ecos-label-taxonomy

ECOS Label Taxonomy

Overview

This skill provides the label taxonomy relevant to the Chief of Staff Agent (ECOS) role. Each role plugin has its own label-taxonomy skill covering the labels that role manages.

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Prerequisites

1. GitHub repository with label support
2. Understanding of agent role prefixes (ecos-, eoa-, eia-, eaa-, eama-)
3. Read AGENT_OPERATIONS.md in docs/ folder for session naming
4. GitHub CLI (gh) installed and authenticated
5. Access to team registry at .emasoft/team-registry.json

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Instructions

1. Identify the label category needed (assign, status, priority)
2. Check if label exists on the issue/PR
3. Apply or modify label using gh CLI or GitHub API
4. Verify label was applied correctly
5. Update team registry if assignment labels changed

Checklist

Copy this checklist and track your progress:

• Identify label category (assign/status/priority)
• Check existing labels on issue with gh issue view <number>
• Remove conflicting labels if needed
• Apply new label via gh issue edit --add-label
• Verify label appears correctly
• Update .emasoft/team-registry.json if agent assignment changed

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Output

Output Type	Description	Example
Label Applied	Label successfully added to issue	assign:eoa-svgbbox-orchestrator
Label Removed	Old label removed before new one	status:pending removed
Status Updated	Issue status changed via label	status:in-progress applied
Verification	Confirmation of label state	Labels: assign:implementer-1, status:todo, priority:high
Registry Synced	Team registry updated to match labels	current_issues: [42, 43] in team-registry.json

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Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
Label not found	Label doesn't exist in repo	Create label first with gh label create
Permission denied	Insufficient repo access	Verify GitHub token has repo scope
Duplicate assign labels	Multiple assign:* labels on issue	Remove old assign label before adding new
Registry out of sync	Labels don't match team-registry.json	Run sync check script to reconcile
gh CLI not authenticated	GitHub token expired or missing	Run gh auth login
Issue not found	Invalid issue number	Verify issue exists with gh issue list

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Examples

Example 1: Spawning Agent and Assigning to Issue

Scenario: ECOS spawns a new agent "implementer-1" and assigns it to issue #42.

# Step 1: Add assignment label
gh issue edit 42 --add-label "assign:implementer-1"

# Step 2: Update status from backlog to ready
gh issue edit 42 --remove-label "status:backlog" --add-label "status:todo"

# Step 3: Update team registry
jq '.agents["implementer-1"].current_issues += [42]' .emasoft/team-registry.json > temp.json && mv temp.json .emasoft/team-registry.json

# Step 4: Verify
gh issue view 42 --json labels --jq '.labels[].name'
# Output: assign:implementer-1, status:todo

Example 2: Terminating Agent and Clearing Assignments

Scenario: Agent "implementer-1" is being terminated. Clear all its assignments.

# Step 1: Find all issues assigned to agent
AGENT_ISSUES=$(gh issue list --label "assign:implementer-1" --json number --jq '.[].number')

# Step 2: Remove assignment and update status
for ISSUE in $AGENT_ISSUES; do
  gh issue edit $ISSUE --remove-label "assign:implementer-1" --add-label "status:backlog"
  echo "Cleared assignment from issue #$ISSUE"
done

# Step 3: Update team registry
jq 'del(.agents["implementer-1"])' .emasoft/team-registry.json > temp.json && mv temp.json .emasoft/team-registry.json

# Step 4: Verify no issues remain assigned
gh issue list --label "assign:implementer-1"
# Output: (empty)

Example 3: Handling Blocked Agent

Scenario: Agent reports it's blocked on issue #43. ECOS updates status and notifies.

# Step 1: Update status to blocked
gh issue edit 43 --remove-label "status:in-progress" --add-label "status:blocked"

# Step 2: Add comment explaining blocker
gh issue comment 43 --body "Agent blocked: waiting for external API credentials. Assigned to human for resolution."

# Step 3: Escalate to human if needed
gh issue edit 43 --add-label "assign:human"

# Step 4: Verify
gh issue view 43 --json labels --jq '.labels[].name'
# Output: assign:human, status:blocked, priority:high

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Labels ECOS Manages

Assignment Labels (assign:*)

ECOS coordinates with EOA on agent assignments.

Label	Description	When ECOS Is Involved
assign:<agent-name>	Specific agent	When spawning/managing agents
assign:orchestrator	EOA handling	When escalating to EOA
assign:human	Human needed	When human intervention required

ECOS Assignment Responsibilities:

• Track which agents are assigned to which issues
• Reassign when agent becomes unavailable
• Clear assignments when agents are terminated

Kanban Columns (Canonical 8-Column System)

The full workflow uses these 8 status columns:

#	Column Code	Display Name	Label	Description
1	backlog	Backlog	status:backlog	Entry point for new tasks
2	todo	Todo	status:todo	Ready to start
3	in-progress	In Progress	status:in-progress	Active work
4	ai-review	AI Review	status:ai-review	Integrator agent reviews ALL tasks
5	human-review	Human Review	status:human-review	User reviews BIG tasks only (via EAMA)
6	merge-release	Merge/Release	status:merge-release	Ready to merge
7	done	Done	status:done	Completed
8	blocked	Blocked	status:blocked	Blocked at any stage

Task Routing Rules:

• Small tasks: In Progress -> AI Review -> Merge/Release -> Done
• Big tasks: In Progress -> AI Review -> Human Review -> Merge/Release -> Done
• Human Review is requested via EAMA (Assistant Manager asks user to test/review)
• Not all tasks go through Human Review -- only significant changes requiring human judgment

Status Labels ECOS Updates

Label	When ECOS Sets It
status:blocked	When pausing work (resource constraints) or agent reports blocker
status:todo	When blocker resolved and task is ready to resume

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Labels ECOS Monitors

Priority Labels (priority:*)

ECOS uses priority for resource allocation:

• priority:critical - Ensure agent assigned immediately
• priority:high - Prioritize in staffing decisions
• priority:normal - Standard allocation
• priority:low - Can wait for resources

Status Labels (status:*)

ECOS monitors all status changes:

• status:blocked - May need to reassign or escalate
• status:in-progress - Track for timeout/health monitoring
• status:ai-review - Route to EIA if not already
• status:human-review - Escalated for user review via EAMA
• status:merge-release - Ready to merge/release

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ECOS Label Commands

When Agent Spawned

# Assign new agent to issue
gh issue edit $ISSUE_NUMBER --add-label "assign:$NEW_AGENT_NAME"
gh issue edit $ISSUE_NUMBER --remove-label "status:backlog" --add-label "status:todo"

When Agent Terminated

# Clear assignment from all agent's issues
AGENT_ISSUES=$(gh issue list --label "assign:$AGENT_NAME" --json number --jq '.[].number')
for ISSUE in $AGENT_ISSUES; do
  gh issue edit $ISSUE --remove-label "assign:$AGENT_NAME" --add-label "status:backlog"
done

When Agent Blocked

# Mark issue blocked
gh issue edit $ISSUE_NUMBER --remove-label "status:in-progress" --add-label "status:blocked"

When Escalating to Human

# Reassign to human
gh issue edit $ISSUE_NUMBER --remove-label "assign:$AGENT_NAME" --add-label "assign:human"

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Agent Registry and Labels

ECOS maintains the team registry at .emasoft/team-registry.json. Labels should be synchronized:

{
  "agents": {
    "implementer-1": {
      "session_name": "code-impl-01",
      "status": "active",
      "current_issues": [42, 43]  // Should match assign:implementer-1 labels
    }
  }
}

Sync Check

# Find issues assigned to agent
LABELED=$(gh issue list --label "assign:implementer-1" --json number --jq '.[].number' | sort)

# Compare with registry
REGISTERED=$(jq -r '.agents["implementer-1"].current_issues | sort | .[]' .emasoft/team-registry.json)

# Should match

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Operational Procedures

Step-by-step runbooks for executing individual label management operations. Use these when performing a specific label-related operation.

• op-assign-agent-to-issue.md - Assign Agent to Issue: Assign a newly spawned or existing agent to a GitHub issue by applying the assignment label, updating status from backlog to ready, and updating the team registry
• op-terminate-agent-clear-assignments.md - Terminate Agent and Clear Assignments: When an agent is being terminated, find all its assigned issues, remove assignment labels, return issues to backlog, and remove agent from team registry
• op-handle-blocked-agent.md - Handle Blocked Agent: When an agent reports it's blocked on an issue, update the issue status to blocked, add a comment explaining the blocker, determine escalation level, and optionally escalate to human
• op-sync-registry-with-labels.md - Sync Registry with Labels: Ensure the team registry at .emasoft/team-registry.json stays synchronized with GitHub issue assignment labels by detecting and resolving discrepancies

Quick Reference

ECOS Label Responsibilities

Action	Labels Involved
Spawn agent	Add assign:<agent>, update status:todo
Terminate agent	Remove assign:<agent>, set status:backlog
Agent blocked	Update to status:blocked
Resolve blocker	Update to status:todo or status:in-progress
Escalate to human	Add assign:human
Block work	Add status:blocked

Labels ECOS Never Sets

• type:* - Set at issue creation
• effort:* - Set during triage by EOA
• review:* - Managed by EIA
• priority:* - Set by EOA or EAMA (ECOS can suggest changes)

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Resources

• AGENT_OPERATIONS.md - Canonical operations reference (in docs/ folder)
• ecos-agent-lifecycle - Agent spawn/terminate procedures
• ecos-team-registry - Team registry management skill
• GitHub Labels Documentation
• GitHub CLI Labels Reference