| name | matilha-howl |
| description | Use when user asks about project state, current phase, active waves, or next action — reads project-status.md and surfaces the status in a stream-friendly format. |
| category | matilha |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| optional_companions | [] |
When this fires
User asks "where am I?", "what's next?", "what's the state?", or similar intent. Read-only; no mutations. Works at any phase.
Preconditions
- None. matilha-howl lazy-bootstraps
project-status.md stub when absent, then reports on the stub.
Execution Workflow
- Check
project-status.md. If missing, write a minimal stub (current_phase: 0, phase_status: not_started, project_slug: <cwd basename>, next_action: "Run matilha-scout to begin discovery, matilha-plan to plan a feature, or matilha-init for fuller bootstrap"). Then read it via Read tool.
- Parse frontmatter.
- Read any
docs/matilha/waves/wave-*-status.md files via Glob + Read; summarize (how many active, completed, failed).
- Emit a streaming section listing: current_phase, phase_status, next_action, active_waves, recent_decisions (last 3), blockers.
- If
current_phase === 40 and a wave is in_progress, surface per-SP status per wave.
- End with the next_action prompt from project-status.md.
Rules: Do
- Keep output concise (≤ 50 lines).
- Prioritize next_action.
- Surface blockers prominently.
Rules: Don't
- Modify any file (read-only).
- Guess next_action (use the one in project-status.md).
- Over-summarize if there are many waves (show them all).
Expected Behavior
User reads output and knows exactly what to do next without further questions.
Quality Gates
- Output mentions current_phase, phase_status, next_action.
- Active and completed waves enumerated.
Companion Integration
No companion integrations in Wave 4a.
Output Artifacts
None (read-only).
Example Constraint Language
- Use "must" for: read project-status.md.
- Use "must not" for: modify any file.
- Use "may" for: include relative-time labels like "3 days ago" for stale phases.
Troubleshooting
- "project-status.md missing": Instruct user to run
/matilha-init.
- "frontmatter invalid": Instruct user to restore via
matilha init --force or manual fix.
CLI shortcut (optional)
If matilha CLI is installed (matilha --version succeeds), you can run
matilha howl to execute this deterministically. The plugin path
above works without any CLI installation.
