| name | mc-report |
| description | Report a semantic beat to Mission Control — a decision reached, a milestone hit, or a completion-with-artifact (what shipped + its link). Use when you agree on an approach with the operator, hit a real milestone, get blocked/unblocked, or finish a workstream with something to show — the "why" and the artifact the automatic lifecycle hook can't see. Complements (does not replace) the spawned/working/done spine the plugin's lifecycle hook streams for free. |
mc-report — stream the SEMANTIC beats to Mission Control
Mission Control has two reporting layers, and this skill is the rich one:
- The mechanical spine (automatic — you do nothing). The kickoff plugin's lifecycle hook streams
every subagent's allocation on its own:
SubagentStart → function <agent> working, SubagentStop → function <agent> done + a trimmed final message on the 📡 feed. That gives the operator in flight /
finished granularity with zero charter edits — but it can only see the mechanics, never the meaning.
- This rich layer (deliberate — you reach for it). The hook cannot know what was agreed, which
milestone just landed, or what shipped and where to see it. That is the signal the operator actually
steers on — so you report it, at the meaningful boundaries, by calling
mc-update.py yourself.
Shape every report on the arc the operator cares about: agreement → work → completion + artifact. What
was agreed, what is being built, what shipped and its link. Signal, not a play-by-play — the feed is for
the human, not a debug log. Silence and spam are the same bug.
The entrypoint
Use your repo's mc entrypoint (they take the same verbs — the seam self-targets your board):
- Adopted repo (a repo you ran
kickoff adopt on): .kickoff/bin/mc <verb> …
- kickoff-native project (bootstrap/greenfield):
python3 mission-control/mc-update.py <verb> …
Below, mc stands for whichever applies. Every write is atomic + concurrency-safe (flock), so you stream
your own lane directly and concurrently with every other agent — no coordinator bottleneck.
The three beats to report
1. Agreement — a decision is reached (the "why").
mc add decided "JSON is the canonical store; the tracker renders from it"
mc add in_progress "Wiring the payment webhook" --theme Payments
Report an agreement when the operator OKs an approach or you lock a design call — so the board shows why
the work in flight exists, not just that an agent is busy.
2. Milestone — a real boundary lands (not every edit).
mc log <agent> "payments slice green — 42 tests pass, adversarial review clean"
mc function <agent> blocked "needs the Stripe key (Secrets panel)"
Log at meaningful boundaries only: a slice landed, you got blocked, you got unblocked. The lifecycle hook
already covers spawned/finished — you add the substance the hook can't see.
3. Completion + artifact — the work ships, with something to show.
mc log <agent> "shipped the checkout page → https://preview.myapp.dev/checkout"
mc done in_progress 0 --theme Payments
Always pair a completion with its artifact — a preview URL, a PR link, a screenshot path. done needs a
--theme (its constellation) or its star won't group on the continuum; carry the theme from in_progress.
When to reach for this
Reach for mc-report the moment you cross a semantic boundary — an approach agreed, a milestone hit, a
block/unblock, a workstream shipped with an artifact. Do not narrate routine tool calls or every file
edit: that is the spine's job (or noise). If you're unsure, ask "would the operator steer on this?" — if
yes, report it; if it's just mechanics, let the hook handle it.
Honest-stage
The board reflects only what you write — an unreported milestone is invisible, an over-reported feed buries
the signal. Report the landings and the artifacts, skip the keystrokes. See the mission-control skill for
standing up the board itself and the Secrets channel.
