| name | paw-lite |
| description | Lightweight PAW workflow skill. Optional work shaping → plan → parallel fleet-style implementation → configurable review (single-model, multi-model, or SoT) → PR. Uses SQL todos for coordination and delegates to paw-work-shaping, paw-sot, paw-git-operations, and paw-pr. |
PAW Lite
Execution Context: This skill runs directly in the calling agent's session (not a subagent), preserving interactivity for work shaping Q&A, planning decisions, and review discussion.
Prerequisite: WorkflowContext.md must exist (created by paw-init or manually).
Workflow Stages
[Work Shaping] → [Plan] → [Implement] → [Review] → [PR]
(optional) (light) (fleet-style) (configurable)
Stage 1: Work Shaping (optional)
When to run: User's request is vague, exploratory, or multi-faceted. Skip for clear bug fixes, well-defined tasks, or when the user says to skip.
How: Load the paw-work-shaping skill and follow its instructions. It produces WorkShaping.md in the work directory.
Stage 2: Plan
Create an implementation plan and save it to .paw/work/<work-id>/Plan.md.
Desired end states:
- Plan includes approach summary, work items, and key decisions
- Todos reflected in SQL for fleet coordination:
INSERT INTO todos (id, title, description, status) VALUES ...;
INSERT INTO todo_deps (todo_id, depends_on) VALUES ...;
- Plan committed per artifact lifecycle mode
Guidance:
- Structure todos to minimize dependencies and maximize parallel execution
- If the task is simple enough for a single sequential implementation, skip fleet dispatch in Stage 3 and implement directly
Stage 3: Implement (Fleet-Style)
Implement the plan using parallel task subagents for independent work items.
Getting started:
- Query ready todos:
SELECT * FROM todos WHERE status = 'pending' AND id NOT IN (SELECT todo_id FROM todo_deps td JOIN todos t ON td.depends_on = t.id WHERE t.status != 'done')
- If multiple independent todos exist, dispatch them as parallel background
task subagents
- If only one todo or all have dependencies, implement sequentially
Parallel execution rules:
- Dispatch independent todos simultaneously via background
task subagents
- Never dispatch just a single background subagent — either use sync or dispatch multiple
- Each sub-agent prompt must include the full task context and instruction to update SQL:
UPDATE todos SET status = 'done' WHERE id = '<id>'
- If
Implementation Model in WorkflowContext.md is not none, pass it as the model parameter to each task subagent
- After sub-agents complete, validate work quality and check todo status in SQL
After implementation:
- Verify all todos are done:
SELECT id, status FROM todos WHERE status != 'done'
- Run project verification (tests, lint, build) per repository norms
- Commit changes following selective staging discipline (never
git add .)
- Stage
.paw/ files per artifact lifecycle mode from WorkflowContext.md
Selective staging: Follow paw-git-operations patterns for selective staging discipline and artifact lifecycle handling.
Stage 4: Review (configurable)
Review the implementation before PR creation. Configuration comes from WorkflowContext.md fields Final Review Mode and related settings.
Review modes:
| Mode | What happens |
|---|
single-model | Agent reviews its own changes — check diff, verify tests, assess quality |
multi-model | Delegate review to multiple models via task subagents with different models, synthesize findings |
society-of-thought | Load paw-sot skill and invoke with review context from WorkflowContext.md |
For SoT invocation, provide the review context:
| Field | Source |
|---|
type | diff |
coordinates | diff range against base branch |
output_dir | .paw/work/<work-id>/reviews/ |
specialists | WorkflowContext.md Final Review Specialists |
interaction_mode | WorkflowContext.md Final Review Interaction Mode |
interactive | WorkflowContext.md Final Review Interactive |
specialist_models | WorkflowContext.md Final Review Specialist Models |
After review: Present findings to user. Apply fixes if straightforward, discuss trade-offs if not.
Stage 5: PR
Load the paw-pr skill and follow its instructions for final PR creation. It handles pre-flight validation, artifact lifecycle (commit-and-clean scoping to the work directory), and PR description scaling.
Before invoking paw-pr, ensure all todos are complete: SELECT id, status FROM todos WHERE status != 'done'
Artifact Structure
.paw/work/<work-id>/
├── WorkflowContext.md # Workflow configuration (from paw-init)
├── WorkShaping.md # Optional: from Stage 1
├── Plan.md # From Stage 2
└── reviews/ # From Stage 4 (if SoT)
├── REVIEW-*.md # Per-specialist reviews
└── REVIEW-SYNTHESIS.md # Synthesized findings
Configuration
All configuration lives in WorkflowContext.md. PAW Lite defaults:
| Field | Default |
|---|
| Workflow Mode | custom |
| Review Strategy | local |
| Review Policy | final-pr-only |
| Implementation Model | none (session default) |
| Artifact Lifecycle | commit-and-clean |