[Intermediate]: Exclude team members to get notified with reminder to /assign on Good First Issues

[exploreriii]

🧩 Intermediate Contributors

This issue is intended for contributors who already have some familiarity with the
Hiero Python SDK codebase and contribution workflow.

You should feel comfortable:

• navigating existing source code and examples
• understanding SDK concepts without step-by-step guidance
• following the standard PR workflow without additional onboarding

If this is your very first contribution to the project, we recommend starting with a few
Good First Issues before working on this one.

🐞 Problem Description

Anyone posting under a good first issue, saying something other than /assign, gets a reminder to ask to get /assign

function buildAssignReminder(username) {
return `${ASSIGN_REMINDER_MARKER}
👋 Hi @${username}!

If you’d like to work on this Good First Issue, just comment:

/assign

and you’ll be automatically assigned. Feel free to ask questions here if anything is unclear!`;
}

We should not send the message if the user is a team member.

💡 Expected Solution

Disable the comment for assign reminder if the user is a team member (has triage, write) permissions.

Don't post in that case.

🧠 Implementation Notes

We have similar examples in other workflows that document how to do this

Edit
.github/scripts/bot-gfi-assign-on-comment.js

For the reminder, line 70 which is called in line 147
add a check before
if in team member, skip

team member can be identified

github.rest.repos.checkCollaborator({
  owner,
  repo,
  username,
});

and checking it returns 204

then craft some kind of skip when they are team members:

const isTeamMember = await isRepoCollaborator({
    github,
    owner,
    repo,
    username: comment.user.login,
});

if (isTeamMember) {
    console.log('[gfi-assign] Skip reminder: commenter is collaborator');
    return;
}

Once this is completed, please test the issue on your fork.
Read:
docs/sdk_developers/training/testing_forks.md

Merge your fix to your main on your fork
Enable issues in settings
Create an issue label called 'Good First Issue'
create a good first issue
post "i want to be assigned"
wait to see if you get the assigned reminder (you shouldnt you'll be a team member on your fork)

create a second test, ask a friend to comment /assign, they should get an assigned reminder

✅ Acceptance Criteria

To merge this issue, the pull request must:

• Fully address the problem described above
• Follow existing project conventions and patterns
• Include tests or example updates where appropriate
• Pass all CI checks
• Include a valid changelog entry
• Use DCO and GPG-signed commits

📚 Additional Context or Resources

• SDK Developer Docs
• SDK Developer Training

[github-actions]

@coderabbitai plan

[coderabbitai]

Coding Plan

Approach

Prevent the GFI assignment reminder comment from being sent to repository team members (collaborators with triage or higher permissions) when they comment on Good First Issues without using the /assign command.

Observations

The project uses GitHub Actions workflows to automate issue management. The GFI assignment bot (bot-gfi-assign-on-comment.js) monitors comments on issues labeled "Good First Issue" and automatically assigns users who comment /assign. For other comments, it posts a reminder message explaining how to get assigned. The codebase has established patterns for permission checking in bot-intermediate-assignment.js that use GitHub's REST API to verify collaborator permission levels.

Assumptions

Assumption 1: API choice for permission checking

Options Considered:

• Use checkCollaborator() - simpler but doesn't distinguish permission levels
• Use getCollaboratorPermissionLevel() - matches existing pattern in bot-intermediate-assignment.js and provides precise permission level checking

Chosen Option: 2

Rationale: The existing codebase pattern in bot-intermediate-assignment.js already uses getCollaboratorPermissionLevel() with proper error handling and permission level validation, making it the natural choice for consistency.

💡 User Tips

Regenerate the plan with different choices with @coderabbitai <feedback>.

Implementation Steps

Add Team Member Permission Check

This phase adds the logic to identify team members and skip reminder comments for them, following the established pattern from bot-intermediate-assignment.js.

Task 1: Create Helper Function for Permission Checking

Add a helper function to check if a user has exempt repository permissions

• Create hasExemptPermission() function in .github/scripts/bot-gfi-assign-on-comment.js following the pattern from bot-intermediate-assignment.js
• Use github.rest.repos.getCollaboratorPermissionLevel() API to fetch the user's permission level
• Handle 404 errors gracefully (user is not a collaborator)
• Check if permission is one of: 'admin', 'write', 'triage', or 'maintain'
• Return boolean indicating whether user has exempt permissions

Task 2: Add Permission Check Before Reminder Comment

Integrate the permission check into the main workflow to skip reminder for team members

• In the main async function in .github/scripts/bot-gfi-assign-on-comment.js, add permission check before the createComment call around line 147
• Call hasExemptPermission() with the comment author's username (comment.user.login)
• If user has exempt permissions, log skip message and return early without posting reminder
• Ensure the check only applies to the reminder flow (not the /assign command flow)
• Add console.log statement: '[gfi-assign] Skip reminder: commenter is collaborator'

🤖 Prompt for AI agents

Add team member permission checking to skip GFI reminder comments for
collaborators with triage or higher permissions.

Create a `hasExemptPermission()` helper function in
`.github/scripts/bot-gfi-assign-on-comment.js`:
- Use `github.rest.repos.getCollaboratorPermissionLevel()` to fetch user's
permission level
- Handle 404 errors gracefully (non-collaborators)
- Return true if permission is 'admin', 'write', 'triage', or 'maintain'
- Follow the pattern from `bot-intermediate-assignment.js`

Integrate permission check before reminder comment:
- Add check before the `createComment` call in the main async function
- Call `hasExemptPermission()` with `comment.user.login`
- If user has exempt permissions, log skip message and return early
- Only apply to reminder flow, not `/assign` command flow
- Log: `'[gfi-assign] Skip reminder: commenter is collaborator'`

---

🚀 Next Steps

🤖 All AI agent prompts combined

Add team member permission checking to skip GFI reminder comments for
collaborators with triage or higher permissions.

Create a `hasExemptPermission()` helper function in
`.github/scripts/bot-gfi-assign-on-comment.js`:
- Use `github.rest.repos.getCollaboratorPermissionLevel()` to fetch user's
permission level
- Handle 404 errors gracefully (non-collaborators)
- Return true if permission is 'admin', 'write', 'triage', or 'maintain'
- Follow the pattern from `bot-intermediate-assignment.js`

Integrate permission check before reminder comment:
- Add check before the `createComment` call in the main async function
- Call `hasExemptPermission()` with `comment.user.login`
- If user has exempt permissions, log skip message and return early
- Only apply to reminder flow, not `/assign` command flow
- Log: `'[gfi-assign] Skip reminder: commenter is collaborator'`

💡 Iterate on the plan with: @coderabbitai <feedback>

Example Feedback
- @coderabbitai You can skip phase 3. Add a simple unit test case for phase 2.
- @coderabbitai For assumption 1 go ahead with option 3 and replan.

---

💬 Have feedback or questions? Drop into our discord!