Issue Management

Advanced issue triage, filtering, and collaboration tools

Overview

Better Hub’s issue management provides powerful filtering, sorting, and triage capabilities to help you organize and prioritize work efficiently. Track bugs, feature requests, and tasks with enhanced visibility and workflow tools.

Key Features

Advanced Filters

Filter by author, label, assignee, milestone, and activity level

Smart Sorting

Sort by newest, oldest, comments, reactions, or last update

Quick Triage

Keyboard navigation for rapid issue processing

Real-time Updates

See status changes and new issues instantly

Issue List View

The issue list provides a comprehensive overview of all repository issues:

Layout

[Search Bar]  [Sort]  [Filters]  [New Issue]
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[Open] [Closed] [Not Planned]
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● #123  Fix authentication bug
   bug, priority:high
   @user · opened 2 hours ago
   Updated 1 hour ago · 5 comments · 3 👍

Issue Metadata Display

Each issue shows:

• Status icon: ● (open), ✓ (closed/completed), ⊘ (not planned)
• Issue number: #123 for quick reference
• Title: Truncated to fit, hover for full text
• Labels: Up to 3 color-coded labels shown
• Milestone: Small badge if assigned
• Author: Avatar + username
• Timestamps: Created and last updated
• Engagement: Comment count and reaction count
• Assignees: Avatars of assigned users (up to 3)

Filtering Issues

Better Hub provides multi-dimensional filtering:

Quick Filters

Click “Filters” to open the filter panel with these options:

Activity

• All: No activity filter
• Active: 5+ comments (busy discussions)
• No Response: 0 comments (needs attention)
• Quiet: 1-2 comments (low activity)

Assignee

• All: Show all issues
• Assigned: Only issues with assignees
• Unassigned: Issues needing assignment

Author

• Searchable list of all issue authors
• Click an author to filter their issues
• Clear with the X button

Label

• Shows up to 10 most used labels
• Color-coded for visual scanning
• Click to toggle (can combine with other filters)

Milestone

• Filter by milestone name
• See progress toward release goals
• Combine with status tabs for planning

Combining Filters

Filters stack! You can combine author + label + activity for precise queries like “unassigned bugs from external contributors with no responses.”

Active filters show:

• Badge count: Number in the Filters button
• Active chips: Visual tags below the toolbar
• Clear all: Remove all filters at once

Sorting Issues

Cycle through sort modes by clicking the Sort button:

Sort Mode	Description	Use Case
Updated	Most recently modified first	Default - see active issues
Newest	Recently opened first	Triage new submissions
Oldest	Oldest issues first	Find stale/forgotten issues
Comments	Most discussed first	Identify complex issues
Reactions	Most 👍 first	Community priorities

Use Oldest + Unassigned to find issues that slipped through the cracks.

State Tabs

Issues are organized into three tabs:

Open

• Active issues needing attention
• Default view when you load the page
• Count updates in real-time as issues are closed

Closed

• Issues marked as completed/fixed
• Includes merged PRs that fixed the issue
• State reason: “completed”

Not Planned

• Issues closed without action
• “Won’t fix” or “duplicate” issues
• State reason: “not_planned”

Why separate Closed and Not Planned?

This distinction helps with metrics and retrospectives. “Closed” issues represent completed work, while “Not Planned” issues don’t count toward team velocity.

Search Bar

The search bar supports multiple query types:

Search Syntax

#123           → Find issue by number
bug fix        → Search in title
@username      → Find issues mentioning user
label:bug      → Issues with specific label
milestone:v2.0 → Issues in milestone

What Gets Searched

• Issue title
• Issue number (with or without #)
• Author username
• Label names
• Milestone titles

Keyboard Navigation

Navigate issues efficiently without touching the mouse:

1. Focus is on the search bar by default
2. Press ↓ to move to the first issue
3. Continue ↓ / ↑ to navigate the list
4. Press Enter to open the selected issue
5. Press / from anywhere to refocus search

The search bar is auto-focused when you open the issues page for keyboard-first workflow.

Creating Issues

Click “New Issue” or press C to open the issue creation dialog:

Issue Form Fields

• Title (required): Brief, specific description
• Description: Markdown editor with preview
  • Templates auto-load if configured
  • Supports code blocks, images, checklists
  • @mention users for notification
• Assignees: Pick from repository collaborators
• Labels: Select multiple labels
• Milestone: Associate with release/sprint
• Projects: Add to GitHub Projects (if enabled)

Issue Templates

If your repository has issue templates, you’ll see them as options:

• Bug report
• Feature request
• Custom templates
• Blank issue

Issue Detail View

Clicking an issue opens the detail page:

Left Column: Conversation

• Original issue description
• All comments (chronological)
• Inline editor for replies
• Reactions on comments
• Cross-references to PRs and other issues

Right Sidebar: Metadata & Actions

• Assignees: Add/remove assignees
• Labels: Add/remove labels
• Milestone: Set or change milestone
• Notifications: Subscribe/unsubscribe
• Lock conversation: Prevent new comments (maintainers only)
• Close issue: Mark as closed or not planned

Timeline Events

The issue timeline shows:

• Comments
• Label changes
• Assignee changes
• Milestone changes
• Close/reopen events
• Cross-references from PRs
• Linked commits

Ghost AI for Issues

Press ⌘I on any issue to ask Ghost:

Common Issue Queries

• “Summarize this issue”
• “What’s the current status?”
• “Are there related PRs?”
• “Draft a response to the author”
• “Suggest labels for this issue”

Issue Triage with Ghost

From the issue list, use Ghost to:

1. Open Ghost with ⌘I
2. Ask: “Show open issues that need triage”
3. Ghost filters for:
   • No assignees
   • No labels
   • No responses
   • Older than 7 days

Ask Ghost to “Create an issue for [feature]” and it will draft the title and description for you.

Linked Pull Requests

Issues automatically detect linked PRs:

• PRs that mention the issue number
• PRs with “Fixes #123” or “Closes #456” in description
• Visual indicator: 🔗 Linked PR tag on the issue
• Click to navigate to the PR

Best Practices

Label on intake: Immediately label new issues during triage. Use bug, enhancement, question, good first issue, etc.

Assign milestones: Group issues by release to track progress. Use milestones as sprints or version targets.

Close promptly: When a PR fixes an issue, close it with a comment explaining the resolution. Keeps the list actionable.

Use “Not Planned” wisely: It’s okay to close issues you won’t address. Better than letting them languish as open.

Bulk Actions

Bulk actions are coming soon! You’ll be able to select multiple issues and apply labels, assignees, or close them in batch.

Related Features

• Ghost AI - AI-powered issue triage and responses
• Repository Overview - See recent issues on overview
• Pull Requests - Link PRs to issues
• Keyboard Shortcuts - All issue shortcuts