Igor

About

A GitHub Action that automatically makes incremental progress on large projects by working through tracking issues with task checklists. Create a tracking issue with a checklist, and Igor picks up the next unchecked task each day -- reading context, implementing the change, and opening a PR.

What It Does

Once installed, Igor monitors your GitHub repository for issues labeled 'claude-incremental'. Each issue should contain a checklist of tasks. Every day at 2 AM UTC (or when triggered manually), Igor picks the next unchecked task, reads your codebase for context, implements the change on a new branch, opens a pull request, and checks off the task. You review and merge the PR like any other contribution. Over time, Igor chips away at large projects one task at a time.

Use Cases

• Migrate JS files to ES modules
• Add TypeScript types across a codebase
• Refactor a large module piece by piece
• Any project that can be broken into independent tasks

What the Installer Does

For transparency, here is exactly what the installer does:

1. 1

   Check prerequisites

   Verifies that git and the GitHub CLI (gh) are installed and that you are authenticated with gh.

2. 2

   Detect target repository

   Reads your git remote to detect the GitHub repo, or prompts you to enter one. Verifies the repo exists and is accessible.

3. 3

   Download workflow file

   Downloads claude-incremental.yml from ai-foundry (generic for Node/JS/TS projects) and places it at .github/workflows/claude-incremental.yml.

4. 4

   Install issue template

   Asks where to install the issue template. Option 1 (recommended): .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ so it appears in GitHub's 'New Issue' picker. Option 2: .igor/ as a local reference copy. Option 3: skip.

5. 5

   Set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY secret

   Prompts for your Anthropic API key and stores it as a GitHub Actions secret using the gh CLI. You can skip this and set it manually later. The key is sent directly to GitHub -- it is not stored locally.

6. 6

   Create 'claude-incremental' label

   Creates a GitHub label called 'claude-incremental' on your repo. Igor uses this label to find tracking issues to work on.

7. 7

   Configure Actions permissions

   Uses the GitHub API to set workflow permissions to read-write and allow GitHub Actions to create pull requests. This is required for Igor to push branches and open PRs.

8. 8

   Optionally create a sample issue

   Asks if you want to create a sample tracking issue with the correct format so you can see how Igor works right away.

Verifying It Works

After installation, follow these steps to confirm everything is working:

1. 1

   Go to your repo's Actions tab on GitHub and confirm the 'Igor' workflow is listed

   Expected: You should see 'Igor' (or 'claude-incremental') in the left sidebar of the Actions page. If it does not appear, make sure you committed and pushed the workflow file.

2. 2

   Create a test issue with the 'claude-incremental' label and a simple one-item checklist

   Expected: The issue should appear in your repo with the label. Use the format: '- [ ] Add a comment to the top of README.md' as a simple test task.

3. 3

   Trigger the workflow manually: Actions > Igor > Run workflow

   Expected: The workflow run should appear in the Actions tab. Click into it to watch the logs in real time.

4. 4

   Wait for the workflow to complete and check for a new pull request

   Expected: Igor should create a new branch, push a commit implementing the task, and open a pull request. The checklist item in the tracking issue should be checked off automatically.

5. 5

   Review the pull request

   Expected: The PR should contain a focused change matching the task description. If everything looks good, merge it. Igor will pick up the next unchecked task on the next run.