Suggest Next Issue

Suggest Next Issue

Analyze open GitHub issues and recommend what to work on next.

Options

The user may provide these options inline:

• label filter: Focus on issues with a specific label (e.g., "suggest next bug" or "suggest next issue --label enhancement")
• milestone filter: Focus on issues in a specific milestone
• limit: Number of recommendations (default: 5)
• include PRs: Also consider open PRs needing attention (reviews, conflicts, CI failures)

Workflow

1. Gather Context

Run these commands to build a complete picture:

# Open issues (with details for analysis)
gh issue list --state open --json number,title,labels,assignees,createdAt,updatedAt,comments,milestone,body --limit 100

# Recently closed issues (understand momentum)
gh issue list --state closed --json number,title,labels,closedAt --limit 10 --sort updated

# Current branches/worktrees (what's already in progress)
git worktree list
git branch --list --format='%(refname:short)'

# Current authenticated user (for assignment detection)
gh api user --jq '.login'

# Project context
gh repo view --json description,defaultBranchRef

If the user specified --label or --milestone, add the corresponding --label or --milestone flag to gh issue list.

If the user specified --include-prs:

gh pr list --state open --json number,title,labels,createdAt,updatedAt,isDraft,reviewDecision,statusCheckRollup

Also read the repo's README and any roadmap or project documentation to understand project goals.

2. Identify In-Progress Work

An issue is considered in progress if any of the following are true:

1. Branch or worktree match: A branch or worktree name contains the issue number (existing behavior)
2. "in progress" label: The issue has a label named "in progress" (case-insensitive match on the labels data already fetched in step 1)
3. Assigned to current user: The issue's assignees list (already fetched in step 1) includes the authenticated username from gh api user

Exclude in-progress issues from recommendations, but note them in the output as "already in progress" along with how each was detected (branch, label, assignment, or a combination).

A label-only match may mean local work is complete but the related PR is still waiting to merge. Keep excluding the issue in that state. Do not recommend it again only because no matching branch or worktree is visible.

3. Analyze Each Issue

Evaluate each open issue (that is not already in progress) on these signals:

| Signal | Source | Weight | | ------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------ | | Priority labels | Labels containing "bug", "critical", "urgent", "security" | High | | Dependencies | Issue body references to other issues (#N, "depends on", "blocked by") | High | | Age | createdAt field | Medium | | Activity | Number of comments, updatedAt recency | Medium | | Effort | Issue body length/complexity, scope described | Low | | Momentum fit | Similarity to recently closed issues | Low |

Dependency analysis: scan each issue body for references to other issues (#N, "depends on #N", "blocked by #N", "after #N"). Build a dependency graph to identify:

• Issues that unblock other open issues (high value)
• Issues that are blocked by other open issues (note the blocker)

4. Generate Recommendations

Present the top N issues (default 5) organized by category:

Categories (use whichever apply, skip empty categories):

• Quick Wins: Small, well-defined issues that can be resolved quickly
• High Impact: Important features, critical bugs, or heavily requested items
• Unblocks Others: Issues that other open issues depend on
• Overdue: Old issues that have been neglected (use judgment based on repo's typical issue age)

For each recommendation, include:

1. Issue number and title text (e.g., #23 - Fix typo in help output). Use the title field from the JSON, not the issue URL.
2. Labels and age
3. What it is: a brief summary of the issue (1-2 sentences distilled from the issue body, so the user understands the scope and substance without having to open the issue)
4. Why it's recommended (1-2 sentences with specific reasoning)
5. Suggested first steps or approach (1 sentence)
6. Blockers or considerations, if any

5. Summarize In-Progress Work

After recommendations, briefly list issues detected as in progress. For each, note how it was detected: branch/worktree, "in progress" label, assignment to current user, or a combination. This gives the user a complete picture of active work, including issues that may be waiting on PR merge after local implementation is done.

6. Offer to Start Work

End with an offer to create a worktree for the chosen issue via the create-worktree-from-issue skill. Example:

Ready to start on one of these? Just say "start issue #N" or pick a number from the list.

Example Output

## Suggested Next Issues

### Quick Wins

1. **#23 - Fix typo in help output** (bug, 2 days old)
   The `--version` flag prints "verison" instead of "version" in the CLI help text.
   Small fix, keeps the issue count tidy.
   Start: Check the help string in the CLI entry point.

### High Impact

2. **#18 - Add dark mode support** (enhancement, 12 days old, 4 comments)
   Add a system-preference-aware dark color scheme with a manual toggle in the settings panel.
   Most-requested feature. Pairs well with the theme work done in #15.
   Start: Add CSS variables for color scheme, then add a toggle component.

3. **#11 - Add manage-plan skill** (enhancement, 1 day old)
   Create a skill that can list, rename, archive, and delete saved plans from within a session.
   High-frequency workflow pattern from session analysis.
   Start: Review existing plan-related commands and design the skill interface.

### Unblocks Others

4. **#7 - Refactor config loading** (enhancement, 20 days old)
   Replace the ad-hoc JSON parsing with a centralized, schema-validated config module that supports defaults and env overrides.
   Issues #8 and #9 both depend on the new config system.
   Start: Extract config into a dedicated module with typed schema.

### Overdue

5. **#3 - Update installation docs** (documentation, 45 days old)
   The install guide still references the old `curl | bash` method; needs updating for the new package manager install flow.
   Open since v0.2. Quick update needed for current install process.
   Start: Compare current docs against actual install steps.

---

**Already in progress:**

- #14 — feature/improve-notifications (branch)
- #16 — fix/search-pagination (branch, assigned)
- #21 — Add export feature (label: "in progress")
- #25 — Fix auth timeout (assigned)

Ready to start on one of these? Just say "start issue #N".

Error Handling

• If gh is not authenticated, instruct the user to run gh auth login
• If no open issues exist, report that and suggest checking closed issues or creating new ones
• If all open issues are already in progress, report that and congratulate the user

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: cboone
• Source: cboone/agent-harness-plugins
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://github.com/cboone/agent-harness-plugins

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.