Issue Dependency Mapping

Project Board

All issues are tracked on the Anubis Issue Tracker project board:

• Project URL: https://github.com/users/forrestthewoods/projects/8
• Project Number: 8
• Owner: forrestthewoods

Board Status Workflow

The project board uses these status columns:

Important: Issues in Backlog should be completely ignored by this skill. These are deferred tasks that are not ready for dependency analysis.

Purpose

This skill analyzes GitHub issues to:

1. Identify issues that depend on other issues
2. Find issues that block other work
3. Create cross-references between related issues
4. Build a dependency graph for planning
5. Update project board status based on blocking relationships

Instructions

Step 1: Fetch All Open Issues

gh issue list --state open --json number,title,body,labels,comments --limit 100

Step 2: Analyze for Dependencies

Look for these dependency types:

Explicit Dependencies:

• Mentions of other issue numbers (#N)
• Phrases like "depends on", "blocked by", "requires", "after"
• References to PRs or commits

Implicit Dependencies:

• Issues touching the same files/modules
• Feature requests that build on other features
• Bug fixes that require refactoring first
• Issues in the same functional area

Technical Dependencies:

• Database schema changes before feature work
• API changes before client updates
• Infrastructure before application features
• Core functionality before extensions

Step 3: Categorize Relationships

Step 4: Update Issues with References

Add blocking reference:

gh issue comment <blocked-issue> --body "## Dependency Note

This issue is blocked by #<blocking-issue>.

**Reason:** [Why this dependency exists]

This will be ready for implementation once #<blocking-issue> is resolved."

Add related reference:

gh issue comment <issue> --body "## Related Issues

This issue is related to:
- #<related-1> - [brief description of relationship]
- #<related-2> - [brief description of relationship]

Consider coordinating these changes together."

Mark duplicates:

gh issue comment <duplicate> --body "This appears to be a duplicate of #<original>. Closing in favor of that issue."
gh issue close <duplicate> --reason "not planned" --comment "Duplicate of #<original>"

Step 5: Update Project Board Status

Blocked issues should be moved to appropriate status on project #8:

• Blocked issues waiting for info: Move to "Needs Human Review"
• Blocked issues with info but waiting on other issues: Keep in "Ready to Implement" with dependency note
• Unblocked issues needing agent review: Move to "Needs Agent Review"
• Unblocked issues with implementation plans: Move to "Ready to Implement"
• Issues with active implementation branches: Move to "Needs Code Review"

# Get project item ID for an issue
gh project item-list 8 --owner forrestthewoods --format json | jq '.items[] | select(.content.number == <issue-number>)'

# Update status
gh project item-edit --project-id <project-id> --id <item-id> --field-id <status-field-id> --single-select-option-id <option-id>

Step 6: Generate Dependency Report

Create a comprehensive dependency map:

## Issue Dependency Map

### Dependency Graph

#15 (Database schema update) └── #18 (User authentication) └── #22 (User preferences) └── #20 (API v2 endpoints)

#12 (Refactor job system) └── #25 (Parallel builds) └── #27 (Build caching)

### Blocking Issues (High Priority)
These issues block other work and should be prioritized:

| Issue | Blocks | Description | Board Status |
|-------|--------|-------------|--------------|
| #15 | #18, #20 | Database schema update | Ready to Implement |
| #12 | #25, #27 | Job system refactor | Needs Agent Review |

### Ready to Start (No Blockers)
These issues have no blockers and are ready for work:
- #10 - Fix typo in README (Ready to Implement)
- #11 - Add --help examples (Ready to Implement)
- #15 - Database schema update (Ready to Implement)

### Waiting on Dependencies
These issues are blocked:
- #18 - Waiting on #15 (Ready to Implement, but blocked)
- #25 - Waiting on #12 (Needs Agent Review)

### Related Issue Clusters
Issues that should be considered together:

**Cluster: Build Performance**
- #12 - Refactor job system
- #25 - Parallel builds
- #27 - Build caching

**Cluster: Documentation**
- #30 - Update README
- #31 - Add API docs
- #32 - Tutorial improvements

### Suggested Work Order
Based on dependencies, here's the recommended sequence:

1. **Phase 1 (No blockers):**
   - #10, #11, #15, #12

2. **Phase 2 (After Phase 1):**
   - #18, #20, #25, #27

3. **Phase 3 (After Phase 2):**
   - #22

Guidelines

• Only mark issues as blocked when there's a real technical dependency
• Be specific about why dependencies exist
• Don't create circular dependencies
• Consider partial dependencies (can start work but not complete)
• Check for implicit dependencies through code analysis
• Update dependency notes when relationships change
• Always reflect blocking status in project board

Detecting Dependencies Through Code

When issues reference the same code areas, investigate further:

1. Find files mentioned in issues:

   bashCopy

   # Extract file paths from issue body
   gh issue view <number> --json body
   

2. Check for overlapping changes:

   • If Issue A modifies src/job_system.rs
   • And Issue B adds features to src/job_system.rs
   • They may need coordination (not necessarily blocking)

3. Identify shared abstractions:

   • Changes to traits/interfaces
   • Database schema modifications
   • API contract changes

Example Dependency Analysis

Issue #18: Add user authentication

Analysis:
- References database user table (#15)
- Mentions API endpoints (#20)
- Touches src/auth.rs, src/api.rs

Dependencies found:
- BLOCKED BY #15 (need user table first)
- RELATED TO #20 (both touch API layer)

Board status: Ready to Implement (blocked, waiting on #15)

Resulting comments:

On #18:

Dependency Note

This issue is blocked by #15 (Database schema update).

Reason: User authentication requires the users table which will be created in #15.

Additionally related to #20 (API v2 endpoints) as both modify the API layer.

On #15:

Note

This issue blocks:

• #18 (User authentication) - needs users table
• #20 (API v2 endpoints) - needs updated schema

Please prioritize this issue to unblock dependent work.