autopilot-brief

name

autopilot-brief

description

Autopilot brief for a long, unattended Copilot CLI run — draft a sharp `/autopilot` objective (the goal its continuation loop drives toward until the agent calls task_complete) paired with a standing charter re-fed on an `/every` reminder so the run doesn't drift on the how. Use when starting a long autopilot or `/goal` run against a plan doc, when writing or sharpening an autopilot objective, or when keeping an unattended run from drifting over many context compactions.

Autopilot brief

Copilot CLI autopilot (/autopilot, alias /goal) auto-continues the agent toward a set objective, auto-handling permission and input prompts, until the agent calls task_complete. Two things make a long unattended run fail:

• Without a sharp objective it stalls — plain autopilot hits its continuation cap after a few turns (exact count and flag in references/cli-autopilot.md); a completion-detectable objective is what keeps it pushing for hours.
• The objective fixes only the what — over many context compactions the agent drifts on the how: the worktree, the push policy, the "don't ask me" mandate, keeping the plan updated.

This skill drafts the pair that closes both gaps: a crisp objective you feed /autopilot, and a standing charter re-fed on an /every reminder. Autopilot drives the goal; the reminder re-briefs the method. Use them together.

When to use

• A run long enough that context compaction will happen before the plan is done, run unattended — where the agent forgetting the push policy or the autonomy mandate mid-run would do real damage.
• For a short, attended task that fits in one context window, skip this and just do the work.

How CLI autopilot works

One fact shapes the brief; enabling the objective form and the launch flags are one-time setup you do at launch (see references/cli-autopilot.md).

• Autopilot re-continues the agent toward the objective until it calls task_complete, so the objective's done-condition must be observable — otherwise the agent stops early or never stops.

Steps

0. Confirm the objective form is available

Check that /goal exists or /autopilot takes an argument. If it only toggles on/off, the AUTOPILOT_OBJECTIVES flag is off — ask the user to enable it and relaunch (see references/cli-autopilot.md) before drafting, so no approved work is lost to a relaunch and the objective isn't silently discarded.

Complete when /goal exists or /autopilot accepts an objective.

1. Draft the objective and the charter

Fill both artifacts in references/brief-template.md: the objective (plan doc, scope, one-line outcome, and the observable done-condition) and the charter (dev/test skills, push policy, autonomy mandate, plan hygiene, subagents, coordination, standing grants). The plan must carry a plain Definition of Done covering exactly this run's scope, under a unique heading the objective and charter both point at; if it's missing, write it (or run feature-development-loop's design gate) first.

Complete when no <SLOT> remains in either artifact, the objective's done-condition points at the plan's scope-matched Definition of Done by its heading, and the charter names that same heading as its stop reference.

2. Review with the user until approved

Show the user both artifacts — plus any Definition of Done you authored in step 1 — and ask for explicit approval. Fold every correction back into the text and re-show it. The push policy and the grants are the slots users most often adjust; confirm those specifically rather than assuming.

Complete when the user has explicitly approved the exact final wording of the objective, the charter, and the Definition of Done (seen it and said yes, not merely been shown a draft).

3. Persist the charter and hand off the launch lines

Write the approved charter to a durable file the run and its reminder both read — alongside the plan (e.g. docs/<feature>-autopilot.md) so a future agent inherits it, or a session file for a throwaway run. Then give the user the exact lines to start the run, since toggling the mode is theirs to type, not yours:

/allow-all
/autopilot <objective>

(or /goal <objective>). Once they launch, autopilot drives the objective.

Complete when the charter file exists on disk and the user has the launch lines with the full objective inlined.

4. Arm the drift re-brief

Install a recurring reminder that re-feeds the charter file so a compacted context re-anchors on each tick instead of drifting. Arm it with manage_schedule — the tool /every runs — and point it at the persisted file rather than pasting the charter, so every tick re-reads the authoritative copy:

manage_schedule action=create interval=1h \
  prompt="Re-read your autopilot charter at <charter-path>. Confirm you're still
  on that course — right worktree, push policy, autonomy mandate, plan kept
  updated — and correct any drift before continuing. Stop this schedule once the
  objective's Definition of Done is met."

The reminder carries its own off-switch: the tick stops the schedule once the Definition of Done is met, so it disengages on arrival rather than nagging forever.

Complete when manage_schedule action=list shows the reminder live and its prompt resolves the persisted charter file.