Issue
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
An issue is GitHub's word for a ticket — a filed report about a bug, feature request, or question. Anyone can open an issue on an open source project, making it the primary way users and contributors communicate with maintainers.
Real Talk
An issue is a record in a project's tracking system (GitHub Issues, GitLab Issues, Jira) representing a bug, enhancement request, task, or discussion. Issues can be assigned, labelled, milestoned, and linked to pull requests. In open source, they are the main feedback channel.
When You'll Hear This
"Open an issue on the repo describing the bug." / "That issue is a duplicate — close it with a reference to the original."
Related Terms
Backlog
The backlog is the master to-do list for a product — every feature, bug, and idea that hasn't been built yet, prioritised by importance.
LGTM (Looks Good To Me)
LGTM is the two-word code review approval that can mean anything from 'I carefully reviewed every line and this is perfect' to 'I glanced at the title and...
Pull Request (PR)
A pull request is like raising your hand in class and saying 'Hey, I made some changes — can someone check my work before we make it official?
Ticket
A ticket is a single unit of work in a project management tool — it could be a bug to fix, a feature to build, or a task to complete.
WIP (Work In Progress)
Code that's not done yet. When you mark a PR as WIP, it means 'don't merge this — I'm still working on it.' It's like a 'wet paint' sign for your code.