| name | whats-next |
| description | Answer "what's next?" by surfacing open deferred/follow-up work for the current repo from the forge task board, ranked. Use when asked what to work on next, what's outstanding, or to resume work. |
What's Next — surface outstanding work for a repo
Read the deferred-work inbox (forge task board) and present what to do next. Companion
to /defer (capture) and /roadmap (synthesize). Tagging contract:
../defer/references/deferred-work-conventions.md.
Invocation shape: /whats-next [repo-path] [--all-status] [--global] [--limit N].
Supporting reference: ../defer/references/deferred-work-conventions.md.
Steps
-
Resolve the repo. Positional arg if given, else
git -C <cwd> rev-parse --show-toplevel. --global = across all repos (skip filter).
-
Fetch open work. mcp__forge__task_board (or task_list). Open = status in
triage, ready, in_progress, blocked (exclude complete/archived). With
--all-status, include everything.
-
Filter to the repo (unless --global): keep tasks where
workspace_path == repo OR the body's first line is repo=<repo> (the hook/CLI
path). See the conventions' "belongs to repo" rule.
-
Rank & group. Order by status (in_progress → blocked → ready → triage), then
priority desc, then oldest created_at. Show ≤ --limit (default 15) per group.
-
Present compactly — per item: task_id · title · priority · age (days) ·
source (created_by). Lead with a one-line count summary
(e.g. "3 in progress, 5 ready, 12 triage"). Then offer next actions: promote a
triage item (task_update --status ready), start one, or run /roadmap for the
full themed view.
Examples
/whats-next
/whats-next ~/src/ferrosa-suite/ferrosa --limit 10
/whats-next --global
Notes
triage items are the unreviewed deferred inbox — skim them first; promote real ones
to ready, archive noise.- If the board can't be reached (no cluster), say so plainly (fail loud) rather than
reporting "nothing next".
