Overview

This skill autonomously identifies Jira backlog tickets for a given board that can be worked on without human intervention, implements the code change, and creates draft PRs. Once a draft PR is open, the skill moves on to the next ticket.

Arguments: $ARGUMENTS

CRITICAL: Serial Operations with Verification

For every write action:

1. PRE-CHECK with Critic — get APPROVED before proceeding
2. Execute the action — wait for completion
3. POST-CHECK with Critic — verify it actually happened
4. Only then — move to the next action

Write actions include: creating PRs, posting Jira comments, pushing commits, transitioning ticket status, assigning tickets.

Work Tracking

Track all work in AUTO_JIRA.md (gitignored, local only):

• Current ticket being worked on
• Current PR (if any)
• CI status and what is blocking
• Skipped tickets with reasons

NEVER commit this file. Update it as you work, removing notes for completed work and keeping focus on in-progress state and next steps.

Workflow Overview

Per-ticket loop (repeat until --max-cards reached or no eligible tickets):
  1. SELECT TICKET     -> Find eligible ticket from board backlog
  2. CLAIM TICKET      -> Assign to user + add to current sprint
  3. IMPLEMENT         -> Code change
  4. VERIFY            -> Run dda inv test + dda inv linter.go on affected packages (fix before continuing)
  5. COMMIT & PUSH     -> Single focused commit, then git push
  6. CREATE PR (DRAFT) -> Open draft PR against main
  7. FIX PR TITLE      -> Rename to [auto-jira][<KEY>] <description> using gh pr edit
  8. LINK & COMMENT    -> Post PR link on Jira ticket

Supporting Documents

Do NOT load all docs at once. Only read what is relevant to the current task.

Parse Arguments

Parse $ARGUMENTS:

• BOARD (required): Jira project key, e.g. ACTP, AGENTCFG, CONTINT
• --max-cards N: max PRs to create this run (default: 3)
• --before-date YYYY-MM-DD: only tickets created before this date (default: 30 days ago)
• --exclude word1,word2: skip tickets whose title contains any of these words (case-insensitive)

If BOARD is missing, stop and ask the user.

Initialize AUTO_JIRA.md:

# Auto-JIRA Run — <BOARD> — <TODAY>

## Configuration
- Board: <BOARD>
- Max cards: <N>
- Before date: <BEFORE_DATE>
- Exclude: <EXCLUDED_WORDS or "none">

## In Progress
_none_

## Skipped
_none_

Jira Access

Use the Atlassian MCP tools as the primary method:

mcp__atlassian__searchJiraIssuesUsingJql   — query tickets
mcp__atlassian__getJiraIssue               — fetch ticket details
mcp__atlassian__editJiraIssue              — assign, update fields
mcp__atlassian__transitionJiraIssue        — change status
mcp__atlassian__addCommentToJiraIssue      — add comments
mcp__atlassian__getTransitionsForJiraIssue — list available transitions
mcp__atlassian__atlassianUserInfo          — get your account ID

All calls use cloudId: datadoghq.atlassian.net.

If MCP authentication fails for any reason, STOP. Mark the ticket HOLD and report the failure.

Repository Location

Discover the repository root from the current working tree:

git rev-parse --show-toplevel

Always work from this directory. If this command fails (not in a git repo), stop and inform the user.

Local Environment Setup

Local checks catch problems before CI. Do not skip or work around them:

• Linter failures → fix the issue, do not use --no-verify
• Missing tools → dda inv install-tools
• Pre-commit hook failures → fix the root cause

Ticket Selection Criteria

DO work on tickets that:

• Status is the first entry of jira_statuses for the team in .ddqa/config.toml (typically To Do)
• Assignee is empty
• No parent issue (epics as parents are okay; sub-tasks with a parent ticket are not)
• Created before <BEFORE_DATE>
• Label do-not-autosolve is NOT set
• Title contains none of the excluded words
• Clear, self-contained description with sufficient context to implement
• Solvable by a code PR to this repository
• Not already fixed in the codebase

DO NOT work on tickets that:

• Are assigned to someone else
• Require design decisions or cross-team coordination
• Touch authentication, authorization, cryptography, or secrets handling
• Are docs-only, infra/config, or process changes with no code change
• Have vague or missing acceptance criteria
• Are tracking/umbrella/epic-level tickets

When uncertain → skip. The goal is reliable autonomous completion, not ambitious attempts that get stuck.

Check eligibility quickly — do a codebase search to confirm the issue is not already fixed before starting any implementation work.

Attribution

Every interaction must be clearly attributed as coming from Auto-JIRA.

Human Intervention

When something requires human intervention:

1. Transition the Jira ticket to HOLD (do NOT change other fields)
2. Add a NEW comment on the ticket explaining exactly what is blocked
3. Update AUTO_JIRA.md with the blocker
4. Move to the next ticket (if any)

Triggers:

• Authentication failures (Jira MCP, GitHub)
• Unclear requirements that cannot be resolved from ticket context
• Security-sensitive changes discovered during implementation

Completion Signals

Print TASK COMPLETED only when ALL are true:

• No more eligible tickets in the board backlog, OR
• --max-cards limit has been reached

Print TASK FAILED only when:

• Authentication is permanently broken and cannot be recovered

After completing one ticket, always check for more work before stopping.

Critic Agent

Every write action needs PRE-CHECK and POST-CHECK.

PRE-ACTION:

Agent(
  prompt="""You are a Critic agent.

MODE: PRE-ACTION

PROPOSED ACTION:
[What you are about to do]

PROPOSED CONTENT:
[The exact message / comment / command]

Verify all factual claims and links. Respond APPROVED or REJECTED with evidence.""",
  subagent_type="general-purpose"
)

POST-ACTION:

Agent(
  prompt="""You are a Critic agent.

MODE: POST-ACTION

ACTION TAKEN:
[What was supposed to happen]

EXPECTED RESULT:
[What should be visible now]

Verify the action actually succeeded. Respond APPROVED or REJECTED with evidence.""",
  subagent_type="general-purpose"
)

If Critic rejects: fix the issues, try again, get a clean APPROVED before continuing.

Important Constraints

1. NEVER take a ticket assigned to someone else. Check Assignee before claiming.
2. One focused commit per ticket. Do not create "fix CI" commits.
3. Never skip hooks (--no-verify) or force-push to main.
4. Never use git add -A or git add . — stage specific files by name.
5. Always draft — PRs are created as drafts and left for humans to take from there.
6. Never commit AUTO_JIRA.md — local tracking only.
7. Never modify .claude/skills/auto-jira/ — the auto-jira skill must not edit itself. If a ticket would require changes to these files, skip it.

Quick Reference

Branch naming: auto-jira/<KEY>-brief-description (lowercase, hyphens only)