Dosu answers technical questions where your team already works: on GitHub issues, in GitHub Discussions, and in Slack. It reads the question, searches your connected Sources, and writes a grounded answer with citations back to the code, Documents, and past threads it used. This page covers how answering works, the reply modes that control when Dosu posts, and how to preview drafts before anything gets posted publicly.
What it is#
When someone asks a question, the Dosu Agent searches the Sources connected to the Library behind that Agent (code, documentation, past issues, and other related tools), synthesizes an answer, and includes citations linking back to the source material. In an organization's usage, this is typically several citations per reply, so readers can verify the answer.
Q&A is available in three places:
- GitHub issues
- GitHub Discussions
- Slack channels
You can always summon Dosu directly by mentioning it (@dosu, @dosubot, or @dosu-bot) on a thread. Editing an existing comment to add the mention also triggers a response. Beyond direct mentions, what Dosu does on its own depends on the reply mode.
Why it matters#
In a growing engineering organization, the same questions keep coming up across many repos and channels, and the answers are scattered across docs, old issues, and people's heads. Dosu drafts a first response from indexed knowledge so a question does not wait on the one person who happens to know, and it surfaces similar existing threads, so duplicate work gets caught early. Engineers stay in control of what actually gets posted, and the same setup works for a single repo, a whole company, or a public open source project.
Reply modes#
Reply mode controls when and how Dosu responds. You set it per surface, so issues, Discussions, and Slack channels can each behave differently.
- Mention. Dosu replies only when explicitly mentioned. This is the default, and most teams start here as they build confidence in the quality of their answers.
- Auto Draft. Dosu automatically drafts a response to new threads but does not post it. Drafts queue for your team on the Review page. This is preview mode: run Dosu without enabling public responses and validate quality privately first.
- Auto Reply. Dosu automatically posts responses to new threads without anyone having to mention it.
A direct @dosu mention always posts a response immediately, even when the surface is set to Auto Draft. Drafts only apply to auto-triggered responses where no one mentioned Dosu.
What gets auto-handled#
In Auto Draft and Auto Reply, Dosu only acts on threads worth answering. A thread is skipped when it is already closed, already answered by Dosu, or opened by a bot. Old or stale threads are skipped too, unless someone explicitly mentions Dosu.
Previewing and reviewing drafts#
Auto Draft gives you a human-in-the-loop workflow. Dosu does the research and writes the response, and your team decides what ships.
Drafts appear on the Review page, where you can:
- Publish the draft as written.
- Edit it first, then publish.
- Delete it if no response is needed.
Each preview carries a confidence score badge next to its preview badge, so you can scan the queue and spot which drafts are safe to publish and which need a closer look before going public.
GitHub Discussions categories#
On GitHub Discussions, Dosu responds only in the categories you choose. By default, those are the Q&A and Questions categories, which keep Dosu out of the announcement or showcase categories where answers are not expected. When Auto Draft or Auto Reply is enabled for Discussions, pick the active categories under Discussions, then Included Categories in the Agent's settings. Open or create the relevant Agent at Agents.
Getting good answers#
Answer quality depends on the connected Sources and on how the question is asked.
- If you are asking. Include context: error messages, code snippets, and what you have already tried. Be specific about the goal, and name the files or features involved.
- If you maintain the Library. Connect comprehensive Sources (documentation, code, past issues), so Dosu has context to draw from and keeps that knowledge current. Dosu searches what is indexed, and outdated Sources lead to outdated answers. The Monitor helps by flagging knowledge that has become outdated.