Walkthrough

GitHub issue templates are updated to encourage agent-first diagnostics. The bug report template now requires reporters to run an agent and submit diagnostic output before filing issues. Contact links redirect questions to Discussions and troubleshooting help to documentation.

Changes

Agent-First Issue Handling

Estimated code review effort

🎯 1 (Trivial) | ⏱️ ~3 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• NVIDIA/NemoClaw#4857: Aligns with earlier PR updates to GitHub issue templates that introduced machine-readable triage labels and NemoClaw maintainer workflow policies for issue classification.

Suggested labels

chore, documentation

Suggested reviewers

• cv

Poem

🐰 A rabbit hops through templates fine,
Guiding bugs to agents divine,
Questions routed before the report—
Smart troubleshooting first, of course!
Agent wisdom leads the way. ✨

_{✏️ Tip: You can configure your own custom pre-merge checks in the settings.}

E2E Recommendation Advisor

Base: origin/main
Head: HEAD
Confidence: high

Required E2E

• None. No E2E is recommended because the PR only modifies GitHub issue templates/contact links. These are repository-maintenance changes and cannot affect runtime behavior or real user flows exercised by NemoClaw E2E tests.

Optional E2E

• None.

New E2E recommendations

• None.

E2E Scenario Advisor

Base: origin/main
Head: HEAD
Confidence: high

Required scenario E2E

• None. Only GitHub issue template configuration changed; this cannot affect scenario E2E behavior.

Optional scenario E2E

• None.

Relevant changed files

• None.

🛠️ Needs attention

• None.

🔎 Worth checking

• Source-of-truth review needed: GitHub bug report template agent-first guidance: The advisor marked localized patch analysis as needs_followup.
  • Recommendation: Identify the invalid state, source boundary, source-fix constraint, regression test, and removal condition before merging the localized behavior.
  • Evidence: `bug_report.yml` references agent-first investigation and CONTRIBUTING; `CONTRIBUTING.md` only describes confirmed bugs/reproduction steps in the issue-opening section.
• Required public log fields need redaction and N/A guidance (.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.yml:77): The bug report form now requires both debug output and additional logs in a public GitHub issue, but the descriptions do not remind reporters to redact tokens, secrets, credentials, or PII. The required Logs field also asks for information "not covered by the debug output above", which may not exist for valid reports and can push users to paste unnecessary raw logs.
  • Recommendation: Add explicit redaction guidance to the Debug Output and Logs descriptions, and give reporters a truthful required-field path such as "Enter N/A if there are no additional logs" or "Paste the command failure if debug cannot run." Consider keeping additional Logs optional if debug output is already required.
  • Evidence: `debug-output` tells users to run `nemoclaw debug --output ...` and is `required: true` at lines 65-71; `logs` asks for additional logs/stack traces and is `required: true` at lines 76-80, with no redaction or N/A guidance.
• Agent-first bug intake wording is not backed by CONTRIBUTING (.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.yml:2): The template says "Your agent should investigate first - see CONTRIBUTING.md" and the markdown says to point a coding agent at the repo before filing, but CONTRIBUTING's issue-opening section currently only requires confirmed bugs/reproduction steps and routes questions/security reports elsewhere. The only AI-agent guidance found in CONTRIBUTING is in the Documentation section, so the template creates a process/source-of-truth mismatch.
  • Recommendation: Either update CONTRIBUTING's "Before You Open an Issue" section to document the agent-first bug-report expectation and what to do when a reporter cannot use an agent, or soften the template language so it presents agent diagnostics as optional helpful context rather than a CONTRIBUTING-backed prerequisite.
  • Evidence: `bug_report.yml` lines 2 and 11 reference agent-first investigation and CONTRIBUTING. `CONTRIBUTING.md` lines 38-46 describe when to open issues without an agent-first requirement, while AI-agent guidance appears later in the Documentation section.

🌱 Nice ideas

• None.

• **Mocked behavioral coverage** — Validate `.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.yml` parses as a GitHub issue form with required description, reproduction, environment, debug-output, logs, and checklist fields.. No runtime unit tests are necessary for this YAML-only issue-template change, but lightweight schema/link validation would reduce regression risk for the intake form and contact links.
• **Mocked behavioral coverage** — Validate `agent-diagnostic` remains optional while the intended diagnostic fields remain required.. No runtime unit tests are necessary for this YAML-only issue-template change, but lightweight schema/link validation would reduce regression risk for the intake form and contact links.
• **Mocked behavioral coverage** — Validate required diagnostic fields include redaction guidance and a safe `N/A` or `cannot run` path.. No runtime unit tests are necessary for this YAML-only issue-template change, but lightweight schema/link validation would reduce regression risk for the intake form and contact links.
• **Mocked behavioral coverage** — Validate each `.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/config.yml` contact link points to the intended existing target, including Discussions, `docs/reference/troubleshooting.mdx`, and `SECURITY.md`.. No runtime unit tests are necessary for this YAML-only issue-template change, but lightweight schema/link validation would reduce regression risk for the intake form and contact links.
• **GitHub bug report template agent-first guidance** — A lightweight repository check or review checklist could verify that issue-template links and process claims are reflected in the referenced documentation.. `bug_report.yml` references agent-first investigation and CONTRIBUTING; `CONTRIBUTING.md` only describes confirmed bugs/reproduction steps in the issue-opening section.

Current findings:

• Source-of-truth review needed: GitHub bug report template agent-first guidance: The advisor marked localized patch analysis as needs_followup.
  • Recommendation: Identify the invalid state, source boundary, source-fix constraint, regression test, and removal condition before merging the localized behavior.
  • Evidence: `bug_report.yml` references agent-first investigation and CONTRIBUTING; `CONTRIBUTING.md` only describes confirmed bugs/reproduction steps in the issue-opening section.
• Required public log fields need redaction and N/A guidance (.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.yml:77): The bug report form now requires both debug output and additional logs in a public GitHub issue, but the descriptions do not remind reporters to redact tokens, secrets, credentials, or PII. The required Logs field also asks for information "not covered by the debug output above", which may not exist for valid reports and can push users to paste unnecessary raw logs.
  • Recommendation: Add explicit redaction guidance to the Debug Output and Logs descriptions, and give reporters a truthful required-field path such as "Enter N/A if there are no additional logs" or "Paste the command failure if debug cannot run." Consider keeping additional Logs optional if debug output is already required.
  • Evidence: `debug-output` tells users to run `nemoclaw debug --output ...` and is `required: true` at lines 65-71; `logs` asks for additional logs/stack traces and is `required: true` at lines 76-80, with no redaction or N/A guidance.
• Agent-first bug intake wording is not backed by CONTRIBUTING (.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.yml:2): The template says "Your agent should investigate first - see CONTRIBUTING.md" and the markdown says to point a coding agent at the repo before filing, but CONTRIBUTING's issue-opening section currently only requires confirmed bugs/reproduction steps and routes questions/security reports elsewhere. The only AI-agent guidance found in CONTRIBUTING is in the Documentation section, so the template creates a process/source-of-truth mismatch.
  • Recommendation: Either update CONTRIBUTING's "Before You Open an Issue" section to document the agent-first bug-report expectation and what to do when a reporter cannot use an agent, or soften the template language so it presents agent diagnostics as optional helpful context rather than a CONTRIBUTING-backed prerequisite.
  • Evidence: `bug_report.yml` lines 2 and 11 reference agent-first investigation and CONTRIBUTING. `CONTRIBUTING.md` lines 38-46 describe when to open issues without an agent-first requirement, while AI-agent guidance appears later in the Documentation section.