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| schema: foundry-doc-v1 | |
| title: "Style guide — ticket comment" | |
| slug: style-guide-ticket-comment | |
| category: reference | |
| type: topic | |
| quality: complete | |
| short_description: "Editorial standards for ticket comments in the platform (COMMS genre): header discipline, what-changed-and-next structure, status field conventions, and when to comment versus when to update the ticket description." | |
| status: active | |
| bcsc_class: public-disclosure-safe | |
| last_edited: 2026-05-24 | |
| editor: pointsav-engineering | |
| cites: [] | |
| paired_with: style-guide-ticket-comment.es.md | |
| --- | |
| > A ticket comment records a state change or a decision — not a thought. Every comment advances the ticket. | |
| A **ticket comment** (COMMS genre) is a structured update on an issue, task, or work item. It is addressed to anyone who reads the ticket's history after the comment is posted. Unlike a chat message (which is synchronous and ephemeral), a ticket comment is a permanent record and may be read months later by someone with no context from the thread. This article is the human-facing standard; the machine-readable counterpart lives in `service-disclosure/templates/ticket-comment.toml`. | |
| ## When to use this template | |
| Write a ticket comment when: | |
| - The status of the work has changed and stakeholders need to know. | |
| - A decision was made that affects the ticket's scope, timeline, or owner. | |
| - A blocker has been identified or resolved. | |
| - An action was completed and the completion needs to be on record. | |
| Do not comment to say you are working on the item — update the Status field instead. Do not post exploratory thoughts or half-formed questions as comments; draft them privately and post when the conclusion is clear. | |
| ## Structure | |
| **Header block** (before any body text): | |
| ``` | |
| Ticket: <ticket-id or title> | |
| Status: <new status — Open | In progress | Blocked | Review | Done> | |
| ``` | |
| | Section | Purpose | | |
| |---|---| | |
| | **What changed** | One to three sentences: the specific change in state, decision made, or fact established. Name the artifact, commit SHA, or decision explicitly. | | |
| | **Next** | The concrete next step, with owner. A ticket comment with no "Next" is a dead end — the reader cannot act on it. If the ticket is Done, "Next" is "Closed." | | |
| ## Register and tone | |
| Factual and brief. Past tense for what changed ("Committed X at hash Y"); present or future for next steps ("Owner: Jennifer; due 2026-06-01"). No hedges — either the state changed or it did not. | |
| Status field values are a closed set: `Open`, `In progress`, `Blocked`, `Review`, `Done`. No custom values. | |
| Sentence-length budget: one to two sentences per section. If "What changed" needs more than three sentences, the change is complex enough to warrant a brief or a memo — reference it from the ticket comment rather than writing it inline. | |
| ## See also | |
| - [[style-guide-chat|Style Guide — Chat]] | |
| - [[style-guide-meeting-notes|Style Guide — Meeting Notes]] | |
| - [[language-protocol-substrate|Language Protocol Substrate]] |