creating-pds-issues

Creating PDS Issues Skill

This skill creates GitHub issues in NASA-PDS repositories using the official organizational templates. It ensures consistent issue formatting while keeping content clear and concise.

Prerequisites

• GitHub CLI (gh) must be installed and authenticated
• User must have write access to the target NASA-PDS repository

Workflow

0. Detect Sub-Issue Request

Before gathering other information, determine if this is a sub-issue request.

Keywords that indicate a sub-issue relationship:

• "child task", "child issue", "sub-task", "sub-issue"
• "for theme", "for epic", "under issue", "part of"
• "attached to", "linked to parent", "belongs to"
• Explicit parent references: "for #123", "under NASA-PDS/repo#456"

If a sub-issue relationship is detected:

1. Identify the parent issue (theme, epic, or other issue)
2. Proceed with normal issue creation workflow
3. After creation, attach as sub-issue using GitHub GraphQL API (see Section 4)

Parent Issue Identification:

The parent can be specified as:

• Issue URL: https://github.com/NASA-PDS/repo/issues/123
• Short reference: #123 (current repo) or NASA-PDS/repo#123 (cross-repo)
• Search terms: "the registry theme" or "authentication epic"

If the parent is ambiguous, search for it:

# Search for potential parent issues by title
gh issue list --repo NASA-PDS/<repo> --search "theme OR epic" --label "theme,Epic" --limit 10

Then confirm with the user which parent issue to use.

1. Gather Information

Detect Current Repository (if applicable):

If the user is running this skill from within a cloned git repository, automatically detect the repository name:

# Check if in a git repo - try origin first, then upstream
git remote get-url origin 2>/dev/null || git remote get-url upstream 2>/dev/null

If the remote URL matches NASA-PDS/<repo-name>, use that as the default repository.

Edge Cases:

• Multiple remotes: Prefer origin first, then fall back to upstream or other NASA-PDS remotes
• Forks: If the detected repository is a fork (personal namespace), check for an upstream remote pointing to NASA-PDS
• Non-NASA-PDS repos: If no NASA-PDS remote is found, ask the user which repository to use
• Ambiguous remotes: If multiple NASA-PDS remotes exist, ask the user to clarify

Determine Issue Type:

Ask the user what type of issue to create using the AskUserQuestion tool with these options:

• Bug Report - Report defects or unexpected behavior
• I&T Bug Report - Internal Integration & Test bug report (requires test case references)
• Feature Request - Propose new features or enhancements
• Task - Internal development task (often sub-tasks of larger stories)
• Vulnerability - Security vulnerabilities or threats
• Release Theme - High-level epic for release planning

Gather Template-Specific Information:

Then gather the required information based on the template type:

For Bug Reports:

• Repository name (auto-detect from git remote, or ask if not in a repo or unclear)
• Brief title following format: <system feature> <is not/does not> <expected behaviour>
• Bug description (what happened)
• Expected behavior (what should have happened)
• Steps to reproduce (numbered list)
• Environment info (version, OS, etc.)

For I&T Bug Reports:

• Repository name (auto-detect from git remote, or ask if not in a repo or unclear)
• Brief title following format: <system feature> <is not/does not> <expected behaviour>
• Bug description (what happened)
• Expected behavior (what should have happened)
• Related test cases (TestRail or other test case references - REQUIRED)
• Steps to reproduce (numbered list)
• Environment info (version, OS, etc.)

For Feature Requests:

• Repository name (auto-detect from git remote, or ask if not in a repo or unclear)
• User story title: As a <role>, I want to <accomplish>
• User persona (e.g., "Data Engineer", "Node Operator")
• Motivation (why is this needed?)
• Additional context

For Tasks:

• Repository name (auto-detect from git remote, or ask if not in a repo or unclear)
• Task type (sub-task or theme)
• Description (clear but not excessive)

For Vulnerabilities:

• Repository name (auto-detect from git remote, or ask if not in a repo or unclear)
• Title: <system feature> <is not/does not> <expected behaviour>
• Vulnerability description
• Expected secure behavior
• Reproduction steps
• Environment info

For Release Themes:

• Repository name (auto-detect from git remote, or ask if not in a repo or unclear)
• Description of the release theme

2. Fill the Template

Use the cached templates in resources/templates/ directory. If templates are not cached, run the caching script first:

cd creating-pds-issues
node scripts/cache-templates.mjs

Fill templates with these guidelines:

Content Style:

• Be clear and specific, but concise
• Avoid unnecessary elaboration or "novel-length" descriptions
• Use bullet points and numbered lists for clarity
• Include only essential technical details
• Skip optional fields unless user provides information

Security and Privacy - CRITICAL:

• Remove or sanitize all sensitive information before creating the issue
• Replace actual file paths with generic examples (e.g., /Users/john/secrets/api-keys.txt → /path/to/file.txt)
• Remove usernames, email addresses, and personal identifiers
• Replace IP addresses with dummy values (e.g., 192.168.1.100 → 10.0.0.1)
• Strip API keys, tokens, passwords, and credentials
• Sanitize database connection strings and internal URLs
• Use placeholder hostnames (e.g., prod-server-01.internal.nasa.gov → server.example.com)
• Remove proprietary or confidential information
• If uncertain whether information is sensitive, ASK THE USER before including it

Required Field Examples:

Bug description (good):

When validating a PDS4 label with nested tables, the validator throws a NullPointerException
on line 342 of TableValidator.java. This occurs with labels containing 3+ nested table
definitions.

Bug description (too verbose):

I was working on my project late last night and I noticed that when I tried to validate
my carefully crafted PDS4 label that I had been working on for several days, the system
unexpectedly threw an error. I had been following all the documentation...
[continues for several paragraphs]

Expected behavior (good):

Validator should successfully validate labels with nested tables or provide a clear
error message about nesting limitations.

Reproduction steps (good):

1. Create PDS4 label with 3 nested <Table_Delimited> elements
2. Run: validate my-label.xml
3. Observe NullPointerException in output

Feature motivation (good):

...so that I can validate labels in CI/CD pipelines without manual intervention,
reducing deployment time from hours to minutes.

Sanitization Examples:

Before (UNSAFE - contains sensitive info):

When I run the validator on /Users/alice.johnson/Documents/NASA/mission-data/secret-project/labels/experiment-123.xml
using the API key sk-1234567890abcdef, it fails to connect to the database at
postgresql://admin:P@[email protected]:5432/pds_prod

After (SAFE - sanitized):

When running the validator on a PDS4 label file with the API configured, it fails to
connect to the PostgreSQL database with a connection timeout error.

Before (UNSAFE - contains internal paths):

The error log at /home/ops/pds-services/logs/validator-2024-11-13-prod.log shows:
ERROR: Connection refused by host pds-db-primary-01.jpl.nasa.gov

After (SAFE - sanitized):

The error log shows:
ERROR: Connection refused by database host

3. Create the Issue

Use GitHub CLI to create the issue with appropriate labels and metadata.

IMPORTANT: Always use --body-file to avoid shell quoting errors. Never pass the body inline with --body — markdown content with single quotes, backticks, or special characters will break the shell command.

Always write the body using the Write tool (not a bash heredoc or cat command) to /tmp/pds_issue_body.md. Using the Write tool bypasses shell parsing entirely and avoids heredoc delimiter collisions or unmatched quote errors.

Then reference it with --body-file /tmp/pds_issue_body.md in all gh issue create calls below.

Default Assignee: By default, issues requiring triage are assigned to jordanpadams. Users can override this by setting the PDS_ISSUE_ASSIGNEE environment variable or by using the --assignee flag.

Bug Report:

gh issue create \
  --repo NASA-PDS/<repo-name> \
  --title "<title>" \
  --body-file /tmp/pds_issue_body.md \
  --label "bug,needs:triage" \
  --assignee "${PDS_ISSUE_ASSIGNEE:-jordanpadams}"

I&T Bug Report:

gh issue create \
  --repo NASA-PDS/<repo-name> \
  --title "<title>" \
  --body-file /tmp/pds_issue_body.md \
  --label "B15.1,bug,needs:triage" \
  --assignee "${PDS_ISSUE_ASSIGNEE:-jordanpadams}"

Feature Request:

gh issue create \
  --repo NASA-PDS/<repo-name> \
  --title "<title>" \
  --body-file /tmp/pds_issue_body.md \
  --label "needs:triage,requirement" \
  --assignee "${PDS_ISSUE_ASSIGNEE:-jordanpadams}"

Task:

gh issue create \
  --repo NASA-PDS/<repo-name> \
  --title "<title>" \
  --body-file /tmp/pds_issue_body.md \
  --label "task,i&t.skip"

Vulnerability:

gh issue create \
  --repo NASA-PDS/<repo-name> \
  --title "<title>" \
  --body-file /tmp/pds_issue_body.md \
  --label "security,bug,needs:triage" \
  --assignee "${PDS_ISSUE_ASSIGNEE:-jordanpadams}"

Release Theme:

gh issue create \
  --repo NASA-PDS/<repo-name> \
  --title "<title>" \
  --body-file /tmp/pds_issue_body.md \
  --label "theme,Epic,i&t.skip"

Template Body Format:

The body should mirror the YAML template structure but in markdown. For example, a bug report body:

## Checked for duplicates
Yes - I've already checked

## 🐛 Describe the bug
[Bug description here]

## 🕵️ Expected behavior
[Expected behavior here]

## 📜 To Reproduce
1. [Step 1]
2. [Step 2]
3. [Step 3]

## 🖥 Environment Info
- Version of this software: vX.Y.Z
- Operating System: [OS details]

## 📚 Version of Software Used
[Version details]

## 🩺 Test Data / Additional context
[Context or N/A]

## 🦄 Related requirements
N/A

---
## For Internal Dev Team To Complete

## ⚙️ Engineering Details
[To be filled by engineering team]

## 🎉 Integration & Test
[To be filled by engineering team]

4. Attach Sub-Issue to Parent (If Applicable)

If this issue should be a sub-issue of a parent (theme, epic, or other issue), attach it using GitHub's GraphQL API.

Step 1: Get the Parent Issue Node ID

# Extract repo and issue number from parent reference
# For URL: https://github.com/NASA-PDS/repo/issues/123 → repo=repo, number=123
# For reference: NASA-PDS/repo#123 → repo=repo, number=123
# For local: #123 → use current repo, number=123

gh api graphql -f query='
  query {
    repository(owner: "NASA-PDS", name: "<parent-repo>") {
      issue(number: <parent-number>) {
        id
        title
      }
    }
  }
'

Step 2: Get the Child Issue Node ID

After creating the issue (from Section 3), extract the issue number from the returned URL and get its node ID:

# The gh issue create command returns: https://github.com/NASA-PDS/repo/issues/456
# Extract number 456 from the URL

gh api graphql -f query='
  query {
    repository(owner: "NASA-PDS", name: "<child-repo>") {
      issue(number: <child-number>) {
        id
      }
    }
  }
'

Step 3: Add Sub-Issue Relationship

gh api graphql -f query='
  mutation {
    addSubIssue(input: {
      issueId: "<PARENT_NODE_ID>",
      subIssueId: "<CHILD_NODE_ID>"
    }) {
      issue {
        id
        title
      }
      subIssue {
        id
        title
      }
    }
  }
'

Combined Script Approach:

For convenience, you can chain these operations:

# 1. Create the issue and capture the URL (body already written to /tmp/pds_issue_body.md)
ISSUE_URL=$(gh issue create \
  --repo NASA-PDS/<repo> \
  --title "<title>" \
  --body-file /tmp/pds_issue_body.md \
  --label "<labels>" 2>&1)

# 2. Extract issue number from URL
CHILD_NUMBER=$(echo "$ISSUE_URL" | grep -oE '[0-9]+$')

# 3. Get parent node ID
PARENT_ID=$(gh api graphql -f query='
  query {
    repository(owner: "NASA-PDS", name: "<parent-repo>") {
      issue(number: <parent-number>) { id }
    }
  }
' --jq '.data.repository.issue.id')

# 4. Get child node ID
CHILD_ID=$(gh api graphql -f query="
  query {
    repository(owner: \"NASA-PDS\", name: \"<child-repo>\") {
      issue(number: $CHILD_NUMBER) { id }
    }
  }
" --jq '.data.repository.issue.id')

# 5. Attach sub-issue to parent
gh api graphql -f query="
  mutation {
    addSubIssue(input: {
      issueId: \"$PARENT_ID\",
      subIssueId: \"$CHILD_ID\"
    }) {
      issue { title }
      subIssue { title }
    }
  }
"

Cross-Repository Sub-Issues:

Sub-issues can span repositories. For example, a task in pds-registry can be a sub-issue of a theme in pds-swg. The parent and child repositories do not need to match.

Error Handling:

• If the parent issue doesn't exist: "Could not resolve to an Issue with the number..."
• If the GraphQL mutation fails: Check that both issues exist and you have write access
• If already a sub-issue: The API will return an error; check existing relationships first

5. Confirm Success

After creating the issue:

1. Display the issue URL to the user
2. Confirm the issue was created successfully
3. If a sub-issue relationship was created, confirm the parent-child link
4. Remind user that internal sections (Engineering Details, I&T) will be filled by the PDS engineering team

Important Notes

• All issues are added to project NASA-PDS/6 (PDS Engineering portfolio backlog)
• Default assignee is jordanpadams for triage (configurable via PDS_ISSUE_ASSIGNEE environment variable)
• Leave internal sections blank - "Engineering Details" and "Integration & Test" fields are filled by the PDS engineering team after triage
• Skip optional fields unless user explicitly provides information
• Validate repository exists before creating issue using gh repo view NASA-PDS/<repo-name>

Template Caching

Templates are cached locally in resources/templates/ to avoid repeated GitHub API calls. The caching script should:

1. Clone or fetch the latest templates from NASA-PDS/.github
2. Store them in resources/templates/
3. Update a timestamp file to track last cache update

Cache templates on first use or if cache is older than 7 days.

Forcing Cache Refresh:

If templates have been updated in NASA-PDS/.github and you need to refresh immediately:

# Option 1: Delete cache directory and re-run caching script
rm -rf creating-pds-issues/resources/templates/
cd creating-pds-issues
node scripts/cache-templates.mjs

# Option 2: Delete timestamp file to trigger automatic refresh
rm creating-pds-issues/resources/templates/.cache-timestamp
# Next skill invocation will automatically refresh templates

# Option 3: Set environment variable to force refresh
FORCE_TEMPLATE_REFRESH=true node scripts/cache-templates.mjs

Error Handling

• If GitHub CLI is not authenticated, prompt: gh auth login
• If repository doesn't exist, list available repos: gh repo list NASA-PDS --limit 100
• If user lacks write access, display error and suggest contacting PDS Help Desk
• If required information is missing, ask user for specific details needed

Example Invocations

User: "Create a bug report for pds-registry about validation errors" → Ask which template, gather bug details, create issue

User: "File a feature request for the API to support batch operations" → Ask which repo, gather user story details, create issue

User: "I need to create a security vulnerability issue for validate" → Use vulnerability template, gather security details, create issue

Sub-Issue Examples:

User: "Create a child task for theme #45 about implementing the new API endpoint" → Detect sub-issue request, gather task details, create issue, attach to #45 as sub-issue

User: "Add a sub-task under NASA-PDS/pds-swg#123 for updating the documentation" → Detect cross-repo sub-issue, gather task details, create issue, attach to parent in pds-swg

User: "Create a task for the registry modernization epic" → Search for "registry modernization" epic, confirm with user, gather task details, create and attach

User: "File a bug as part of the B17 theme issue" → Search for B17 theme, create bug report, attach as sub-issue to the theme