gitlore/docs/ideas/label-flow.md

Label Velocity

• Command: lore label-flow <from-label> <to-label>
• Confidence: 78%
• Tier: 3
• Status: proposed
• Effort: medium — self-join on resource_label_events, percentile computation

What

For a given label pair (e.g., "needs-review" to "approved"), compute median and P90 transition times using resource_label_events. Shows how fast work moves through your process labels.

Also supports: single label dwell time (how long does "in-progress" stay applied?).

Why

Process bottlenecks become quantifiable. "Our code review takes a median of 3 days" is actionable data for retrospectives and process improvement.

Data Required

All exists today:

• resource_label_events (label_name, action, created_at, issue_id, merge_request_id)

Implementation Sketch

-- Label A → Label B transition time
WITH add_a AS (
    SELECT issue_id, merge_request_id, MIN(created_at) as added_at
    FROM resource_label_events
    WHERE label_name = ?1 AND action = 'add'
    GROUP BY issue_id, merge_request_id
),
add_b AS (
    SELECT issue_id, merge_request_id, MIN(created_at) as added_at
    FROM resource_label_events
    WHERE label_name = ?2 AND action = 'add'
    GROUP BY issue_id, merge_request_id
)
SELECT
    (b.added_at - a.added_at) / 3600000.0 as hours_transition
FROM add_a a
JOIN add_b b ON a.issue_id = b.issue_id OR a.merge_request_id = b.merge_request_id
WHERE b.added_at > a.added_at;

Then compute percentiles in Rust (median, P75, P90).

Human Output

Label Flow: "needs-review" → "approved"

  Transitions:  42 issues/MRs in last 90 days
  Median:       18.5 hours
  P75:          36.2 hours
  P90:          72.8 hours
  Slowest:      !234 Refactor auth (168 hours)

Downsides

• Only works if teams use label-based workflows consistently
• Labels may be applied out of order or skipped
• Self-join performance could be slow with many events

Extensions

• lore label-flow --dwell "in-progress" — how long does a label stay?
• lore label-flow --all — auto-discover common transitions from event data
• Visualization: label state machine with median transition times on edges