Auto-assign workflow: load-balanced issue/PR routing (CODEOWNERS + custom Action)

[i-trytoohard]

The problem

Over the last 2 weeks we've had 150+ new issues and PRs — roughly 10 per day. Current state of the repo:

	Open	Unassigned
Issues	200	85 (42%)
PRs	100	41 (41%)

We have no CODEOWNERS file and no auto-assign workflow. Every assignment is manual. At 10/day this is unsustainable — things fall through the cracks, the wrong person gets assigned, or nothing gets assigned at all.

Goal: load-balance humans. Not just "something is assigned" — but the right person, with the least current load.

---

Proposed design: two layers

Issues and PRs need different rules. One tool can't do both well.

Layer 1 — PRs: CODEOWNERS (path-based review routing)

A CODEOWNERS file maps file paths → owners. GitHub automatically requests review from the right person when a PR touches their area. This is correct by construction — a mobile PR never lands on a backend dev.

Sketch (paths and owners to be confirmed by the team):

# Backend (Go daemon, CLI, storage, lifecycle)
/backend/                          @harshitsinghbhandari @neversettle17-101
/backend/internal/cli/             @whoisasx @harshitsinghbhandari
/backend/internal/notify/          @whoisasx

# Frontend (Electron + React supervisor, landing page)
/frontend/                         @codebanditssss @JAYATIAHUJA
/frontend/src/landing/             @codebanditssss @JAYATIAHUJA

# Mobile bridge
/backend/internal/mobilebridge/    @Vaibhaav-Tiwari

# Docs
/docs/                             @somewherelostt

Pros: Zero maintenance, always correct, built into GitHub.
Cons: Does nothing for issues (issues have no file paths).

Layer 2 — Issues: custom load-balanced auto-assign Action

A GitHub Action that runs on issue events and assigns to the least-loaded person — not round-robin. Round-robin ignores current backlog; if someone's on PTO with 20 open issues, it keeps dumping on them.

Logic:

Issue opened
  → add needs-triage label
  → assign to least-loaded person in the triage pool (all eng)

Issue labeled comp/*
  → reassign to least-loaded person in that component's owner pool

"Least-loaded" = a small script that queries the API for each candidate's open-issue count and picks the lowest.

Component → owner pool (using our existing comp/* labels):

Label	Pool
comp/daemon	@harshitsinghbhandari @neversettle17-101
comp/desktop	@codebanditssss @JAYATIAHUJA @Vaibhaav-Tiwari
comp/mobile	@Vaibhaav-Tiwari
comp/cli	@harshitsinghbhandari @whoisasx
comp/docs-site	@codebanditssss @JAYATIAHUJA
unlabeled (triage)	rotation of all engineers

---

Why not just use kentaro-m/auto-assign-action?

It's round-robin. Cycles through people regardless of current load. At 10/day the drift kills you — one person ends up with 30 open issues, another with 5. The custom script is ~60 lines and actually checks who's drowning.

---

Confirmed team roster

Handles below are API-verified as real GitHub accounts.

Name	Handle	Area
Harshit	@harshitsinghbhandari	backend + releases
Khushi	@codebanditssss	frontend + landing
Jayati	@JAYATIAHUJA	frontend
Vaibhav Tiwari	@Vaibhaav-Tiwari	mobile (major), some FE/BE
Dhruv	@illegalcall	all-round reviewer
Aditi	@neversettle17-101	core-backend
Adil	@whoisasx	SCM, notifications
Maaz	@somewherelostt	content
Pulkit	@Pulkit7070	reviews

---

Input needed from the team

1. Component → owner mapping — is the table above right? Anything missing or misplaced?
2. CODEOWNERS paths — are the path globs correct? What's missing? (e.g., where do packages/, scripts/, test/, .github/ route?)
3. Dhruv (@illegalcall) in the issue triage rotation, or reviewer-only? He's the all-round reviewer — adding triage noise might not be wanted.
4. Should needs-triage unlabeled issues auto-assign at all, or wait for a human to label them first? (Auto-assign reduces 0-assignee issues but may misroute.)
5. PTO / load caps — should we skip someone if they have >N open issues? What's N?
6. Anyone I missed? If someone should be in a pool and isn't listed, call it out.

Drop your thoughts below. Once we agree on the mapping, we'll wire up the CODEOWNERS + Action in one PR.