multi-phase-auto-example

name	multi-phase-auto-example
description	Multi-phase linear workflow — the agent narrates each phase to the user as it advances.
contributes	{"workflows":"./workflows"}

Multi-phase auto (skill-only)

A linear three-phase workflow (drafted → reviewing → filed) that records note items at each step. No invariants gate the advances — items are bookkeeping. This is the shape to copy when you want to track work as a workflow walks through stages but you don't yet need machine-checked preconditions.

Driving this skill

The agent's job is to walk the workflow phase by phase, recording one note item per phase and reporting progress to the user before moving to the next phase. The point of this example is to show that multi-phase auto workflows don't need to run silently — the human on the other side of the chat wants to know what just happened.

1. Create the instance: ix-flow run --path <this-dir> --json

2. While in drafted: ask the user what to draft (or pick something reasonable from context), then record it: ix-flow add-item <id> note --json '{"id":"n1","body":"<draft text>"}'

   Report to the user: "Drafted: <draft text>. Advancing to review." Then advance: ix-flow advance <id> reviewing --json

3. While in reviewing: record a brief review note: ix-flow add-item <id> note --json '{"id":"n2","body":"<review note>"}'

   Report to the user: "Review notes: <review note>. Advancing to filing." Then advance: ix-flow advance <id> filed --json

4. While in filed (terminal): record a one-line filing note: ix-flow add-item <id> note --json '{"id":"n3","body":"<filing note>"}'

   Final report to the user: summarize what happened across all three phases in 2–3 sentences and show ix-flow status <id> --json.

The pattern

Between every advance, the agent says one short, human-readable sentence about what the workflow just captured and where it's going next. That keeps the user oriented without spamming raw JSON. The JSON state is always available via ix-flow status <id> --json if the user wants the full picture.

Always pass --json to every ix-flow command. The phase argument to advance is positional, not --to.