Project Pulse

Overview

Use this skill when you need a product-manager and architect view of project health from GitHub issues and PRs.

This skill follows a GitHub-first sync model:

• GitHub is the source of truth.
• Local files are cache and analysis artifacts.

When To Use

Use this skill for:

• Daily/weekly priority sync.
• Controller planning refresh before autonomous actions.
• Detecting stale issues and priority drift.
• Generating a compact PM report for discussion.
• Converting repo state into an execution plan (what to do next, what can run in parallel, what should be deferred).

Do not use this skill for:

• Code implementation of issues.
• PR review or PR fix execution.

Workflow

1. Resolve target repo (owner/repo) from argument, PULSE_REPO, or git remote.
2. Read local pulse artifacts first (report.json, issues-index.json, prs-index.json).
3. If cache is stale, pull issue and PR data from GitHub (gh issue list, gh pr list).
4. Update local sync state (sync-state.json) with latest cursor (last_max_updated_at).
5. Generate analysis artifacts:

• issues/ + issues-index.json
• prs/ + prs-index.json
• report.json
• report.md
• sync-state.json

6. Produce planning decisions from report signals:

• Priority plan (P0/P1/P2 mapping from labels + risk signals)
• Parallel work lanes (independent streams)
• Blockers and preconditions (e.g., failing PR checks before new feature work)
• Suggested next actions for controller triggers

Default Read Path (Required)

For priority/planning/risk analysis, always use this order:

1. Read ${PULSE_BASE_DIR}/report.json
2. Read ${PULSE_BASE_DIR}/issues-index.json and ${PULSE_BASE_DIR}/prs-index.json
3. Refresh from GitHub only when cache is stale or explicitly forced

Do not start with direct gh issue list / gh pr list queries when pulse cache is fresh.

Controller Rule (Required)

When the request is about prioritization, planning, risk, sequencing, or architecture status:

1. Run project-pulse first
2. Base conclusions on pulse artifacts
3. Use direct GitHub API reads only as fallback/verification for specific missing fields

Planning And Design Guidance

Use report.json as a decision input, not just a status snapshot.

Decision order:

1. Stabilize execution surface first:

• If pr_totals.failing_checks > 0, prioritize PR fixes before opening new implementation threads.
• If pr_totals.changes_requested > 0, prioritize review feedback closure to reduce queue latency.

2. Protect top-priority delivery:

• Treat priority:critical issues as daily-sync queue.
• Keep WIP bounded; avoid starting medium-priority work while critical queue is growing.

3. Control flow health:

• Use stale_issues and stalled_prs to detect drift and assign owner/escalation actions.

4. Plan architecture increments:

• Use pulse results to split work into independent lanes (runtime/core, policy/controller, quality/security).
• Avoid coupling unrelated architecture changes in one run.

Suggested controller action mapping:

• failing_prs not empty -> trigger github-pr-fix
• ready_to_merge_candidates not empty -> run merge-policy check or human-review gate
• priority:critical issue queue not empty and PR surface stable -> trigger github-issue-solve
• no urgent signals -> no-op / wait and continue monitoring

Script

Run scripts/pulse.sh.

Examples:

# Use current git repo remote
skills/project-pulse/scripts/pulse.sh

# Explicit repo
skills/project-pulse/scripts/pulse.sh holon-run/holon

# Include closed issues in analysis
PULSE_INCLUDE_CLOSED=true skills/project-pulse/scripts/pulse.sh holon-run/holon

Environment Variables

• PULSE_REPO: Optional repo override (owner/repo).
• PULSE_INCLUDE_CLOSED: true|false (default false).
• PULSE_MAX_ISSUES: max fetched issues (default 500).
• PULSE_MAX_PRS: max fetched PRs (default 500).
• PULSE_STALE_DAYS: stale threshold days (default 14).
• PULSE_MAX_AGE_MINUTES: cache freshness threshold in minutes (default 10).
• PULSE_FORCE_REFRESH: true|false, bypass cache and force GitHub sync (default false).
• PULSE_BASE_DIR: base directory for repository-local pulse data (default $HOME/.holon/project-pulse/<owner>/<repo>).
• PULSE_OUT_DIR: analysis output directory (default ${PULSE_BASE_DIR}).
• PULSE_STATE_DIR: local cache/cursor directory (default ${PULSE_BASE_DIR}).
• PULSE_SPLIT_ISSUES: true|false, store issues as one-file-per-issue (default true).
• PULSE_KEEP_RAW_ISSUES: true|false, also keep aggregated issues.json (default false).
• PULSE_SPLIT_PRS: true|false, store PRs as one-file-per-PR (default true).
• PULSE_KEEP_RAW_PRS: true|false, also keep aggregated prs.json (default false).

Output Contract

• ${PULSE_OUT_DIR}/issues/: per-issue snapshots (<number>.json) when PULSE_SPLIT_ISSUES=true.
• ${PULSE_OUT_DIR}/issues-index.json: compact index for fast scan when PULSE_SPLIT_ISSUES=true.
• ${PULSE_OUT_DIR}/issues.json: aggregated snapshot when PULSE_SPLIT_ISSUES=false or PULSE_KEEP_RAW_ISSUES=true.
• ${PULSE_OUT_DIR}/prs/: per-PR snapshots (<number>.json) when PULSE_SPLIT_PRS=true.
• ${PULSE_OUT_DIR}/prs-index.json: compact index for fast scan when PULSE_SPLIT_PRS=true.
• ${PULSE_OUT_DIR}/prs.json: aggregated snapshot when PULSE_SPLIT_PRS=false or PULSE_KEEP_RAW_PRS=true.
• ${PULSE_OUT_DIR}/report.json: machine-readable PM summary.
• ${PULSE_OUT_DIR}/report.md: human-readable PM summary.
• ${PULSE_STATE_DIR}/sync-state.json: latest cursor and sync metadata.

report.json includes next_actions for direct controller consumption.

Schema details: see references/report-schema.md. Planning usage: see references/planning-playbook.md.

Notes

• Keep write actions (label/comment edits) outside this script by default.
• This skill is analysis-first and safe by default.