An issue must always correspond to a specific action with a well-defined completion state: fixing a bug, adding a new feature, updating documentation, or cleaning up code. Open-ended issues where the end result is not immediately clear ("come up with a way of doing translations" or "Add more features to rich text fields.") are better suited to [Github discussions](https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/discussions), so that there can be feedback on clear way to progress the issue and identify when it has been completed through separate issues created from the discussion.
Do not use issues for support queries or other questions ("How do I do X?" - although "Implement a way of doing X" or "Document how to do X" could well be valid issues). These should be asked on [Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/wagtail) instead. For discussions that do not fit Stack Overflow's question-and-answer format, see the other (Wagtail community support options)[https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail#community-support].
As soon as a ticket is opened - ideally within one day - a member of the core team will give it an initial classification, by either closing it due to it being invalid or updating it with the relevant labels. When a bug is opened, it will automatically be assigned the [`type:Bug`](https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/labels/type%3ABug) and [`status:Unconfirmed`](https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/labels/status%3AUnconfirmed) labels, once confirmed the bug can have the unconfirmed status removed. A member of the team will potentially also add a release milestone to help guide the priority of this issue. Anyone is invited to help Wagtail with reproducing `status:Unconfirmed` bugs and commenting if it is a valid bug or not with additional steps to reproduce if needed.
Don't be discouraged if you feel that your ticket has been given a lower priority than it deserves - this decision isn't permanent. We will consider all feedback, and reassign or reopen tickets where appropriate. (From the other side, this means that the core team member doing the classification should feel free to make bold unilateral decisions - there's no need to seek consensus first. If they make the wrong judgement call, that can always be reversed later.)
The possible milestones that it might be assigned to are as follows:
* **invalid** (closed): this issue doesn't identify a specific action to be taken, or the action is not one that we want to take. For example - a bug report for something that's working as designed, or a feature request for something that's actively harmful.
* **real-soon-now**: no-one on the core team has resources allocated to work on this right now, but we know it's a pain point, and it will be prioritised whenever we next get a chance to choose something new to work on. In practice, that kind of free choice doesn't happen very often - there are lots of pressures determining what we work on from day to day - so if this is a feature or fix you need, we encourage you to work on it and contribute a pull request, rather than waiting for the core team to get round to it!
* A specific version number (eg. **1.6**): the issue is important enough that it needs to be fixed in this version. There are resources allocated and/or plans to work on the issue in the given version.
* No milestone: the issue is accepted as valid once the `status:Unconfirmed` label is removed (i.e. it's a bug report for a legitimate bug, or a useful feature request) but is not deemed a priority to work on (in the opinion of the core team). For example - a bug that's only cosmetic, or a feature that would be kind of neat but not really essential. There are no resources allocated to it - feel free to take it on!
On some occasions it may take longer for the core team to classify an issue into a milestone. For example:
* It may require a non-trivial amount of work to confirm the presence of a bug. In this case, feedback and further details from other contributors, whether or not they can replicate the bug, would be particularly welcomed.
* It may require further discussion to decide whether the proposal is a good idea or not - if so, it will be tagged ["design decision needed"](https://github.com/wagtail/wagtail/labels/status%3ANeeds%20Design%20Decision).
We will endeavour to make sure that issues don't remain in this state for prolonged periods. Issues and PRs tagged "design decision needed" will be revisited regularly and discussed with at least two core contributors - we aim to review each ticket at least once per release cycle (= 6 weeks) as part of weekly core team meetings.
As with issues, the core team will classify pull requests as soon as they are opened, usually within one day. Unless the change is invalid or particularly contentious (in which case it will be closed or marked as "design decision needed"). It will generally be classified under the next applicable version - the next minor release for new features, or the next patch release for bugfixes - and marked as 'Needs review'.
Subsequently (ideally within a week or two, but possibly longer for larger submissions) a core team member will merge it if it is ready to be merged, or tag it as requiring further work ('needs work' / 'needs tests' / 'needs docs'). Pull requests that require further work are handled and prioritised in the same way as issues - anyone is welcome to pick one up from the backlog, whether or not they were the original committer.
Rebasing / squashing of pull requests is welcome, but not essential. When doing so, do not squash commits that need reviewing into previous ones and make sure to preserve the sequence of changes. To fix mistakes in earlier commits, use `git commit --fixup` so that the final merge can be done with `git rebase -i --autosquash`.
We aim to release a new version every 2 months. To keep to this schedule, we will tend to 'bump' issues and PRs to a future release where necessary, rather than let them delay the present one. For this reason, an issue being tagged under a particular release milestone should not be taken as any kind of guarantee that the feature will actually be shipped in that release.
