Friction cluster: pr-logbook-redundant-issue (1 report)

[hcross]

Friction cluster: pr-logbook-redundant-issue

1 friction tagged across the harness-friction wing (2026-05-14 (single day)). Routed to https://github.com/hcross/crewrig.

Pattern

Reports span room behavior. The common subcategory anchor is pr-logbook-redundant-issue.

Frictions

1. pr-logbook creates a redundant logbook issue when the PR already closes a feature issue
   • Reported by: claude-code
   • Severity: med
   • Room: behavior
   • Evidence: community-config/skills/pr-logbook/SKILL.md
   • Suggestion (from reporter): The pr-logbook skill should check whether the PR closes an existing issue (via "Closes #N" in the diff or PR body). If so, it should append the logbook entry to that existing issue rather than creating a new one. A new logbook issue is only warranted when no upstream feature ticket exists.

Suggested resolution

All reporters converge on: The pr-logbook skill should check whether the PR closes an existing issue (via "Closes #N" in the diff or PR body). If so, it should append the logbook entry to that existing issue rather than creating a new one. A new logbook issue is only warranted when no upstream feature ticket exists.

Out of scope

This issue was auto-generated by the Harness Curator (V0). It is descriptive only — a follow-up MR (human-authored, or via the auto-fix mode tracked in #42) will close it with the actual diff.

[hcross]

Logbook entry — fix/issue-95-pr-logbook-upstream-check

Context. The friction reported above pointed at a self-referential gap in pr-logbook: the skill instructed agents to open a fresh logbook issue for every PR, even when the PR already closed a feature ticket that could carry the logbook entry. Result: doubled tickets, split discussion, and a logbook label scattered across stubs rather than concentrated on the issue that actually drove the work.

What was tried. Patched community-config/skills/pr-logbook/SKILL.md (+ the .claude/ and .gemini/ mirrors) at §4 Logbook entries. The new clause forces agents to scan the PR body for Closes #N / Fixes #N / Resolves #N before spawning a new issue. When an upstream ticket exists: append the logbook narrative as a comment via add_issue_comment, then gh issue edit <N> --add-label logbook. Standalone logbook issues survive only for hotfixes, dep bumps, or automation runs with no prior ticket. Skill version bumped 1.1.0 → 1.1.1 in all three trees so consumers see the contract change.

Outcome. Three trees touched, identical diff in each (verified via git diff --stat: community-config/skills/pr-logbook/SKILL.md, .claude/skills/pr-logbook/SKILL.md, .gemini/skills/pr-logbook/SKILL.md, +13/-1 each). The PR for this branch applies the new rule to itself — this comment is the logbook entry, no sibling issue was created, and the logbook label was added to #95 via gh issue edit.

Durable lesson for the next agent. When a skill's own instructions are the friction, the fix-PR is the first regression test: if you reflexively reach for gh issue create --label logbook, you have already failed the new rule. Read §4 of the updated pr-logbook/SKILL.md before opening any logbook ticket and let the upstream issue absorb the narrative whenever one exists. Provenance bump (1.1.0 → 1.1.1) is the cheap signal that the contract moved — diff the version line before assuming the old behaviour still holds.