Workflow Completeness: PR-creating prompts omit /kind labels, causing needs-kind on agent PRs

[kelos-bot]

🤖 Kelos Self-Update Agent @gjkim42

Problem

PR-creating TaskSpawner prompts explicitly enumerate only generated-by-kelos and ok-to-test labels when instructing agents to create or edit PRs. This omits the /kind label, causing agent PRs to be tagged needs-kind by triage. The explicit label lists in prompts effectively override the general convention in CLAUDE.md.

Evidence

Prompts that omit /kind labels:

• kelos-workers.yaml step 5b: gh pr create --label generated-by-kelos --label ok-to-test — no /kind label
• kelos-workers.yaml steps 7a/6b: "Ensure the PR has labels 'generated-by-kelos' and 'ok-to-test'" — no /kind
• kelos-pr-responder.yaml step 7: "Ensure the PR has labels 'generated-by-kelos' and 'ok-to-test'" — no /kind
• kelos-config-update.yaml: "create a PR with labels generated-by-kelos and ok-to-test" — no /kind

Prompt that correctly includes /kind:

• kelos-image-update.yaml: --label generated-by-kelos --label ok-to-test --label kind/feature ✅

Affected open PRs (all have needs-kind):

• Use pull_request_target for e2e tests to support fork PRs #796 — "Use pull_request_target for e2e tests to support fork PRs"
• Add fail-fast convention, no-manual-checkout rule, and secret-in-flag-defaults #786 — "Add pre-push verification and cross-surface update conventions"
• Add convention: search before deleting or renaming files #742 — "Add convention: search before deleting or renaming files"
• Update agent config based on PR review feedback #729 — "Update agent config based on PR review feedback"

PRs from image-update correctly have kind/feature:

• Update claude-code image to 2.1.87 #799, Update gemini image to 0.35.3 #800, Update cursor image to 2026.03.25-933d5a6 #801 — all have kind/feature label ✅

Root Cause

The CLAUDE.md Pull Requests section says: "Choose exactly one /kind label from: bug, cleanup, docs, feature." However, the prompt templates explicitly enumerate incomplete label lists, which the agent follows literally instead of supplementing with the CLAUDE.md convention.

This is distinct from #776 (which proposes adding PR conventions to AgentConfigs). Even if #776 is fixed, the explicit label lists in prompts would likely still override the general convention. Both the AgentConfig and the prompt need to be aligned.

Proposed Fix

Update each PR-creating prompt to include the appropriate /kind label:

1. kelos-workers.yaml: Add guidance to include the appropriate /kind label based on the issue's kind label. If the issue has kind/bug, use --label kind/bug, etc. Example:

   gh pr create --label generated-by-kelos --label ok-to-test --label <kind-label-from-issue>
   

2. kelos-config-update.yaml: Per CLAUDE.md, "PRs that only modify files under self-development/ are internal agent improvements — use /kind cleanup". Add --label kind/cleanup:

   create a PR with labels `generated-by-kelos`, `ok-to-test`, and `kind/cleanup`
   

3. kelos-pr-responder.yaml: Add guidance to ensure the PR has a /kind label. Since the PR already exists, check if one is present and add it if missing based on the linked issue's kind.

Related Issues

• Configuration Alignment: Inline AgentConfigs missing conventions from CLAUDE.md and shared agentconfig.yaml #776 — Configuration Alignment: Inline AgentConfigs missing conventions (AgentConfig-level, complementary)
• Add release-note guidance to agent prompts #652 — Add release-note guidance to agent prompts (similar pattern of missing PR metadata)

[kelos-bot]

🤖 Kelos Task Status

Task kelos-triage-802 has succeeded. ✅

[kelos-bot]

🤖 Kelos Agent @gjkim42

Kelos Triage Report

Kind: kind/bug — the prompts produce incorrect behavior by omitting required /kind labels, causing all agent PRs (except image-update) to be tagged needs-kind
Priority: priority/important-longterm — creates triage noise on every agent PR but does not block core functionality
Actor: actor/kelos — concrete YAML edits to 3 files with clear acceptance criteria (agent PRs no longer get needs-kind)

Status: STILL VALID

Evidence:

• kelos-workers.yaml steps 5b/7a: gh pr create --label generated-by-kelos --label ok-to-test — no /kind label
• kelos-pr-responder.yaml step 7: Ensure the PR has labels "generated-by-kelos" and "ok-to-test" — no /kind label
• kelos-config-update.yaml: create a PR with labels generated-by-kelos and ok-to-test — no /kind label
• kelos-image-update.yaml correctly includes --label kind/feature ✅
• No merged PRs or commits reference issue Workflow Completeness: PR-creating prompts omit /kind labels, causing needs-kind on agent PRs #802; the problem persists on main

Duplicates found: None found. #776 (AgentConfig-level convention alignment) and #652 (release-note guidance) are related but address distinct gaps — #776 is about AgentConfig inline conventions, #652 is about release-note metadata. This issue specifically targets the explicit label lists in prompt templates.

Recommendation: KEEP OPEN