housekeeping

name	housekeeping
description	Reviews and maintains agent artifacts in .agents/ plus issue hygiene — reports, handoffs, councils, archived issues, and stale started worktrees. Use when the user asks "housekeeping," "clean up," or "tidy up .agents/." Provides hygiene recommendations, archives completed work, and ensures extracted knowledge is preserved. Not for strategic reflection (use reflect) or knowledge management (use knowledge-base).
subtask	false
version	0.3.1

Housekeeping

Contents

• Critical Rules
• Verification
• Quick Reference
• Mode-Aware Checks
• Suggests Next
• Topics
• Artifact Naming

Systematic review of .agents/ artifacts and issue workspaces.

Critical Rules

Always

• Log invocation as the first action: loaf journal log "skill(housekeeping): <scope or trigger>"
• Review EVERY file individually — never sample or average
• Check Loaf issue status (and Linear overlay, if enabled) before archiving linked artifacts
• Extract lessons learned and decisions before archiving
• Use CLI (loaf housekeeping, loaf report archive, loaf issue status / loaf issue stop) — never raw mv
• Treat .agents/handoffs/ as first-class but disposable: keep active/final handoffs, delete only after confirmed deprecated status
• Check report status is done (or final) before archiving reports (see templates/report.md)
• In SQLite-backed projects, verify lifecycle through loaf issue list --json, loaf issue list --started, loaf issue list --archived, and loaf report list --json
• When delegated subagents are available, use the librarian profile for .agents/-scoped durable artifact tending: report/handoff hygiene, staleness notes, and lifecycle-safe cleanup recommendations. Housekeeping still owns user confirmation and final archive decisions.
• Log outcome to the project journal: loaf journal log "decision(housekeeping): archived N reports; stopped M stale worktrees"

Never

• Auto-archive without user confirmation for each artifact
• Skip spark extraction before deleting brainstorm drafts
• Leave archived_at or archived_by fields empty in archived files
• Run loaf issue stop from inside the started worktree
• Dispatch cleanup agents into a live started worktree another agent occupies

Verification

After work completes, verify:

• Reports archived via loaf report archive after processing
• Archived issues reviewed via loaf issue list --archived (cancelled / duplicate archive through loaf issue status)
• Stale started worktrees reviewed via loaf issue list --started (a (missing) marker means the recorded path is gone)
• SQLite-backed report/issue state reflects lifecycle changes when initialized
• Drafts checked for unprocessed sparks before deletion
• Handoffs deleted only after explicit deprecation is confirmed
• Summary table presented showing all actions taken

Quick Reference

CLI Commands

loaf housekeeping --dry-run          # Preview recommendations
loaf housekeeping                    # Run artifact scanner
loaf issue list --started            # Started worktrees (alias, title, branch, path)
loaf issue list --archived           # cancelled / duplicate rows
loaf issue stop <ref>                # Remove worktree; keeps branch; does not change status
loaf issue status <ref> cancelled    # Archive an abandoned issue
loaf issue status <ref> duplicate --duplicate-of <surviving>
loaf report archive <report>         # Archive a processed report
loaf issue absorb --all --dry-run    # Preview leftover TASK/INTENT to issue
loaf issue absorb --all --history --dry-run  # Include done/archived leftover rows

loaf housekeeping still prints leftover specs / tasks sections when those SQLite tables have rows. Preview leftover TASK/INTENT work with loaf issue absorb --all --dry-run. Add --history when done or archived leftover rows should move too. Persist with the same command without --dry-run. A single leftover row is loaf issue absorb <ref> (or --dismiss to archive without minting). Do not invent a bulk import. Change-local docs/changes/**/tasks/ are never imported. Do not create new records on the leftover tables. The loaf task / loaf spec CLI is legacy.

The project journal is append-only and never archived — it is not a housekeeping target. It is the canonical record housekeeping reads when extracting decisions before archiving other artifacts.

Artifact Lifecycle

Artifact	Active Location	Archive	Action
Issues	SQLite (loaf issue list)	cancelled / duplicate via loaf issue status	Confirm, then status; done is ship, not housekeeping
Started worktrees	loaf issue list --started	loaf issue stop <ref>	Stop stale or (missing) trees after confirmation
Drafts / brainstorms	SQLite state	SQLite resolved/archived status	User decision (spark extraction first)
Handoffs	.agents/handoffs/	delete	Delete after status is confirmed deprecated
Reports	SQLite state + generated/authored report Markdown	archive/	loaf report archive after processing

Cross-Branch Reconciliation

If a stale branch reintroduces .agents/{tasks,ideas,sparks,sessions,brainstorms,drafts}/ or .agents/TASKS.json, keep the deletion from the cutover branch and rerun loaf check --hook ephemeral-provenance. Use loaf state restore-ephemerals <backup-id> only for an intentional rollback, followed by a forward re-import.

Mode-Aware Checks

Started worktrees

For each row from loaf issue list --started:

1. If (missing), flag as stale started workspace — the row still records a path that is gone. Offer loaf issue stop <ref> after confirmation. Stop does not mark the issue done.
2. If the path exists but the issue is done / cancelled / duplicate, flag as worktree outlived the issue — same offer.
3. If the path exists and status is active, leave it unless the user asks to stop.

Treat these as warnings, not auto-fixes.

Linear overlay

When integrations.linear.enabled is true in .agents/loaf.json, follow the linear skill to select the configured MCP and read linked issues. Flag obvious tracker/Loaf mismatches as warnings only; resolve them through the documented Loaf issue reconciliation boundary, never by driving Loaf status from an MCP mutation.

Leftover board rows

If loaf housekeeping --dry-run still reports tasks or leftover TASK/INTENT rows, or loaf doctor names leftover-absorb, migrate those rows — do not leave them as "readable, mint nothing."

1. Preview: loaf issue absorb --all --dry-run
2. For done/archived leftover rows: loaf issue absorb --all --history --dry-run
3. Persist the previewed command without --dry-run after confirmation
4. Change-local docs/changes/**/tasks/ are never imported

Do not invent a bulk import. Do not create new task or spec records.

Suggests Next

After housekeeping, suggest reflect if the session produced key decisions or learnings worth integrating into strategic docs.

Topics

Topic	Reference	Use When
Report Template	templates/report.md	Creating cleanup reports
Linear Workflows	linear skill	Selecting the configured MCP and checking the external tracker overlay
Journal Continuity	orchestration/references/journal.md	Understanding the project journal model

Artifact Naming

Name every artifact you create for what it is, never for the work unit that produced it: the containing directory or the issue already records that provenance. Put the source in a front-matter field (source: LOAF-42), not the filename. Versions and timestamps are identity and stay. See the foundations skill for the full rule; loaf check --hook artifact-names enforces it at commit.