| name | ce-work |
| description | Execute work efficiently while maintaining quality and finishing features |
| argument-hint | [Plan doc path or description of work. Blank to auto use latest plan doc] |
Work Execution Command
Execute work efficiently while maintaining quality and finishing features.
Introduction
This command takes a work document (plan or specification) or a bare prompt describing the work, and executes it systematically. The focus is on shipping complete features by understanding requirements quickly, following existing patterns, and maintaining quality throughout.
Input Document
<input_document> #$ARGUMENTS </input_document>
Execution Workflow
Phase 0: Input Triage
Determine how to proceed based on what was provided in <input_document>.
Plan document (input is a file path to an existing plan or specification) → skip to Phase 1.
Bare prompt (input is a description of work, not a file path):
-
Scan the work area
- Identify files likely to change based on the prompt
- Find existing test files for those areas (search for test/spec files that import, reference, or share names with the implementation files)
- Note local patterns and conventions in the affected areas
-
Assess complexity and route
| Complexity | Signals | Action |
|---|
| Trivial | 1-2 files, no behavioral change (typo, config, rename) | Proceed to Phase 1 step 2 (environment setup), then implement directly — no task list, no execution loop. Apply Test Discovery if the change touches behavior-bearing code |
| Small / Medium | Clear scope, under ~10 files | Build a task list from discovery. Proceed to Phase 1 step 2 |
| Large | Cross-cutting, architectural decisions, 10+ files, touches auth/payments/migrations | Inform the user this would benefit from /ce-brainstorm or /ce-plan to surface edge cases and scope boundaries. Honor their choice. If proceeding, build a task list and continue to Phase 1 step 2 |
Phase 1: Quick Start
-
Read Plan and Clarify (skip if arriving from Phase 0 with a bare prompt)
- Read the work document completely
- Treat the plan as a decision artifact, not an execution script
- If the plan includes sections such as
Implementation Units, Work Breakdown, Requirements Trace, Files, Test Scenarios, or Verification, use those as the primary source material for execution
- Check for
Execution note on each implementation unit — these carry the plan's execution posture signal for that unit (for example, test-first or characterization-first). Note them when creating tasks.
- Check for a
Deferred to Implementation or Implementation-Time Unknowns section — these are questions the planner intentionally left for you to resolve during execution. Note them before starting so they inform your approach rather than surprising you mid-task
- Check for a
Scope Boundaries section — these are explicit non-goals. Refer back to them if implementation starts pulling you toward adjacent work
- Review any references or links provided in the plan
- If the user explicitly asks for TDD, test-first, or characterization-first execution in this session, honor that request even if the plan has no
Execution note
- If anything is unclear or ambiguous, ask clarifying questions now
- If clarifying questions were needed above, get user approval on the resolved answers. If no clarifications were needed, proceed without a separate approval step — plan scope is the plan's authority, not something to renegotiate
- Do not skip this - better to ask questions now than build the wrong thing
-
Setup Environment
First, check the current branch:
current_branch=$(git branch --show-current)
default_branch=$(git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD 2>/dev/null | sed 's@^refs/remotes/origin/@@')
if [ -z "$default_branch" ]; then
default_branch=$(git rev-parse --verify origin/main >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "main" || echo )
Phase 2: Execute
-
Task Execution Loop
For each task in priority order:
while (tasks remain):
- Mark task as in-progress
- Read any referenced files from the plan or discovered during Phase 0
- Look for similar patterns in codebase
- Find existing test files for implementation files being changed (Test Discovery — see below)
- Implement following existing conventions
- Add, update, or remove tests to match implementation changes (see Test Discovery below)
- Run System-Wide Test Check (see below)
- Run tests after changes
- Assess testing coverage: did this task change behavior? If yes, were tests written or updated? If no tests were added, is the justification deliberate (e.g., pure config, no behavioral change)?
- Mark task as completed
- Evaluate for incremental commit (see below)
When a unit carries an Execution note, honor it. For test-first units, write the failing test before implementation for that unit. For characterization-first units, capture existing behavior before changing it. For units without an Execution note, proceed pragmatically.
Guardrails for execution posture:
- Do not write the test and implementation in the same step when working test-first
- Do not skip verifying that a new test fails before implementing the fix or feature
- Do not over-implement beyond the current behavior slice when working test-first
- Skip test-first discipline for trivial renames, pure configuration, and pure styling work
Test Discovery — Before implementing changes to a file, find its existing test files (search for test/spec files that import, reference, or share naming patterns with the implementation file). When a plan specifies test scenarios or test files, start there, then check for additional test coverage the plan may not have enumerated. Changes to implementation files should be accompanied by corresponding test updates — new tests for new behavior, modified tests for changed behavior, removed or updated tests for deleted behavior.
Test Scenario Completeness — Before writing tests for a feature-bearing unit, check whether the plan's Test scenarios cover all categories that apply to this unit. If a category is missing or scenarios are vague (e.g., "validates correctly" without naming inputs and expected outcomes), supplement from the unit's own context before writing tests:
| Category | When it applies | How to derive if missing |
|---|
| Happy path | Always for feature-bearing units | Read the unit's Goal and Approach for core input/output pairs |
Phase 3-4: Quality Check and Ship It
When all Phase 2 tasks are complete and execution transitions to quality check, read references/shipping-workflow.md for the full shipping workflow: quality checks, code review, final validation, PR creation, and notification.
Key Principles
Start Fast, Execute Faster
- Get clarification once at the start, then execute
- Don't wait for perfect understanding - ask questions and move
- The goal is to finish the feature, not create perfect process
The Plan is Your Guide
- Work documents should reference similar code and patterns
- Load those references and follow them
- Don't reinvent - match what exists
Test As You Go
- Run tests after each change, not at the end
- Fix failures immediately
- Continuous testing prevents big surprises
Quality is Built In
- Follow existing patterns
- Write tests for new code
- Run linting before pushing
- Review every change — inline for simple additive work, full review for everything else
Ship Complete Features
- Mark all tasks completed before moving on
- Don't leave features 80% done
- A finished feature that ships beats a perfect feature that doesn't
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- Analysis paralysis - Don't overthink, read the plan and execute
- Skipping clarifying questions - Ask now, not after building wrong thing
- Ignoring plan references - The plan has links for a reason
- Testing at the end - Test continuously or suffer later
- Forgetting to track progress - Update task status as you go or lose track of what's done
- 80% done syndrome - Finish the feature, don't move on early
- Skipping review - Every change gets reviewed; only the depth varies
- Re-scoping the plan into human-time phases - The plan's Implementation Units define the scope of execution. Do not estimate human-hours per unit, propose multi-day breakdowns, or ask the user to pick a subset of units for "this session". Agents execute at agent speed, and context-window pressure is addressed by subagent dispatch (Phase 1 Step 4), not by phased sessions. If a plan-file input is genuinely too large for a single execution, say so plainly and suggest the user return to
/ce-plan to reduce scope — don't invent session phases as a workaround. For bare-prompt input, Phase 0's Large routing already handles oversized work