Backlog

MCP tools are the primary interface for backlog items and GitHub Issues. GitHub Issues are the source of truth; ~/.dh/projects/{slug}/backlog/ per-item files are the local cache. Skills and agents invoke MCP tools or the CLI — no direct Write/Edit on per-item files.

Primary Interface (MCP)

All 12 tools return a dict. On error the dict contains an "error" key. On success it contains result data keys plus messages: list[str] and warnings: list[str] (always present, may be empty). Always check for "error" before consuming result fields.

The MCP tool name prefix is mcp__plugin_dh_backlog__ followed by the tool name below.

backlog_add

Create a new backlog item and optionally a GitHub issue.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
title	str	required	Item title
priority	str	required	P0, P1, P2, or Ideas
description	str	required	Item description
source	str	"Not specified"	Where this item came from
type	str	"Feature"	Feature, Bug, Refactor, Docs, or Chore
create_issue	bool	True	Create a GitHub issue for this item
force	bool	False	Skip fuzzy duplicate check

Returns {filepath, filename, title, priority, issue_num?, messages, warnings}.

Note — research_first has no MCP equivalent. Embed research questions in description.

backlog_list

List open backlog items with optional filters.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
from_github	bool	False	Refresh local cache from GitHub before listing
label	str | None	None	Filter by GitHub label (e.g. "priority:p1")
section	str | None	None	Filter by priority section: P0, P1, P2, or Ideas
status	str | None	None	Filter by status (e.g. "needs-grooming", "status:in-progress")
title	str | None	None	Filter by title substring (case-insensitive)
type	str | None	None	Filter by metadata.type — case-insensitive exact match (e.g. "Bug", "Feature"). Items without metadata.type are excluded when active.
topic	str | None	None	Filter by metadata.topic — case-insensitive substring match. Items without metadata.topic are excluded when active.
include_closed	bool	False	Include items with closed/done/resolved status (excluded by default)
search	str | None	None	Full-text search across title, section, topic, and type simultaneously. Supports OR/AND operators (e.g. "auth OR deploy"), regex patterns (/pattern/ or regex:pattern), field-specific search (title:auth, type:bug, topic:devops, section:P1), and plain case-insensitive substring matching. OR/AND are whitespace-delimited and case-insensitive. Mixed AND/OR in a single query is not supported; AND takes precedence. Combine with other filters to narrow results further.
offset	int	0	Skip the first N items from the filtered result set (for pagination)
limit	int	0	Maximum items to return. 0 = auto-paginate within 4400 token budget (cl100k_base). When has_more=true in the response, call again with the offset from next_call.

Every response item includes state (open/closed) and status (workflow status from status:* labels). Returns {items: [{title, priority, issue, plan, state, status, milestone}], backend: {...}, messages, warnings}.

The backend dict is always present. It reports GitHub availability status probed on every call, regardless of the from_github parameter. No automatic sync is triggered.

backend field	Type	Description
name	str	Backend name ("GitHub")
availability	str	"reachable" | "not_checked" | "needs_authentication" | "rate_limited" | "error"
open_count	int	Live open issue count (0 when not reachable)
total_count	int	Live total issue count (0 when not reachable)
cache_open_count	int	Open count from local cache, same filters as items
cache_total_count	int	Total count from local cache
last_sync	str	ISO timestamp of most recent sync, empty string if never synced
error	str	Error detail when availability is not "reachable", otherwise ""

Note — the CLI --format text|json flag has no MCP equivalent. MCP tools always return structured dicts (equivalent to JSON). Use backlog_view for detailed single-item output.

backlog_view

View a single backlog item in detail. Supports pagination for long bodies.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
selector	str	required	GitHub issue URL, #N, bare number, or title substring
include_content	bool	True	When True (default), returns full body and section entries. When False, returns metadata and section inventory only (section names with entry counts, no body or entry content).
offset	int	0	Skip N entry blocks from body start (for pagination)
limit	int	0	Show at most N entry blocks (0 = all, no truncation)

Returns {title, priority, issue, plan, file_path, body, groomed, messages, warnings} when include_content=True (default). When include_content=False, returns compact metadata: {title, priority, issue, plan, file_path, groomed, sections_metadata, messages, warnings} where sections_metadata is a list of {name, num_entries, num_struck} dicts — no body or sections keys.

backlog_sync

Sync backlog items with GitHub — create missing issues and push groomed content. Emits progress messages via MCP context during execution.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
dry_run	bool	False	Preview changes without modifying anything

Returns {created, pushed, messages, warnings}.

backlog_close

Dismiss a backlog item without completing it and close its GitHub issue. ADR-9.

Use for duplicates, out-of-scope items, superseded items, wontfix, or permanently blocked. For completed work, use backlog_resolve instead.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
selector	str	required	Title substring, #N, bare number, or GitHub issue URL
reason	str	required	One of: duplicate, out_of_scope, superseded, wontfix, blocked
reference	str	""	Related item: #N, URL, or title of item this duplicates/is superseded by
comment	str	""	Additional context about why this item is being closed
cleanup	bool	False	Remove local file after close
force	bool	False	Close even if open PRs reference the issue

Returns {title, reason, closed, messages, warnings}.

backlog_resolve

Mark a backlog item as DONE (completed) and close its GitHub issue with an evidence trail.

Creates a structured completion record (summary, method, notes, follow-ups, findings) as an audit/retrospective trail. Only summary is required — a one-liner suffices for trivial items. For dismissals (duplicate, out of scope, etc.), use backlog_close instead.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
selector	str	required	Title substring, #N, bare number, or GitHub issue URL
summary	str	required	What was done — 1-2 sentence completion summary
plan	str | None	None	Plan path or completion reference
method	str | None	None	How the work was done
notes	str | None	None	Problems found, surprises, or other comments
follow_ups	str | None	None	Created follow-up tickets (comma-separated refs)
findings	str | None	None	Retrospective learnings from this work
cleanup	bool	False	Remove local file after resolve
force	bool	False	Resolve even if open PRs reference the issue

Returns {title, summary, resolved, messages, warnings}.

backlog_update

Update a backlog item — attach a plan, set status, create a GitHub issue, or write groomed content.

For groomed content: provide groomed_content for full replacement, or section + content for incremental section update.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
selector	str	required	Title substring, #N, bare number, or GitHub issue URL
plan	str | None	None	Path to a plan file to attach
status	str | None	None	Set item status (e.g. "in-progress")
create_issue	bool	False	Create a GitHub issue if the item lacks one (P0/P1 only)
groomed_content	str | None	None	Full groomed content (replaces entire groomed section)
section	str | None	None	Section name for incremental update (use with content)
content	str | None	None	Content for the named section (use with section)
title	str | None	None	New title — updates local file and GitHub issue title
description	str | None	None	New description (local file only, no GitHub sync)

Returns {title, changes, messages, warnings}.

backlog_groom

Write groomed content into a backlog item and sync to its GitHub issue. Emits progress messages via MCP context during execution.

Provide either groomed_content (full replacement) or section + content (incremental).

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
selector	str	required	Title substring, #N, bare number, or GitHub issue URL
groomed_content	str | None	None	Full groomed content (replaces entire groomed section)
section	str | None	None	Section name for incremental update
content	str | None	None	Content for the named section

Returns {title, synced, messages, warnings}.

Note — --groomed-file and stdin pipe patterns have no MCP equivalent. Provide content inline.

backlog_normalize

Normalize all per-item files to research-style metadata format and remove body duplication. One-off maintenance operation. Emits progress messages via MCP context during execution.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
dry_run	bool	False	Preview changes without modifying files

Returns {updated, dry_run?, messages, warnings}.

backlog_pull

Pull issue body content from GitHub into local per-item files. Auto-migrates P0/P1 items lacking GitHub Issues by creating them. Merges by section, keeping the longer version unless force=True. Emits progress messages via MCP context during execution.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
selector	str | None	None	Pull a single item: title substring, #N, bare number, or GitHub issue URL
dry_run	bool	False	Preview changes without modifying local files
force	bool	False	Overwrite local content even if local version is newer or longer

Returns {pulled, messages, warnings} for bulk pull; {file_path, messages, warnings} for single-item pull.

backlog_list_comments

List comments on a GitHub issue with pagination. Returns a preview (first 200 characters) per comment — use backlog_read_comment to fetch the full body of a specific comment.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
issue_number	int	required	GitHub issue number (without #)
limit	int	20	Maximum comments to return
offset	int	0	Number of comments to skip (for pagination)

Returns {comments: [{id, author, created_at, updated_at, preview}], count, has_more, messages, warnings}.

When has_more=True, call again with offset += limit to retrieve the next page.

backlog_read_comment

Read the full body of a single comment. The id field from backlog_list_comments is the integer REST comment ID to pass here.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
issue_number	int	required	GitHub issue number (without #)
comment_id	int	required	REST comment database ID (integer from backlog_list_comments)

Returns {id, author, created_at, updated_at, body, messages, warnings}.

body is the full Markdown comment — no truncation.

Return Value Contract

All tools return a dict. Callers must handle both shapes:

Error:   {"error": "<message>", "messages": [...], "warnings": [...]}
Success: {<result fields>, "messages": [...], "warnings": [...]}

Always check for the "error" key before consuming result fields. Log messages and warnings when non-empty.

CI/CLI Interface

GitHub Actions and environments without an MCP client use fastmcp call against the MCP server.

uv run fastmcp call plugins/development-harness/.mcp.json <tool_name> [key=value ...]

Available tools mirror the MCP tools: backlog_add, backlog_list, backlog_view, backlog_sync, backlog_close, backlog_resolve, backlog_update, backlog_groom, backlog_normalize, backlog_pull, backlog_list_comments, backlog_read_comment.

Environment

• GITHUB_TOKEN — Required for all GitHub issue operations (add, sync, close, resolve, update --create-issue, pull). Set in environment before invoking MCP tools or the CLI.

Integration

• /create-backlog-item — calls mcp__plugin_dh_backlog__backlog_add to create per-item files and issues
• /work-backlog-item — calls backlog_list, backlog_view, backlog_close, backlog_resolve, backlog_update
• /groom-backlog-item — calls backlog_groom and backlog_update for groomed content
• /group-items-to-milestone — calls backlog_list to enumerate items for milestone grouping
• GitHub Action — invokes fastmcp call backlog_sync on ~/.dh/projects/{slug}/backlog/ changes

Do not edit ~/.dh/projects/{slug}/backlog/*.md files directly or use gh issue edit — both bypass sync logic. Use backlog_update MCP tool for all item modifications. If the MCP tools or CLI lack a needed operation, invoke /backlog-tools-administrator to close the gap.