first

name	first
description	Jump to head of task queue.
user-invocable	true
allowed-tools	[]

first

/first <instructions> means: do this before anything else — even before finishing what you're in the middle of. It is the counter to also: /also appends to the tail of the queue, /first jumps to the head and can preempt in-progress work.

This is the highest-priority slot in the queue family:

• /first — head of queue; may pause in-progress work to run now.
• /next — immediately after the current (in-progress) task.
• /before <target> — immediately before the referenced queued task.
• /also — tail of queue.
• /last — sticky tail; stays last even as new /also tasks arrive.

What fires this

The user types /first followed by one or more instructions, e.g.:

• /first the build is broken on main — fix that before continuing
• /first revert the last edit, it was wrong
• /first answer this quick question, then go back to what you were doing

How to handle it

1. Pause in-progress work at a safe point. Don't abandon the current task in a broken state — finish the edit-in-hand, let a running command settle, or note exactly where you stopped. You are pausing, not discarding.
2. Do the /first task now, ahead of the in-progress task and everything queued behind it.
3. Then resume. Pick the displaced in-progress task back up where you left off, then continue the rest of the queue in its existing order.
4. Report the interruption. Make clear you jumped the queue for the /first task, what its outcome was, and that you returned to the prior work.

Edge cases

• Nothing in progress. If you're idle, just do it immediately — it's first by default.
• Preempting would break something. If stopping right now leaves the repo or a render half-done, reach the next safe checkpoint before switching — "safe point" beats "this instant." Say so if it causes a brief delay.
• Multiple /firsts. The most recent /first goes to the very head; earlier /firsts sit just behind it (LIFO at the head), all still ahead of the displaced work.
• The /first task depends on the in-progress work. Then it can't truly go first — tell the user, finish the prerequisite, and do the /first task as soon as it's unblocked.

What this is not

• Not a tail task — that's also. /first raises urgency to the max.
• Not "next after the current task" — that's next. /first may interrupt the current task; /next waits for it to finish.
• Not permission to leave things broken — pause cleanly, then resume the displaced work; never silently drop it.