# Automation and triage processes

This document provides a detailed overview of the automated processes we use to
manage and triage issues and pull requests. Our goal is to provide prompt
feedback and ensure that contributions are reviewed and integrated efficiently.
Understanding this automation will help you as a contributor know what to expect
and how to best interact with our repository bots.

## Guiding principle: Issues and pull requests

First and foremost, almost every Pull Request (PR) should be linked to a
corresponding Issue. The issue describes the "what" and the "why" (the bug or
feature), while the PR is the "how" (the implementation). This separation helps
us track work, prioritize features, and maintain clear historical context. Our
automation is built around this principle.

> **Note:** Issues tagged as "🔒Maintainers only" are reserved for project
> maintainers. We will not accept pull requests related to these issues.

---

## Detailed automation workflows

Here is a breakdown of the specific automation workflows that run in our
repository.

### 1. When you open an issue: `Automated Issue Triage`

This is the first bot you will interact with when you create an issue. Its job
is to perform an initial analysis and apply the correct labels.

- **Workflow File**: `.github/workflows/gemini-automated-issue-triage.yml`
- **When it runs**: Immediately after an issue is created or reopened.
- **What it does**:
  - It uses a Gemini model to analyze the issue's title and body against a
    detailed set of guidelines.
  - **Applies one `area/*` label**: Categorizes the issue into a functional area
    of the project (e.g., `area/ux`, `area/models`, `area/platform`).
  - **Applies one `kind/*` label**: Identifies the type of issue (e.g.,
    `kind/bug`, `kind/enhancement`, `kind/question`).
  - **Applies one `priority/*` label**: Assigns a priority from P0 (critical) to
    P3 (low) based on the described impact.
  - **May apply `status/need-information`**: If the issue lacks critical details
    (like logs or reproduction steps), it will be flagged for more information.
  - **May apply `status/need-retesting`**: If the issue references a CLI version
    that is more than six versions old, it will be flagged for retesting on a
    current version.
- **What you should do**:
  - Fill out the issue template as completely as possible. The more detail you
    provide, the more accurate the triage will be.
  - If the `status/need-information` label is added, please provide the
    requested details in a comment.

### 2. When you open a pull request: `Continuous Integration (CI)`

This workflow ensures that all changes meet our quality standards before they
can be merged.

- **Workflow File**: `.github/workflows/ci.yml`
- **When it runs**: On every push to a pull request.
- **What it does**:
  - **Lint**: Checks that your code adheres to our project's formatting and
    style rules.
  - **Test**: Runs our full suite of automated tests across macOS, Windows, and
    Linux, and on multiple Node.js versions. This is the most time-consuming
    part of the CI process.
  - **Post Coverage Comment**: After all tests have successfully passed, a bot
    will post a comment on your PR. This comment provides a summary of how well
    your changes are covered by tests.
- **What you should do**:
  - Ensure all CI checks pass. A green checkmark ✅ will appear next to your
    commit when everything is successful.
  - If a check fails (a red "X" ❌), click the "Details" link next to the failed
    check to view the logs, identify the problem, and push a fix.

### 3. Ongoing triage for pull requests: `PR Auditing and Label Sync`

This workflow runs periodically to ensure all open PRs are correctly linked to
issues and have consistent labels.

- **Workflow File**: `.github/workflows/gemini-scheduled-pr-triage.yml`
- **When it runs**: Every 15 minutes on all open pull requests.
- **What it does**:
  - **Checks for a linked issue**: The bot scans your PR description for a
    keyword that links it to an issue (e.g., `Fixes #123`, `Closes #456`).
  - **Adds `status/need-issue`**: If no linked issue is found, the bot will add
    the `status/need-issue` label to your PR. This is a clear signal that an
    issue needs to be created and linked.
  - **Synchronizes labels**: If an issue _is_ linked, the bot ensures the PR's
    labels perfectly match the issue's labels. It will add any missing labels
    and remove any that don't belong, and it will remove the `status/need-issue`
    label if it was present.
- **What you should do**:
  - **Always link your PR to an issue.** This is the most important step. Add a
    line like `Resolves #<issue-number>` to your PR description.
  - This will ensure your PR is correctly categorized and moves through the
    review process smoothly.

### 4. Ongoing triage for issues: `Scheduled Issue Triage`

This is a fallback workflow to ensure that no issue gets missed by the triage
process.

- **Workflow File**: `.github/workflows/gemini-scheduled-issue-triage.yml`
- **When it runs**: Every hour on all open issues.
- **What it does**:
  - It actively seeks out issues that either have no labels at all or still have
    the `status/need-triage` label.
  - It then triggers the same powerful Gemini-based analysis as the initial
    triage bot to apply the correct labels.
- **What you should do**:
  - You typically don't need to do anything. This workflow is a safety net to
    ensure every issue is eventually categorized, even if the initial triage
    fails.

### 5. Automatic unassignment of inactive contributors: `Unassign Inactive Issue Assignees`

To keep the list of open `help wanted` issues accessible to all contributors,
this workflow automatically removes **external contributors** who have not
opened a linked pull request within **7 days** of being assigned. Maintainers,
org members, and repo collaborators with write access or above are always exempt
and will never be auto-unassigned.

- **Workflow File**: `.github/workflows/unassign-inactive-assignees.yml`
- **When it runs**: Every day at 09:00 UTC, and can be triggered manually with
  an optional `dry_run` mode.
- **What it does**:
  1. Finds every open issue labeled `help wanted` that has at least one
     assignee.
  2. Identifies privileged users (team members, repo collaborators with write+
     access, maintainers) and skips them entirely.
  3. For each remaining (external) assignee it reads the issue's timeline to
     determine:
     - The exact date they were assigned (using `assigned` timeline events).
     - Whether they have opened a PR that is already linked/cross-referenced to
       the issue.
  4. Each cross-referenced PR is fetched to verify it is **ready for review**:
     open and non-draft, or already merged. Draft PRs do not count.
  5. If an assignee has been assigned for **more than 7 days** and no qualifying
     PR is found, they are automatically unassigned and a comment is posted
     explaining the reason and how to re-claim the issue.
  6. Assignees who have a non-draft, open or merged PR linked to the issue are
     **never** unassigned by this workflow.
- **What you should do**:
  - **Open a real PR, not a draft**: Within 7 days of being assigned, open a PR
    that is ready for review and include `Fixes #<issue-number>` in the
    description. Draft PRs do not satisfy the requirement and will not prevent
    auto-unassignment.
  - **Re-assign if unassigned by mistake**: Comment `/assign` on the issue to
    assign yourself again.
  - **Unassign yourself** if you can no longer work on the issue by commenting
    `/unassign`, so other contributors can pick it up right away.

### 6. Release automation

This workflow handles the process of packaging and publishing new versions of
the Gemini CLI.

- **Workflow File**: `.github/workflows/release-manual.yml`
- **When it runs**: On a daily schedule for "nightly" releases, and manually for
  official patch/minor releases.
- **What it does**:
  - Automatically builds the project, bumps the version numbers, and publishes
    the packages to npm.
  - Creates a corresponding release on GitHub with generated release notes.
- **What you should do**:
  - As a contributor, you don't need to do anything for this process. You can be
    confident that once your PR is merged into the `main` branch, your changes
    will be included in the very next nightly release.

We hope this detailed overview is helpful. If you have any questions about our
automation or processes, please don't hesitate to ask!