triage.md

Triage Process

The triage process is designed to swiftly categorize new issues and pull requests (PRs) and take appropriate actions whenever possible.

As a new issue/PR is created, the community initiates conversations, applies suitable labels, and seeks additional information.

At Instill AI, we conduct regular triage meetings. These meetings focus on unresolved issues/PRs where consensus has not been reached, and aim to determine whether and when they should be incorporated into our roadmap.

Triage Stages

Name	Description
Triage	When a new issue/PR is opened, it is automatically labeled as need triage``. Maintainers assign core members as reviewers to assess the issue/PR's characteristics. Reviewers initiate conversations with the creator of the issue/PR and apply relevant labels. If there's consensus and the issue/PR requires detailed planning, reviewers remove the need triage`` label and add the linear label.
Plan	Issues/PRs with the linear label are thoroughly reviewed and need to be planned. Reviewers determine if the issue/PR is suitable for community contribution, whether it can be added to the backlog, and discuss its potential inclusion in the roadmap and the timing thereof.

We anticipate that most issues/PRs can follow this path, leading to efficient asynchronous resolution without waiting for triage meetings. Issues/PRs labeled as need discussion will be addressed during these triage meetings.

👉 Please refer to the triage process diagram for visual representation.

Labels

GitHub labels assist in annotating issues/PRs with additional information. Our community uses labels, as outlined below, to convey information and facilitate decision-making regarding issues/PRs.

Communication Labels

These labels convey the status of the triage process for an issue/PR and indicate areas where community contribution is needed. Many communication labels are replaced by other labels as the triage process progresses and the issue enters active development. For instance, the help wanted label is removed once an issue moves into active development and a community member takes ownership. Below are the labels in this category:

Label	Indicates that
need triage	Issue/PR needs triaging
question	The issue/PR creator needs to provide more information for meaningful triaging. When adding this label, comment about the required information.
need discussion	This issue/PR necessitates discussion during triage meetings. When adding this label, comment about what aspects require discussion.
good first issue	Issue suitable for first-time contributors
help wanted	Issue complexity suitable for external contributors

Metadata Labels

These labels enrich issues/PRs with metadata to aid the triage process and active development. These labels may not be removed from issues/PRs, although their values may change as development progresses. For example, the priority label may change from priority: low to priority: high as the roadmap is updated. Here is the list of labels in this category:

Label	Indicates that
<project>	Instill Project related to this issue/PR. E.g., 'instill vdp', 'instill model', 'instill core', 'instill console', 'instill cli' and 'instill sdk'
<project: component>	Major service associated with this issue/PR. E.g., 'vdp: pipeline-backend', 'vdp: connector-backend' and 'model: model-backend'
feature	New feature request
improvement	Enhancement of existing features
bug	Issue indicating malfunction
duplicate	Duplicate issue/PR already exists
stale	Issue/PR open with no activity for too long
wontfix	Issue will not be worked on
priority: critical	Issue causing a major outage or disruption for all users without any known workaround. The issue must be fixed immediately, taking precedence over other work. Should receive updates at least once per day.
priority: high	Issue important to a large percentage of users, with a workaround. Issues that are significantly ugly or painful, especially first-use or install-time issues. Issues with workarounds that would otherwise be priority: critical.
priority: medium	Issue relevant to core functions, but not impeding progress. Important, but not urgent.
priority: low	Relatively minor issue not relevant to core functions or only affecting user experience. Good-to-have changes/fixes, but not necessary.

Status Labels

These labels will help in planing and tracking active development activities for a issue/PR:

Label	Indicates that
linear	Issue/PR fully triaged and moved to the Plan stage
roadmap	Issue/PR added to the roadmap with a clear target date