Solve Issue

solve-issue

Take a ticket from "assigned" to "review-ready MR with a comment on the issue pointing at it". The skill wraps the typical loop: read the issue, cut a branch, do the work, push, open an MR on the configured Git provider, and leave a breadcrumb on the issue so the next person can follow the trail.

When to use

• The user says "implement DEV-123", "solve this issue", "take this ticket", or similar.
• The agent has a clear, scoped issue to act on — not an open-ended discussion.
• A Git provider (GitLab or GitHub) is configured alongside the issue tracker.

If the request is vague, run get-issues first to surface the ticket, then come back here.

Procedure

1. Read the issue

Always start with the full ticket — description, comments, links:

devboy tools call get_issue '{"key": "DEV-123"}'

Pay attention to:

• Acceptance criteria — they define "done".
• Blocking links — if blocked_by is non-empty, surface that and stop. The skill does not fight upstream blockers.
• Recent comments — later context often overrides the original description.

2. Name the branch

Pick a short, human-readable branch name that embeds the issue key:

feat/DEV-123-add-bulk-archive
fix/DEV-456-pipeline-badge-stale
chore/DEV-789-rotate-signing-keys

Rules:

• Prefix with feat/, fix/, chore/, docs/, or refactor/ depending on the work.
• Include the issue key verbatim (no lowercasing — DEV-123, not dev-123).
• Keep the trailing slug under ~5 words.

3. Cut the branch and implement

Standard local Git flow — the skill does not wrap these in devboy tools. Base the branch off the remote's default head rather than hardcoding main, so the flow keeps working on repos whose default is master or something else:

git fetch origin
DEFAULT_BRANCH_REF="$(git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD)"   # e.g. refs/remotes/origin/main
git switch -c feat/DEV-123-add-bulk-archive "$DEFAULT_BRANCH_REF"
# ... write the code, run tests, verify locally ...
git add -p
git commit -m "feat(issues): add bulk archive (DEV-123)"
git push -u origin HEAD

Commit messages should follow the repo's convention and end with the issue key in parentheses so the tracker auto-links them. Avoid Fixes DEV-123 / Closes #123 phrasing on the commit — see the guardrail below.

4. Open the merge request

create_merge_request is the unified tool — it opens a GitLab MR or a GitHub PR depending on the configured provider. Title and source_branch / target_branch are required. Set target_branch to the repo's actual default branch — do not hardcode main; derive it from git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD (strip the refs/remotes/origin/ prefix) so the call works on repos defaulted to master or a custom branch:

devboy tools call create_merge_request '{
  "title": "feat(issues): add bulk archive (DEV-123)",
  "description": "Implements DEV-123.\n\n## What changed\n- Added `bulkArchive` action to the issue list\n- New keyboard shortcut `shift+a`\n\n## How to test\n1. Select multiple issues\n2. Press `shift+a`\n3. Confirm they move to the archived state\n\nRelates to DEV-123.",
  "source_branch": "feat/DEV-123-add-bulk-archive",
  "target_branch": "",
  "draft": false,
  "labels": ["feature"],
  "reviewers": ["alice"]
}'

Record the MR key (mr# for GitLab, pr# for GitHub) — the next step needs it.

5. Comment the MR link on the issue

Close the loop so anyone looking at the ticket finds the work:

devboy tools call add_issue_comment '{
  "key": "DEV-123",
  "body": "Opened for review: mr#42 — `feat/DEV-123-add-bulk-archive`."
}'

Include:

• The MR / PR key (clickable on most trackers when the integration is configured).
• The branch name.
• Any context the reviewer needs that is not already in the MR description.

6. Hand off

Report back to the user with:

• The issue key.
• The branch name.
• The MR / PR key and URL.
• A one-line summary of the change.

Then stop. Review happens in review-mr, fixing review comments happens in fix-review-comments.

Guardrails

• Do not auto-close the issue. Leave the close to the merge commit. Most trackers have a Fixes keyword pipeline wired up on the MR description — use it there if the repo convention supports it, but do not call update_issue with state: closed from this skill.
• Do not force-push shared branches. If the branch already exists remotely and someone else has work on it, stop and ask.
• Respect the scope. The issue description is the contract — do not refactor adjacent code or add features the ticket did not ask for. If you find genuine tech debt, file a follow-up with create-issue instead of widening this change.
• Do not run the review yourself. That is a separate skill with a separate posture.

Success criteria

• The MR exists on the configured Git provider, targets main (or the repo's default branch), and its description references the issue.
• The original issue has a new comment linking to the MR.
• Local branch is pushed and tracks its remote.
• The scope matches the issue's acceptance criteria — nothing more, nothing less.

Non-goals

• Code review. Use review-mr on the resulting MR.
• Applying review feedback. Use fix-review-comments when reviewers come back.
• Release / deploy coordination. Out of scope — this skill stops at "MR open".

Source & license

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

• Author: meteora-pro
• Source: meteora-pro/devboy-tools
• License: Apache-2.0
• Homepage: https://meteora-pro.github.io/devboy-tools/

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