work-help

name	work-help
description	This skill should be used when the user says "work help", "how does work manager work", "work usage", "work commands", "what can work do". Shows available commands, workflow, and tips.

work-help

Display the following usage guide to the user:

---

Work Manager — Usage Guide

Commands

Command	What it does
/work start	Begin new work — creates _notes/ with _summary.md and work notes
/work status	Show current work status and progress
/work recall	Re-orient: what was I doing, what's next?
/work recall --deep	Full synthesis including all work notes
/work recall <topic>	Show specific work note (e.g. work recall auth-flow)
/work update	Log progress, capture work notes, review structure
/work done	Mark work complete, check acceptance criteria
/work pr	Create a PR from current work context
/work install	Guided setup — plugin, QMD, mise, task scripts, worktrunk
/work help	This guide

Work Notes Hierarchy

repo-root/
  _notes/
    _summary.md         # Index — compact overview, links to other _notes/ files
    README.md           # Work notes index and structure rules
    auth-flow.md        # Topic: how auth works
    db-schema.md        # Topic: database design decisions
    perf-findings.md    # Topic: performance research
    ...

Rules:

• _notes/_summary.md = index only (plan, criteria, work notes links)
• _notes/worklog.md = append-only progress log
• _notes/*.md = one file per topic, under 100 lines each
• Topics split automatically when they grow too large
• Structure is reviewed on every update and session end

Multi-Repo Workspace

Work always spans multiple repos with different languages (Go, TypeScript, Rust, etc.). The _notes/_summary.md tracks repos and their languages in a Repos table. Repo list is mutable — use mise run task-append to add repos mid-work. When repos change, update the table via /work update.

Phases & Agents

Each phase has a dedicated agent with restricted tools — mode enforcement is structural, not prompt-based.

research → plan → implement
              ↑        ↓
              ←────────←

Phase	Agent	Tools	Cannot do
research	work-researcher	Read, Glob, Grep, Bash (r/o), Explore agents, Write (_notes/ only)	Edit source code
plan	work-planner	Read, Glob, Grep, Bash (r/o), Write (_notes/ only)	Edit source, spawn agents
implement	work-implementer	All tools	—

Primary deliverables by phase:

• research: _notes/research-*.md files (findings saved immediately)
• plan: updated _notes/_summary.md plan + _notes/plan-*.md files (decisions saved immediately)
• implement: working code + _notes/impl-*.md files (results documented)

Transition via /work update move to plan (or similar phrasing).

Workflow

1. Start: checkout a branch, then /work start — creates _notes/ with _summary.md, phase = research
2. Research: explore, gather context — hooks auto-capture knowledge
3. Plan: /work update move to plan — build task list, write acceptance criteria, detail approach
4. Implement: /work update move to implement — write code, run tests
5. Iterate: go back to research or plan when needed
6. Add repos: mise run task-append if you need more repos, then /work update to sync
7. Check in: /work recall to re-orient, /work recall <topic> for deep dive
8. Finish: /work done to verify criteria, then /work pr

How it works

• Router (work-manager): reads phase from _notes/_summary.md, delegates to the right phase agent
• Phase agents: each has restricted tools baked into their definition — can't be overridden
• Hooks: UserPromptSubmit detects new requirements, Stop logs progress as safety net

Tips

• Phase agents save findings as their PRIMARY output — not as a side effect
• Use /work update to manually save findings or transition phases
• _notes/ files are topic-based, not chronological — same topic accumulates in one file
• Edit any file directly if you need to fix something fast
• /work recall --deep loads everything for full context (uses more tokens)