harness-pickup

name	harness-pickup
description	Phase skill: fetch Linear ticket or parse task description into structured context
user-invocable	false

Purpose

Load the task context so all subsequent phases have a clear picture of what to build.

Steps

1. If ticket identifier (AGE-XX):

   • Use mcp__plugin_linear_linear__get_issue to fetch the full ticket
   • Extract: title, description, acceptance criteria, labels, priority, assignee
   • If the ticket has linked issues or parent, note them as context

2. If plain text description:

   • Use the description as-is
   • Note: no labels or priority available, downstream phases should infer from content

3. Update Linear ticket — assign to self and move to "In Progress" — if the task is a Linear ticket (AGE-XX pattern):

   • Use a single mcp__plugin_linear_linear__save_issue call with both:
     • state: "In Progress"
     • assignee: "me"
   • This signals the team that work has started AND who is doing it, without manual board updates
   • The assignee: "me" resolves to the authenticated Linear user behind the MCP — safe to call even if already assigned to self (idempotent)
   • Skip the state update silently if the ticket is already in In Progress or a later state, but still set the assignee
   • Skip the entire step for plain-text tasks (no Linear ticket)

4. Write to state outputs:

   {
     "ticket_id": "AGE-XX",
     "title": "...",
     "description": "...",
     "labels": [],
     "priority": "high|medium|low",
     "acceptance_criteria": "..."
   }
   

5. Initialize the conversation file at .harness/conversations/<task-id>.md (pickup owns file creation):

   # <task-id>: <title>
   
   ## Pickup
   **Ticket:** AGE-XX — <title>
   **Priority:** <priority>
   **Linear status:** moved to In Progress
   **Linear assignee:** self
   **Description:** <summary>
   
   <!-- Subsequent phases append their sections below -->
   
   ## Harness Issues
   
   <!--
   Record any friction encountered during this implementation. Format per issue:
   
   ### [Phase] Brief title
   - What happened: <attempt and failure>
   - Root cause: <why the skill instruction was wrong/missing>
   - Workaround: <what you did instead>
   - Suggested fix: <specific edit to phase skill>
   - Turns wasted: <count>
   
   Leave empty if no friction occurred.
   -->
   

Checklist

• Ticket/task context loaded
• Linear ticket moved to "In Progress" and assigned to self (Linear tickets only)
• Context written to state outputs
• Conversation file initialized with Harness Issues section

Escalation

• If the ticket doesn't exist or Linear MCP fails, stop and tell the human
• If the ticket description is empty or vague, note this and proceed — the understand phase will explore