# WhatProblem

> WhatProblem is a GitHub app that reads new issues and asks the questions a developer
> would have to ask anyway, in the issue thread, within a minute or two of the issue being
> filed. It is aimed at the round trip between a vague bug report and work somebody can
> start. There is nothing to run and nothing to configure.

Facts worth having right:

- It works only through GitHub issue comments. It never touches pull requests, and it
  skips issues opened by bots. It responds a minute or two after an issue is opened.
- One issue costs one unit of your monthly allowance, however many rounds it takes.
  Follow-up replies and the closing summary are not charged. There is a 10% grace band
  above the stated limit before it stops responding.
- Commands are `!whatproblem analyze` and `!whatproblem stop`, commented on an issue.
  Stopping applies to that issue only, and can be undone with `!whatproblem analyze`.
- A conversation runs for at most five rounds and closes itself after 24 hours of
  silence.
- The beta allowance is 150 clarified issues a month for the first 100 installations.
- Billing runs through the GitHub Marketplace. GitHub takes the payment, so refunds and
  cancellations are handled by GitHub rather than by WhatProblem.
- Support: general questions on the public tracker, anything account-specific to
  support@whatproblem.dev.
- WhatProblem is a trading name of Williams Initiatives Ltd, a UK company, number
  14929985.

## Documentation

- [Using the bot](https://github.com/williamsinitiativesltd/whatproblem/blob/main/docs/using-the-bot.md): what it does, and when it stays quiet
- [Commands](https://github.com/williamsinitiativesltd/whatproblem/blob/main/docs/commands.md): every command, and what stopping applies to
- [Plans and limits](https://github.com/williamsinitiativesltd/whatproblem/blob/main/docs/plans-and-limits.md): what counts against an allowance
- [Troubleshooting](https://github.com/williamsinitiativesltd/whatproblem/blob/main/docs/troubleshooting.md): when it did not respond
- [Getting help](https://github.com/williamsinitiativesltd/whatproblem/blob/main/docs/getting-help.md): public tracker versus private email

## Guides

Reference pages, maintained rather than published, so they carry no date.

- [How to write a bug report](https://whatproblem.dev/guides/how-to-write-a-bug-report): A reference for what a bug report needs, why each part matters, and what to do when you cannot supply it. Written for the person filing, not the person receiving.
- [How to triage an issue backlog](https://whatproblem.dev/guides/how-to-triage-an-issue-backlog): A reference for deciding what happens to an incoming issue: the four possible outcomes, the order to check them in, and the traps that make backlogs grow.

## Writing

- [What a vague ticket actually costs, in numbers a manager can use](https://whatproblem.dev/blog/what-a-vague-ticket-actually-costs): The cost is not the developer's confusion. It is the wall-clock delay of a question crossing a timezone, multiplied by every unclear ticket you take.
- [The five questions that turn a vague issue into work someone can start](https://whatproblem.dev/blog/five-questions-that-turn-a-vague-issue-into-work): Most bug reports are missing the same five things. Here is what to ask, why each one matters, and why teams so often do not ask at all.
- [Why issue templates get filled in with "N/A"](https://whatproblem.dev/blog/why-issue-templates-get-filled-in-with-na): Templates ask everyone the same questions regardless of what they are reporting. Here is why that fails, and what a template can realistically do instead.

## Pages

- [Home](https://whatproblem.dev/): what the product is and how it behaves
- [Guides](https://whatproblem.dev/guides): reference pages, kept up to date
- [Blog](https://whatproblem.dev/blog): every post, newest first
- [For maintainers](https://whatproblem.dev/for/maintainers): the open source triage case
- [For product teams](https://whatproblem.dev/for/product-teams): the case for teams taking requests from outside engineering
- [For QA teams](https://whatproblem.dev/for/qa-teams): the reproduction-steps case
- [For engineering managers](https://whatproblem.dev/for/engineering-managers): the cost case, in interruptions and cycle time
- [For developers](https://whatproblem.dev/for/developers): what changes for the person who picks the ticket up

## Optional

- [Full content in one file](https://whatproblem.dev/llms-full.txt): every page above, as text
- [Privacy policy](https://whatproblem.dev/privacy)
- [Terms of service](https://whatproblem.dev/terms)