issue-core/README.md

# Issue Core — External Tracker Connector

**A backend-agnostic connector to third-party issue trackers (Gitea/Forgejo, GitHub, …), not the fleet's internal work-origin or coordination substrate.**

## Purpose

**issue-core** is a standardized abstraction layer for talking to external issue-tracking backends (Gitea, GitHub, GitLab, local SQLite cache). Instead of each agent or automation implementing platform-specific APIs, they use one consistent CLI and Python interface — and, going forward, a durable **work-record UUID ↔ external issue id** mapping when a tracker projection is switched on.

### Fleet coordination vs external trackers

Internal fleet work is **not** originated here. Work records (workplans, tasks, intake, decisions, …) live as **repo files** (ADR-001) and are indexed by state-hub under the work-record types canon — see `the-custodian/canon/standards/work-record-types_v0.1.md` and `the-custodian/research/WorkOrchestrationArchitectureDraft.md` §4.2.

issue-core's role (founder-reviewed, 2026-07-20):

- **Connector** to external issue-tracking systems when collaboration requires them
- **Mapping** between internal work-record UUIDs and external issue ids (design: `docs/uuid-external-id-mapping.md`)
- **Two-way boundary sync** when a third-party tracker is actually in use
- **Zero load** on the internal loop until an external integration is switched on

External trackers remain useful for:

- **Human / open-source collaboration** on GitHub, Forgejo, Jira, etc.
- **Communication** via comments when the counterparty lives in that UI
- **Visibility** for people who only watch the tracker, not the fleet hub
- **Optional projection** of a work record outward (not birth of the work record)

For agent coordination *inside* the Coulomb fleet, use work records + state-hub, not Forgejo as the default task board. See `INTENT.md` and `SCOPE.md`.

## Current Status

**Production-ready core with manual setup** (v1.0)

✅ **Fully Implemented:**
- Complete CRUD operations (issues, labels, users, milestones, comments)
- Gitea backend (production-ready with full API integration)
- Local SQLite backend (offline work with sync capability)
- CLI with JSON output for machine parsing
- Python API for programmatic access
- Comprehensive filtering and search
- Basic synchronization between backends

⚠️ **Current Limitations:**
- Manual backend configuration required (one-time setup per project)
- No auto-detection from git remotes (coming in v1.1)
- Basic conflict resolution (manual intervention for complex cases)
- Hardcoded user context (agents need external identity management)

## Quick Start

### Installation

```bash
cd capabilities/issue-core
pip install -e .                  # CLI only
pip install -e ".[api]"           # CLI + REST ingestion server
```

### REST Server (intentional external issues)

issue-core exposes `POST /issues/` for **authenticated clients that deliberately
create external tracker issues**. This is not the primary fleet path for
originating work (work records start as repo files). activity-core's
`IssueSink` may call this only when an external issue is intentional policy —
not as an always-on landing zone for internal findings.

```bash
export ISSUE_CORE_API_KEY="$(python -c 'import secrets; print(secrets.token_urlsafe(32))')"
issue serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8765
```

Clients authenticate with `Authorization: Bearer <key>` or `X-API-Key: <key>`.
See `SCOPE.md` "TaskSpec payload" for the request schema, or visit
`http://<host>:<port>/docs` once the server is running for live OpenAPI docs.

### Configuration (One-Time Setup)

**For Gitea-backed projects:**

```bash
# Set your Gitea token
export GITEA_API_TOKEN="your-token-here"

# Configure backend
issue backend add myproject gitea
# Prompts for: URL, owner, repo (reads token from environment)

# Set as default
issue backend set-default myproject

# Verify
issue backend test myproject
```

**For local/offline work:**

```bash
issue backend add local-work local
# Prompts for: database path (.issue-core/issues.db)

issue backend set-default local-work
```

### Basic Usage

```bash
# List issues (JSON output for agents)
issue list --format=json

# Create issue
issue create "Implement user authentication" \
  --label=feature --label=priority:high

# Update state
issue edit 42 --state=in_progress --assignee=agent-coder

# Add comment
issue comment 42 "Implementation complete, tests passing"

# Close issue
issue close 42 --comment="Ready for review"
```

## Agent Integration

**Prefer work records + state-hub for fleet task lifecycle.** Use issue-core when
an agent must operate on an **external tracker** (project a task, update a
Forgejo/GitHub issue, sync comments at the boundary).

See **[AGENT_INTEGRATION.md](AGENT_INTEGRATION.md)** for:

- Programmatic Python API usage
- Multi-agent patterns **against tracker backends** (not as the fleet board)
- Label-based filters and state machine workflows on external issues
- Comment-based communication when the counterparty is in the tracker UI
- Workarounds for current limitations
- Performance optimization tips

Quick example:

```python
from issue_core.backends.gitea import GiteaBackend
from issue_core.core.interfaces import IssueFilter

# Initialize
backend = GiteaBackend()
backend.connect(config)

# Query issues for agent
issues = backend.list_issues(IssueFilter(
    state='open',
    labels=['bug', 'priority:critical'],
    assignee='agent-coder'
))

# Process each issue
for issue in issues:
    # Agent implements fix
    result = agent.fix_bug(issue)

    # Report back
    issue.state = IssueState.CLOSED
    backend.update_issue(issue)
```

## Architecture

### Facade Pattern with Plugin Backends

```
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│      CLI Layer (Click)              │
│   issue list | create | edit        │
└──────────────┬──────────────────────┘
               │
┌──────────────▼──────────────────────┐
│   Core Domain Models                │
│   (Issue, Label, User, etc.)        │
└──────────────┬──────────────────────┘
               │
┌──────────────▼──────────────────────┐
│   Backend Interface (ABC)           │
│   IssueBackend, SyncableBackend     │
└──────────────┬──────────────────────┘
               │
       ┌───────┴────────┐
       │                │
┌──────▼─────┐   ┌──────▼──────┐
│   Local    │   │   Gitea     │
│  (SQLite)  │   │  (REST API) │
└────────────┘   └─────────────┘
```

**Key Design Principles:**
- Backend-agnostic core models
- Plugin architecture for easy backend addition
- Type-safe interfaces with comprehensive testing
- Sync support for offline/online workflows

### Supported Backends

| Backend | Status | Features |
|---------|--------|----------|
| **Gitea** | ✅ Production | Full API, rate limiting, state mapping |
| **Local SQLite** | ✅ Production | Offline work, fast queries, sync support |
| **GitHub** | 🚧 Planned (v1.1) | Full API integration |
| **GitLab** | 🚧 Planned (v1.2) | Full API integration |

## Use Cases

### 1. External tracker ops (when a backend is in use)

Agents or humans work issues that already live in Gitea/GitHub (e.g. OSS
inbound, customer Jira, or an intentional projection):

```bash
# List open external issues for a label
issue list --label=needs-implementation --format=json

# Claim and update state on the tracker
issue edit 42 --assignee=agent-coder --state=in_progress
issue comment 42 "Implementation complete, tests passing"
issue close 42 --comment="Ready for review"
```

Fleet-internal task claim/execute should use workplan task status in the repo
+ state-hub, not Forgejo by default.

### 2. Human collaboration through a tracker UI

When the counterparty only uses GitHub/Gitea, project or update the external
issue and keep comments there. Mapping design (UUID ↔ external id) will tie
that projection back to the work record — see `docs/uuid-external-id-mapping.md`.

### 3. Offline development with sync

Work offline with local backend, sync when online:

```bash
# Setup local backup
issue backend add backup local
issue sync pull gitea-production backup

# Work offline
issue backend set-default backup
issue create "Offline tracker note" --label=offline

# Sync back
issue sync push backup gitea-production
```

## CLI Commands Reference

### Issue Operations
```bash
issue list [--state STATE] [--label LABEL] [--assignee USER] [--format FORMAT]
issue show ISSUE_NUMBER [--comments] [--format FORMAT]
issue create TITLE [--description DESC] [--label LABEL] [--assignee USER]
issue edit ISSUE_NUMBER [--title TITLE] [--state STATE] [--add-label LABEL]
issue close ISSUE_NUMBER [--comment COMMENT]
issue reopen ISSUE_NUMBER [--comment COMMENT]
issue comment ISSUE_NUMBER BODY
```

### Backend Management
```bash
issue backend list
issue backend add NAME TYPE
issue backend remove NAME
issue backend test NAME
issue backend set-default NAME
```

### Synchronization
```bash
issue sync status
issue sync pull SOURCE TARGET [--dry-run] [--force]
issue sync push SOURCE TARGET
issue sync bidirectional BACKEND1 BACKEND2
```

## Development

### Testing

```bash
# Install with dev dependencies
make install-dev

# Run all tests (109 tests, 61% coverage)
make test

# Run with coverage report
make test-cov

# Run only unit tests
make test-unit
```

### Code Quality

```bash
# Run linter
make issue-core-lint

# Format code
black issue_core/ tests/

# Type check
mypy issue_core/
```

### Project Structure

```
issue-core/
├── issue_core/
│   ├── core/              # Domain models and interfaces
│   │   ├── models.py      # Issue, Label, User, etc.
│   │   └── interfaces.py  # IssueBackend, SyncableBackend
│   ├── backends/
│   │   ├── gitea/         # Gitea backend implementation
│   │   └── local/         # SQLite backend implementation
│   └── cli/               # Click-based CLI
│       ├── commands.py    # Issue operations
│       ├── backend_commands.py
│       └── sync_commands.py
├── tests/                 # 109 tests, comprehensive coverage
├── examples/              # Agent integration examples
├── AGENT_INTEGRATION.md   # Agent coordination guide
├── CLAUDE.md             # Development guide for Claude Code
└── ROADMAP.md            # Future enhancements
```

## Documentation

- **[INTENT.md](INTENT.md)** — why issue-core exists (connector, not landing zone)
- **[SCOPE.md](SCOPE.md)** — in/out of scope and integration boundaries
- **[docs/uuid-external-id-mapping.md](docs/uuid-external-id-mapping.md)** — mapping design (not implemented yet)
- **[AGENT_INTEGRATION.md](AGENT_INTEGRATION.md)** — programmatic API for tracker backends
- **[ROADMAP.md](ROADMAP.md)** — feature trajectory (connector-aligned)
- Work-record canon: `the-custodian/canon/standards/work-record-types_v0.1.md`
- Architecture §4.2: `the-custodian/research/WorkOrchestrationArchitectureDraft.md`

## Roadmap (summary)

### Connector alignment (docs — ISSUE-WP-0004)
- INTENT / SCOPE / README framing as external connector
- UUID ↔ external-id mapping design

### v1.1 - Auto-Configuration
- Automatic git remote detection
- Environment-variable-only setup
- Per-repository configuration files
- `issue config detect` command

### Mapping + boundary sync (stage-3 work-record architecture)
- Persist work-record UUID ↔ backend issue id
- Optional two-way sync when a tracker is switched on
- No load when integrations are off

### Further backends / agent helpers
- GitHub, GitLab, Jira backends
- Claiming helpers for external issues
- Webhooks for tracker-side events

## Comparison with Platform CLIs

| Feature | Issue Core | gh (GitHub) | glab (GitLab) |
|---------|--------------|-------------|---------------|
| Multi-backend support | ✅ Yes | ❌ GitHub only | ❌ GitLab only |
| Offline capability | ✅ Local SQLite | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Agent-friendly API | ✅ Python + JSON | ⚠️ CLI only | ⚠️ CLI only |
| Consistent interface | ✅ Same across all | ❌ Platform-specific | ❌ Platform-specific |
| Backend sync | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Auto-configuration | 🚧 Coming v1.1 | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |

## Contributing

The Issue Core is designed to be extensible:

**To add a new backend:**
1. Implement the `IssueBackend` interface (see `core/interfaces.py`)
2. Handle platform-specific API details in your backend
3. Map platform models to/from core domain models
4. Add comprehensive tests
5. Register in `BackendFactory`

**Backend implementation checklist:**
- [ ] All CRUD operations (issues, labels, users, milestones, comments)
- [ ] State mapping to/from platform-specific states
- [ ] Error handling and rate limiting
- [ ] Sync support (if applicable)
- [ ] Integration tests with mock API
- [ ] Documentation

See existing backends (Gitea, Local) as reference implementations.

## Why "Facade" / connector?

The **Facade Pattern** still describes the *implementation* style:

> *"Provide a unified interface to a set of interfaces in a subsystem."*
> — Gang of Four, Design Patterns

Instead of agents learning different APIs for GitHub (`gh`), GitLab (`glab`), Gitea, JIRA, etc., they use one consistent interface. The facade does not replace issue trackers — and it does **not** replace work records as the origin of fleet work. It connects the fleet to trackers at the boundary.

## License

MIT License - See LICENSE file