ralph-two-pass-scan

Skill: Ralph — Two-Pass Issue Scanning

Confidence: high Domain: work-monitoring Last validated: 2026-03-24

Context

Cuts GitHub API calls from N+1 to ~7 per round (~72% reduction) by separating list scanning from full hydration. Addresses the scanning inefficiency described in issue #596.

Pattern

Pass 1 — Lightweight Scan

gh issue list --state open --json number,title,labels,assignees --limit 100

Skip hydration if ANY of these match:

Condition	Skip reason
assignees non-empty AND no status:needs-review	Already owned
Labels contain status:blocked or status:waiting-external	Externally gated
Labels contain status:done or status:postponed	Closed loop
Title matches stale/noisy pattern ([chore], [auto])	Low-signal

Pass 2 — Selective Hydration

For each issue surviving Pass 1:

gh issue view <number> --json number,title,body,labels,assignees,comments,state

Then apply normal Ralph triage logic. Rule of thumb: hydrate ≤ 30% of scanned list. If more than 30% survive Pass 1, tighten filter rules.