A PR should carry exactly one triage:<state> label at any time. The skill drives the PR through this state machine.
States
| State | Meaning |
|---|
triage:pending | Auto-applied by n8n-assistant when the PR opens. Skill removes it. |
triage:in-progress | Skill is actively reviewing. Set in step 2, replaced before exit. |
triage:complete | PR has been triaged to a team (or closed). Terminal. |
triage:needs-info | Comment posted; contributor needs to address something non-test. |
triage:tests-needed | Comment posted; contributor needs to add tests (priority over info). |
Transitions
Skill entry (step 2)
Before transitioning, check for an existing triage:in-progress label. If present, another reviewer is mid-triage — bail out without touching labels, Linear, or comments. This prevents two parallel runs from double-processing the same PR.
Strip any existing triage:* state label before adding triage:in-progress, so the single-state invariant holds even when re-reviewing a PR that was previously sent back with triage:needs-info or triage:tests-needed:
gh pr edit <number> --repo n8n-io/n8n \
--remove-label "triage:pending" \
--remove-label "triage:needs-info" \
--remove-label "triage:tests-needed" \
--remove-label "triage:complete" \
--add-label "triage:in-progress"
Only one of those triage:* labels will actually be present; --remove-label errors when a label is missing, so run each removal as its own call (or batch and ignore errors) and then do the add.
Skill exit — branch by outcome
Triaged to a team (action path 7B)
gh pr edit <number> --repo n8n-io/n8n \
--remove-label "triage:in-progress" \
--remove-label "status:pending-assignment" \
--add-label "team:<slug>" \
--add-label "status:team-assigned" \
--add-label "triage:complete"
The team:<slug> is taken from reference/teams.md. Apply only after the Linear save_issue call succeeds — if Linear fails, leave the PR on triage:in-progress for the next loop run. status:pending-assignment may not be present (e.g. older PRs that predate the convention) — if --remove-label errors, drop the flag and retry, or run it as a separate call.
Closed (action path 7D)
gh pr edit <number> --repo n8n-io/n8n \
--remove-label "triage:in-progress" \
--remove-label "status:pending-assignment" \
--add-label "status:internal-closed" \
--add-label "triage:complete"
Apply alongside gh pr close <number> and the close-comment template (see SKILL.md). If the PR is already closed (gh pr close reports "already closed"), still apply the labels and the Linear cancellation.
Pick one terminal label using this priority:
| Condition | Label |
|---|
TestsNeeded === true and TestsIncluded === false | triage:tests-needed |
Any other failing check (CLA, Title, Description, CubicIssues) | triage:needs-info |
When both conditions hold, triage:tests-needed wins — it's the more specific signal and the comment already covers everything else.
gh pr edit <number> --repo n8n-io/n8n \
--remove-label "triage:in-progress" \
--add-label "triage:tests-needed" # or triage:needs-info
Skill aborted before posting
If the user picks Skip at the "post this comment?" prompt, leave the PR on triage:in-progress — don't apply a terminal label without an accompanying contributor message. The next loop run will pick it up.
status:* labels
These are independent of the triage state and signal where the PR sits in the n8n internal flow:
| Label | Applied when |
|---|
status:team-assigned | PR triaged to a Linear team (path 7B). |
status:internal-closed | PR closed via path 7D. |
status:pending-assignment | Default before the skill runs (set elsewhere). |
The skill writes status:team-assigned (path 7B) or status:internal-closed (path 7D) and clears status:pending-assignment at the same time, so a triaged or closed PR drops out of any status:pending-assignment queue. It does not touch other status:* labels — reconciliation between team-assigned/internal-closed happens elsewhere if needed.
