Hybrid mode: GitHub repo + Azure DevOps work items for Ralph watch #991

Summary

Ralph's watch mode has platform abstraction (PlatformAdapter) and a working AzureDevOpsAdapter, but there's no way to use hybrid mode — where code lives on GitHub but work items live in Azure DevOps. The HybridPlatformConfig type exists in platform/types.ts but isn't wired into the watch loop.

Context

I'm evaluating Squad for a .NET CLI project where:

• Code is hosted on GitHub (PolyphonyRequiem/twig)
• Backlog is tracked in Azure DevOps (Epic → Issue → Task)

This is a common pattern in Microsoft-adjacent and enterprise teams — GitHub for source, ADO for project management.

What already works

The SDK has excellent platform abstractions:

• PlatformAdapter interface with listWorkItems(), addTag(), addComment(), etc.
• AzureDevOpsAdapter — full implementation using az boards CLI
• createPlatformAdapter() — auto-detects from git remote URL
• HybridPlatformConfig type — { repo: 'github', workItems: 'azure-devops' }
• detectWorkItemSource() — reads config to determine work item source
• Watch loop already maps GitHub labels → ADO tags via toWatchWorkItem() / editWorkItem()

What's missing

1. Watch loop doesn't use hybrid config. createPlatformAdapter() returns a single adapter based on the git remote. The watch loop needs to use two adapters when hybrid mode is configured — one for PRs (GitHub) and one for work items (ADO).

2. No config surface for hybrid mode. Users need a way to declare hybrid mode in .squad/config.json:
   json { "version": 1, "platform": { "repo": "github", "workItems": "azure-devops" }, "ado": { "org": "my-org", "project": "my-project", "defaultWorkItemType": "Issue" } }

3. Triage tag format for ADO. The squad:{member} label convention works as ADO tags (freeform strings), but this should be explicitly documented and tested.

Proposed approach

• In the watch loop, split the single adapter into workItemAdapter and repoAdapter
• When config.platform.workItems !== config.platform.repo, create two adapters
• listWatchWorkItems() and editWorkItem() use workItemAdapter
• listWatchPullRequests() uses repoAdapter
• Default behavior (single platform) is unchanged — both point to the same adapter

Related

• fix: replace obsolete --message flag with -p in watch and loop #988 — Fixes core watch/loop execution bugs (prerequisite — watch doesn't work at all without these fixes)
• Bug: watch --execute fails — gh copilot --message is not a valid command #980 — Detailed bug report on watch execution issues

Environment

• Squad CLI: v0.9.1
• Platform: Windows 11
• Use case: .NET CLI project with GitHub repo + ADO backlog