ticket-worker

name	ticket-worker
description	Work on a single tk ticket end-to-end. Use when the user says 'work on ticket X' or when spawned by work-tickets.sh.

Ticket worker

Work on a single ticket from start to finish. Follow each step in order. Do not skip verification.

Workflow

1. Read the ticket

tk show <id>

Check that the ticket has the ready-for-development tag. If it doesn't, stop — the ticket is not refined enough for automated work. Add a note and exit:

tk add-note <id> "Skipped: ticket not tagged ready-for-development. Needs refinement before work can start."

If the tag is present, mark the ticket as in progress:

tk start <id>

Understand the title, description, acceptance criteria, and any file hints.

2. Explore the codebase

• If lat.md/ exists at project root: run lat search with keywords from the ticket title and description. Read relevant sections with lat section to understand the architecture before exploring code files.
• Read the files mentioned in the description
• grep for relevant patterns, function names, imports
• Understand the scope of changes needed
• Do not start implementing yet

3. Discover verification commands

Check these files in order to find how to build, test, and lint:

1. devenv.nix — look for scripts, tasks, processes, git-hooks, test commands
2. package.json — look for scripts.test, scripts.lint, scripts.build
3. Makefile — look for test, lint, check, build targets
4. flake.nix — look for checks

Remember what you find. You will need these after every change.

4. Implement incrementally

• Make one focused change
• Run the verification commands you discovered in step 3
• If broken: fix before moving on
• If context is getting heavy: commit what you have, stop — the next session can continue

5. Verify each acceptance criterion

Go through the acceptance criteria one by one. For each criterion:

• If it specifies a command: run that command and check the output
• If it says "tests pass": run the test suite
• If it says "linter clean": run the linter
• If it is behavioral: verify by reading the changed code or running relevant commands
• Explicitly state whether each criterion passes or fails

If lat.md/ exists at project root: run lat check. If it fails, update lat.md/ to reflect your changes and re-run until it passes. The ticket is not complete with a failing lat check.

Do not declare victory until every criterion is verified.

6. Commit and close

If all acceptance criteria pass:

1. Commit using the conventions in the git-commit skill (git commit -S -m "type(scope): description"). If lat.md/ was updated, include those changes in the same commit.
2. Close the ticket: tk close <id> (not done — done is not a valid status)
3. Add a summary note: tk add-note <id> "Summary of what was done"

7. If stuck

If you cannot complete the ticket:

1. Add a note to the ticket explaining the blocker: tk add-note <id> "Blocked because..."
2. Do not close the ticket
3. Commit any partial progress if it makes sense
4. Exit cleanly

Rules

• Verify, don't assume. Run the commands. Check the output.
• Stay focused. Only change files relevant to the ticket.
• No bonus refactoring. Fix what the ticket asks, nothing more.
• Weak acceptance criteria? Fall back to: description satisfied + existing tests pass.
• One ticket per session. Don't carry context from unrelated work.
• Work in the current checkout. The pipeline handles worktree setup (task-pipeline skill). When invoked manually or via work-tickets.sh, just work in the current directory.
• Commit message format. Always use conventional commits, single line, GPG-signed, no AI attribution.