---
topic: label-inference
source_keys:
  - context7-websites-gitea
  - gitea-mcp-repo
---

# Label inference guide

Maps context-pattern signals from conversation content (an issue being drafted, a bug report, a PR
description) to this repo's `Kind/*` / `Priority/*` / `Status/*` label taxonomy. Used by
`gitea-issues` and `gitea-prs` before creating or updating an issue/PR, and directly when the user
asks to label something without naming exact labels.

## Scoped labels are mutually exclusive — replace, don't stack

Each of `Kind/*`, `Priority/*`, `Status/*` is treated as a scoped-label group by convention (the `/`
delimiter naming pattern). Gitea's `exclusive` flag — the mechanism that would let the server itself
enforce one-label-per-scope — is documented as an org-labels-only setting, and the repo-level
`label_write` methods used here don't accept it at all. So exclusivity within these scopes is a
convention this skill enforces client-side, not something the server guarantees: applying a new
label within a scope is expected to replace any existing label in that same scope on the target
issue/PR, not add alongside it. When inference
selects a `Priority/High` label and the issue already carries `Priority/Medium`, the write should
result in only `Priority/High` remaining — use `replace_labels` scoped to that group's labels, or at
minimum remove the superseded label before adding the new one. Never leave two labels from the same
scope applied at once.

## Signal → label mapping

**`Kind/*`** (what kind of work this is):

| Signal in context | Label |
|---|---|
| Bug report, error, crash, unexpected behavior, "broken", "doesn't work" | `Kind/Bug` |
| New capability, "add support for", net-new functionality | `Kind/Feature` |
| Improvement to existing behavior, "make X better", refactor with behavior change | `Kind/Enhancement` |
| Docs-only change, README/comment/guide updates | `Kind/Documentation` |
| Vulnerability, credential exposure, injection risk, auth bypass | `Kind/Security` |

**`Priority/*`** (urgency):

| Signal in context | Label |
|---|---|
| "blocking", "critical", "urgent", production-down | `Priority/Critical` |
| "soon", "high priority", "should do this sprint" | `Priority/High` |
| No urgency signal present | `Priority/Medium` (default) |

**`Status/*`** (workflow state):

| Signal in context | Label |
|---|---|
| Explicit statement that the work is blocked on something else | `Status/Blocked` |

## Procedure

1. Read the conversation context (issue/PR title, body, or the triggering discussion) for the
   signals above.
2. Call `label_read method: "list_repo_labels"` (see `references/labels.md`) to get the current
   label set with IDs — inference must never guess an ID, only a name, then resolve it. Because
   `exclusive` is an org-labels-only flag, this taxonomy plausibly lives at org scope too: for any
   inferred name absent from the repo pool, also call `label_read method: "list_org_labels"` with
   `org` set to the repo's `owner` before treating it as unresolved. A failure there means the owner
   is a user account, not an organisation, so no org pool exists and the name is genuinely absent.
3. Match inferred label names against the resolved list (case-insensitive). If a scope group
   already has a different label applied on the target and a new one is inferred for that same
   scope, plan to replace rather than add (see above).
4. **Low-confidence inference omits the label.** If no signal confidently maps to a `Kind/*` value,
   do not guess — omit `Kind/*` entirely rather than default to one. `Priority/Medium` is the one
   exception: it's the explicit default when no urgency signal is present, not a guess.
5. Hand the resolved IDs (plus which scopes to replace) to the caller's `issue_write`/
   `pull_request_write` call — this skill does not apply labels to an issue or PR itself.