Automatically assign GitHub issues to the appropriate owner based on technical area mapping and historical assignment patterns.

Overview

This skill determines the best assignee for a GitHub issue using two complementary strategies:

1. •Static Mapping: Match issue to technical areas defined in area_owners.md
2. •Historical Patterns: Query similar issues to find frequently assigned owners

Assignment Strategies

Strategy 1: Static Area Mapping

Read the repository's area_owners.md file (typically in .github/ or root) to get technical area definitions and their owners.

Expected format of area_owners.md:

# Area Owners

## Debugging
- **Keywords**: debugger, breakpoint, launch.json, debug console, step through
- **Paths**: src/debugger/**, extension/debug/**
- **Owners**: @debugger-team, @alice

## Language Server
- **Keywords**: IntelliSense, completion, hover, go to definition, LSP
- **Paths**: src/languageserver/**, src/lsp/**
- **Owners**: @lsp-team, @bob

## Build & Compile
- **Keywords**: build, compile, maven, gradle, ant, classpath
- **Paths**: src/build/**, src/compiler/**
- **Owners**: @build-team, @charlie

Matching algorithm:

1. •Extract issue title, body, and labels
2. •Match against area keywords (case-insensitive)
3. •If file paths are mentioned, match against area paths
4. •Return owners from the best matching area

Strategy 2: Similar Issues Query

Query the repository for similar closed/resolved issues and analyze assignment patterns.

Process:

1. •Use GitHub search to find similar issues:
   • •Search by key terms from issue title
   • •Filter to closed/resolved issues
   • •Limit to recent issues (last 6-12 months)
2. •Collect assignees from top 10-20 similar issues
3. •Rank by frequency of assignment
4. •Return the most frequently assigned person

Workflow

1. •Input: Receive issue number and repository (owner/repo)
2. •Fetch issue: Get issue details (title, body, labels)
3. •Strategy 1 - Area Mapping:
   • •Read area_owners.md from the repository
   • •Match issue content to technical areas
   • •Get candidate owners from matching areas
4. •Strategy 2 - Similar Issues:
   • •Search for similar closed issues
   • •Analyze assignee patterns
   • •Get candidate owners by frequency
5. •Combine Results:
   • •If both strategies agree → high confidence assignment
   • •If only area mapping matches → use area owner
   • •If only similar issues match → use historical pattern
   • •If neither matches → report no confident match
6. •Assign Issue: Use GitHub API to assign the selected owner
7. •Report: Confirm assignment with reasoning

Assigning Issues

Once the best assignee is determined, run the bundled Python script to assign the issue:

# Install dependency
pip install requests

# Assign an issue to one or more users
python scripts/assign_issue.py <owner> <repo> <issue_number> <assignees>

# Example: assign issue #123 to alice
python scripts/assign_issue.py microsoft vscode 123 alice

# Example: assign to multiple users
python scripts/assign_issue.py microsoft vscode 123 alice,bob

The script scripts/assign_issue.py handles the GitHub API call to assign issues.

Example Commands

• •"Assign issue #123 to the right person"
• •"Who should handle microsoft/vscode-java#456?"
• •"Find the owner for this debugging issue"
• •"Route issue #789 to the appropriate team"

Output

Report the assignment decision with:

• •Assigned to: @username
• •Confidence: High/Medium/Low
• •Reasoning:
  • •Area match: "Matched 'Debugging' area (keywords: debugger, breakpoint)"
  • •Similar issues: "5 of 8 similar issues were assigned to @alice"
• •Action taken: Issue assigned / Assignment suggested (if no write permission)

Example Output

✅ Issue #123 assigned to @alice

**Confidence:** High

**Reasoning:**
- Area mapping: Matched "Debugging" area (keywords: breakpoint, debug console)
- Similar issues: @alice was assigned 6 of 10 similar debugging issues

**Similar issues analyzed:**
- #100: Debug breakpoints not working → @alice
- #95: Debug console output missing → @alice
- #88: Launch.json validation error → @bob

Fallback Behavior

If no confident match is found:

1. •List candidate owners with their match scores
2. •Suggest manual review

Configuration

The skill looks for area_owners.md in these locations (in order):

1. •.github/area_owners.md
2. •docs/area_owners.md
3. •area_owners.md (root)

If not found, the skill falls back to similar issues strategy only.