/kb-github-scanning

name: kb-github-scanning
description: Reference data, not a reviewer. Search GitHub for issues, PRs, discussions, releases, and alerts. Includes query construction, date range handling, repo scoping, and cross-repo intelligence.
license: MIT
disable-model-invocation: true
user-invocable: false
metadata:
  tier: reference
  domain: cross-cutting
  output: none
  effort: low
  title: Github Scanning

GitHub Scanning

Search Query Patterns by Intent

Issues

Each intent, with its query pattern and scope.

| Intent | Query Pattern | Scope | |--------|--------------|-------| | Assigned to you | `is:open assignee:USERNAME` | All repos | | You were @mentioned | `is:open mentions:USERNAME` | All repos | | Authored by you | `is:open author:USERNAME` | All repos | | Specific repo | `repo:owner/repo is:open` | Single repo | | By keyword | `{keyword} is:open` | All repos | | Org-wide | `org:ORGNAME is:open` | Org repos | | Closed (for recap) | `is:closed author:USERNAME` | All repos |

Pull Requests

Each intent, with its query pattern and scope.

| Intent | Query Pattern | Scope | |--------|--------------|-------| | Awaiting your review | `review-requested:USERNAME state:open` | All repos | | Your open PRs | `author:USERNAME state:open` | All repos | | Assigned to you | `assignee:USERNAME state:open` | All repos | | You reviewed, check for updates | `reviewed-by:USERNAME state:open` | All repos | | Specific PR | Fetch directly with owner, repo, number | Single repo | | Org-wide | `org:ORGNAME state:open` | Org repos |

Discussions

Each intent, with its action.

| Intent | Action | |--------|--------| | You're mentioned | Search with `mentions:USERNAME` | | You're participating | Search discussions you've commented on | | High activity | Filter for 10+ comments in last 24h | | Linked to your issues | Scan description/comments for issue references |

Releases

• Use `github_list_releases` per repo - check for recent, draft, and pre-releases.
• Cross-reference merged PRs against release notes to identify unreleased work.
• Compare issue milestones against release schedules to flag upcoming deadline items.

Security

• Dependabot alerts: critical and high severity across monitored repos.
• Security advisories affecting dependencies.
• Pending dependency update PRs from `dependabot[bot]` or `renovate[bot]`.

CI/CD

• Fetch recent workflow runs - identify failing workflows, long jobs, and flaky tests.
• For failing workflows: note repo, workflow name, branch, failure reason, and link to run.
• Cross-reference user's open PRs against CI results.

---

Date Range Handling

Convert natural language to GitHub query qualifiers:

| User Says | GitHub Qualifier | |-----------|-----------------| | "last week" | `created:>YYYY-MM-DD` (7 days ago) | | "this month" | `created:>YYYY-MM-01` | | "today" | `closed:YYYY-MM-DD` | | "this week" | `closed:>YYYY-MM-DD` (7 days ago) | | "between X and Y" | `created:X..Y` | | Not specified | Use `search.default_window` from preferences (default: `updated:>YYYY-MM-DD` 30 days) - mention this assumption | | "for current month" (a11y tracker) | `milestone:"{Month} {Year}"` |

---

Scope Narrowing

Add qualifiers to narrow by scope when the user specifies one:

| Scope | Qualifier | |-------|-----------| | Single repo | `repo:owner/name` | | All org repos | `org:orgname` | | All repos by user | `user:username` | | Everything (default) | No qualifier - searches all accessible repos |

---

Preferences File Integration

Read `.github/agents/preferences.md` and apply these filters before and after searching:

1. **`repos.discovery`** - determines the default search scope (all / starred / owned / configured / workspace). 2. **`repos.include`** - always include these repos even in restricted modes. 3. **`repos.exclude`** - skip these repos in all searches. 4. **`repos.overrides`** - per-repo settings:

• `track.issues: false` -> skip issue searches for this repo
• `track.pull_requests: false` -> skip PR searches for this repo
• `track.discussions: false` -> skip discussions for this repo
• `track.releases: false` -> skip release checks for this repo
• `track.security: false` -> skip security alerts for this repo
• `track.ci: false` -> skip CI status for this repo
• `labels.include` / `labels.exclude` -> filter results by label
• `paths` -> only trigger for changes touching these file paths (for PRs/CI)
• `assignees` -> filter to specific assignees (empty = all)

5. **`search.default_window`** - default time range if the user doesn't specify one. 6. **`briefing.sections`** - which sections to include in the daily briefing. 7. **`accessibility_tracking`** - config for the a11y tracker (repos, labels, channels).

---

Cross-Repo Intelligence

When results arrive from different repos, look for and surface these patterns:

| Pattern | Action | |---------|--------| | Cross-repo references | When issue A contains `owner/repo#N`, fetch and surface item N | | Shared label patterns | Group items in different repos tagged `P0` together in triage | | Related PRs in different repos | Flag: _"This issue depends on PR #N in repo-B which is still open"_ | | Merged PR not yet released | Note: _"Your PR #N is merged but not in any release yet"_ | | Issue with merged fix PR | Flag: _"This may be resolved - PR #N that closes it was merged on {date}"_ | | Branch naming patterns | Group PRs in different repos using the same branch naming convention |

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Parallel Stream Collection Model

For agents that collect from multiple data streams, run independent streams simultaneously. Don't serialize operations with no dependencies.

Example: Daily Briefing - 3 Parallel Batches

**Batch 1 - fully independent, run simultaneously:**

• Issues (assigned, mentioned, authored)
• Pull requests (review-requested, authored)
• Releases & deployments
• Accessibility updates

**Batch 2 - run after Batch 1 (CI needs PR list from Batch 1):**