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feat: Two-pass issue scanning for Ralph (lightweight scan + selective hydration) #596

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#629
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feat: Two-pass issue scanning for Ralph (lightweight scan + selective hydration)#596
#629
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go:needs-researchNeeds investigationpriority:p2Next sprintsquadSquad triage inbox — Lead will assign to a membertype:featureNew capability

Description

@tamirdresher
tamirdresher
opened on Mar 24, 2026

Feature Proposal: Two-Pass Issue Scanning

Problem

Ralph scans GitHub issues by pulling full JSON (body, comments, labels) for every issue. Most issues don't need action — but we pay the full context cost for all of them.

Proposed Solution

Two-pass pattern inspired by ClawMongo's ID-only projection:

Pass 1 — Lightweight scan: gh issue list --json number,title,labels,assignees (no body)
Pass 2 — Selective hydration: Only for actionable issues, fetch full details: gh issue view <N> --json body,comments

Implementation

  1. Ralph's work-check cycle Step 1 uses lightweight scan (already partially does this)
  2. Before spawning an agent for an issue, hydrate that specific issue's body
  3. Skip hydration for issues that are already assigned, blocked, or not matching capability labels

Benefits

  • ~70% reduction in API calls during Ralph rounds
  • Faster scan cycles
  • Less context pollution from irrelevant issue bodies
  • No breaking changes — purely additive optimization

Prior Art

Inspired by ClawMongo's tiered retrieval (https://clawmongo.site) — query IDs first, hydrate on demand.

Activity

  1. tamirdresher
    added a commit that references this issue on Mar 24, 2026

    feat(ralph): implement two-pass issue scanning protocol

    7f85ea1
  2. chrislomonico
    added a commit that references this issue on Mar 26, 2026

    fix: REPL UX fixes — 10 issues resolved with 52 new tests (github#608)

    73a563b
  3. bradygaster
    added
    squadSquad triage inbox — Lead will assign to a member
    squad:eecom
    type:featureNew capability
    priority:p2Next sprint
    on Mar 26, 2026
  4. github-actions
    added
    squad:flight
    go:needs-researchNeeds investigation
    on Mar 26, 2026

  5. github-actions commented on Mar 26, 2026

    @github-actions
    github-actionsBot
    on Mar 26, 2026 – with GitHub Actions
    Contributor

    📋 Assigned to EECOM (Core Dev)

    Issue: #596 — feat: Two-pass issue scanning for Ralph (lightweight scan + selective hydration)

    EECOM will pick this up in the next Copilot session.

    For Copilot coding agent: If enabled, this issue will be worked automatically.
    Otherwise, start a Copilot session and say:
    EECOM, work on issue #596

  6. github-actions commented on Mar 26, 2026

    @github-actions
    github-actionsBot
    on Mar 26, 2026 – with GitHub Actions
    Contributor

    🏗️ Squad Triage — Flight (Lead)

    Issue: #596 — feat: Two-pass issue scanning for Ralph (lightweight scan + selective hydration)
    Assigned to: Flight (Lead)
    Reason: No specific domain match — assigned to Lead for further analysis

    @copilot evaluation: 🔴 Not suitable — issue involves work outside the coding agent's capability profile.

    Team roster:

    • Flight (Lead) → label: squad:flight
    • Procedures (Prompt Engineer) → label: squad:procedures
    • EECOM (Core Dev) → label: squad:eecom
    • FIDO (Quality Owner) → label: squad:fido
    • PAO (DevRel) → label: squad:pao
    • CAPCOM (SDK Expert) → label: squad:capcom
    • CONTROL (TypeScript Engineer) → label: squad:control
    • Surgeon (Release Manager) → label: squad:surgeon
    • Booster (CI/CD Engineer) → label: squad:booster
    • GNC (Node.js Runtime) → label: squad:gnc
    • Network (Distribution) → label: squad:network
    • RETRO (Security) → label: squad:retro
    • INCO (CLI UX & Visual Design) → label: squad:inco
    • GUIDO (VS Code Extension) → label: squad:guido
    • Telemetry (Aspire & Observability) → label: squad:telemetry
    • VOX (REPL & Interactive Shell) → label: squad:vox
    • DSKY (TUI Engineer) → label: squad:dsky
    • Sims (E2E Test Engineer) → label: squad:sims
    • Handbook (SDK Usability) → label: squad:handbook
    • Ralph (Work Monitor) → label: squad:ralph
    • @copilot (Coding Agent) → label: squad:copilot

    To reassign, remove the current squad:* label and add the correct one.

  7. bradygaster commented on Mar 26, 2026

    @bradygaster
    bradygaster
    on Mar 26, 2026
    Collaborator

    Triage: Ralph performance optimization from contributor. Two-pass scanning enhancement. Assigned to EECOM (Ralph module owner).

  8. tamirdresher
    added a commit that references this issue on Mar 26, 2026

    feat(skills): add ralph-two-pass-scan skill -- lightweight scan befor…

    ba7b9c1
  9. bradygaster
    closed this as completedin #629on Mar 28, 2026
  10. bradygaster
    removed
    squad:flight
    squad:eecom
    on Sep 11, 2026
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