update-issue

update-issue

Apply a targeted change to an existing issue — transition state, swap labels, hand it to someone else, bump priority — without disturbing fields the user did not mention. The skill always inspects the current record first so the update is informed.

When to use

• The user says "close DEV-123", "move this to in progress", "assign to @alice", or similar.
• Another skill finished work and needs to transition the originating ticket (but see the guardrail on auto-closing in solve-issue).
• A label taxonomy change requires bulk relabelling — run the skill once per ticket.

Procedure

1. Read the current state first

Never update blind. Fetch the issue so you know what you are overwriting:

devboy tools call get_issue '{"key": "DEV-123"}'

Note the current state, labels, assignees, and priority before deciding on the diff. This also surfaces whether the issue is already in the desired state (in which case no call is needed).

2. Understand the tracker's state vocabulary

GitLab / GitHub use open / closed. ClickUp and Jira use custom workflows — "To Do", "In Progress", "In Review", "Done", "Blocked". When the user asks for something semantic ("mark it done"), check what the tracker actually offers:

devboy tools call get_available_statuses

Pick the status that matches the user's intent. If none fits, ask before guessing.

3. Apply the minimal update

update_issue is partial — fields you omit are preserved. Send only what actually changes:

# Close an issue
devboy tools call update_issue '{"key": "DEV-123", "state": "closed"}'

# Reassign without touching anything else
devboy tools call update_issue '{"key": "DEV-123", "assignees": ["bob"]}'

# Swap the label set (replaces — not additive)
devboy tools call update_issue '{"key": "DEV-123", "labels": ["bug", "regression"]}'

# Transition a ClickUp / Jira workflow status by string — pass the literal status name via `state`
devboy tools call update_issue '{"key": "CU-abc123", "state": "In Review"}'

Tool fields you can pass: title, description, state, labels, assignees, parentId (ClickUp subtasks), markdown. labels and assignees are replacements, not merges — re-send the full desired list.

4. Narrate the change in a comment

When the state change carries meaning the field itself does not capture, follow up with a comment so the history is readable:

devboy tools call add_issue_comment '{
  "key": "DEV-123",
  "body": "Moving to **Blocked** — waiting on vendor fix for upstream auth (ETA Friday)."
}'

Good triggers for a comment: state → blocked, reassignment, priority escalation, a close-as-wontfix that needs context.

5. Verify

Re-read the issue and confirm the intended fields changed while the others did not:

devboy tools call get_issue '{"key": "DEV-123", "includeComments": false, "includeRelations": false}'

Guardrails

• Never overwrite fields the user did not explicitly mention. If the user said "close it", do not also clear labels or drop assignees. Send only the fields that matter for the stated intent.
• Do not batch unrelated changes into a single tool call if the user can realistically reject one and accept the other — make each change auditable.
• Status names are case-sensitive on some providers. Use the exact casing from get_available_statuses.

Success criteria

• The targeted fields reflect the user's request after step 5.
• All other fields remain identical to the pre-update snapshot from step 1.
• Where the change needs context, there is a comment explaining it.