start-work

name	start-work
description	Execute a Prometheus work plan in Codex with Boulder state, evidence ledger updates, worktree discipline, parallel subagents, and Stop-hook continuation. Use after planning when the user says start work, execute plan, continue plan, resume plan, or asks to run a .omo/plans plan.

Codex Harness Tool Compatibility

This skill may include examples copied from the OpenCode harness. In Codex, do not call OpenCode-only tools such as call_omo_agent(...), task(...), background_output(...), or team_*(...) literally. Translate those examples to Codex native tools:

OpenCode example	Codex tool to use
call_omo_agent(subagent_type="explore", ...)	multi_agent_v1.spawn_agent({"message":"TASK: act as an explorer. ...","fork_context":false})
call_omo_agent(subagent_type="librarian", ...)	multi_agent_v1.spawn_agent({"message":"TASK: act as a librarian. ...","fork_context":false})
task(subagent_type="plan", ...)	multi_agent_v1.spawn_agent({"message":"TASK: act as a planning agent. ...","fork_context":false})
task(subagent_type="oracle", ...) for final verification	multi_agent_v1.spawn_agent({"message":"TASK: act as a rigorous reviewer. ...","fork_context":false})
task(category="...", ...) for implementation or QA	multi_agent_v1.spawn_agent({"message":"TASK: act as an implementation or QA worker. ...","fork_context":false})
background_output(task_id="...")	multi_agent_v1.wait_agent(...) for mailbox signals
team_*(...)	Use Codex native subagents via multi_agent_v1.spawn_agent, multi_agent_v1.send_input, multi_agent_v1.wait_agent, and multi_agent_v1.close_agent

Role-specific behavior must be described in a self-contained message. Use fork_context: false to start the child with only the initial prompt (no parent history); use fork_context: true only when full parent history is truly required. Include any required conversation context, files, diffs, constraints, and requested skill names directly in the spawned agent's message. If a code block below conflicts with this section, this section wins.

For work likely to exceed one wait cycle, require the child to send WORKING: <task> - <current phase> before long passes and BLOCKED: <reason> only when progress stops. A multi_agent_v1.wait_agent timeout only means no new mailbox update arrived. Treat a running child as alive. Fallback only when the child is completed without the deliverable, ack-only after followup, explicitly BLOCKED:, or no longer running.

Codex Subagent Reliability

Every multi_agent_v1.spawn_agent message must be self-contained. Start with TASK: <imperative assignment>, then name DELIVERABLE, SCOPE, and VERIFY. State that it is an executable assignment, not a context handoff. Role or specialty instructions belong inside message. Use fork_context: false unless full history is truly required; paste only the context the child needs.

Plan and reviewer agents may run for a long time; spawn them in the background, keep doing independent root work, and poll with short multi_agent_v1.wait_agent cycles sized to the work. Never use a single long blocking wait for them, and never spin on tiny timeouts as a failure budget.

Treat child status as a progress signal, not a timeout counter. For work likely to exceed one wait cycle, require the child to send WORKING: <task> - <current phase> before long reading, testing, or review passes, and BLOCKED: <reason> only when it cannot progress. While any child is active, keep the parent visibly alive with active subagent count, agent names, latest WORKING: phase, and whether the parent is waiting for mailbox updates. Track spawned agent names locally. Use multi_agent_v1.wait_agent for mailbox signals, not proof of completion. A timeout only means no new mailbox update arrived. Treat a running child as alive. Fallback only when the child is completed without the deliverable, ack-only after followup, explicitly BLOCKED:, or no longer running. Then record the result as inconclusive, do not count it as pass/review approval, close if safe, and respawn a smaller fork_context: false task with the missing deliverable.

start-work

Execute a Prometheus work plan until every top-level checkbox is complete. This skill pairs with the Codex Stop / SubagentStop continuation hook in components/start-work-continuation, which re-injects the next turn while .omo/boulder.json says the current codex:<session_id> still has unchecked plan work.

Usage

$start-work [plan-name] [--worktree <absolute-path>]

• plan-name is optional. It may be a full or partial file stem under .omo/plans/.
• --worktree is optional. Use it only when the user explicitly asks to work in a separate git worktree.

Phase 1: Select the plan

1. Read .omo/boulder.json if it exists.
2. List Prometheus plan files under .omo/plans/.
3. If plan-name was provided, select the matching plan.
4. If exactly one active or paused Boulder work exists for this session, resume it.
5. If no active work exists and exactly one plan exists, select it.
6. If no active work exists and there is no selectable plan, enter No-plan bootstrap.
7. If multiple plans remain possible, ask one focused selection question.

No-plan bootstrap

When the user explicitly said start work / $start-work and no selectable plan exists, treat that phrase as approval to create the plan before execution. Do not stall on a missing plan and do not ask for generic approval again.

If no selectable plan exists, bootstrap ulw-plan before execution. Execution requires an approved plan before implementation; bootstrap mode creates that approved plan from the user's start work request instead of skipping planning.

1. Invoke the ulw-plan skill from the current request and require its dynamic adversarial workflow: collect, verify, design, adversarial plan-review, synthesize.
2. The generated Prometheus plan must be saved under .omo/plans/<slug>.md before implementation or Boulder state writes that point at plan work.
3. Use maximum safe parallelism in the generated plan: independent files/tasks fan out; same-file writes, shared state, and named dependencies serialize.
4. Preserve safety boundaries. Ask one focused question only when the objective is missing, destructive, or has a safety/product ambiguity that repository exploration cannot resolve.
5. After the plan exists, continue directly to Phase 2. The user's start work request is the bootstrap approval to create the plan and begin execution.

Phase 2: Create or update Boulder state

Write .omo/boulder.json before implementation starts. Session ids must be prefixed with codex: so the continuation hook can identify its own session.

{
  "schema_version": 2,
  "active_work_id": "<work-id>",
  "works": {
    "<work-id>": {
      "work_id": "<work-id>",
      "active_plan": ".omo/plans/<plan-name>.md",
      "plan_name": "<plan-name>",
      "session_ids": ["codex:<session_id>"],
      "status": "active",
      "worktree_path": null
    }
  }
}

If --worktree is set, verify the path with git worktree list --porcelain or create it with git worktree add <path> <branch-or-HEAD>, then store the absolute path as worktree_path. All edits, commands, tests, and evidence capture must run inside that worktree.

Phase 3: Execute the next checkbox

1. Read the full selected plan.
2. Find the first unchecked column-0 checkbox in ## TODOs or ## Final Verification Wave.
3. Ignore nested checkboxes under acceptance criteria, evidence, and definition-of-done sections.
4. Decompose that checkbox into atomic sub-tasks.
5. Dispatch independent sub-tasks in parallel with multi_agent_v1.spawn_agent; serialize only when one sub-task has a named dependency on another.

Each sub-task message must include:

1. Goal and exact files or directories in scope.
2. When the task touches existing behavior: a baseline characterization test, written first, that asserts current observable behavior and passes on the unchanged code. Then the red test or failing reproduction for the new behavior before production changes. Pin the baseline as rigorously as the new test: exact inputs, exact observable, exact assertion.
3. Implementation constraints from the plan and project rules.
4. Automated verification commands to run.
5. One Manual-QA channel, named with the exact tool and exact invocation (the literal curl, send-keys, page.click, payload, selectors, and the binary observable that decides PASS/FAIL), not "verify it works":
   • HTTP call: curl -i against the live endpoint.
   • tmux: a tmux session driven with send-keys, dumped via capture-pane.
   • Browser use: use Chrome to drive the real page; if Chrome is not available, download and use agent-browser (https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-browser).
   • Computer use: OS-level GUI automation against the running desktop app when the surface is not a page.
6. The adversarial classes that apply to this sub-task (from the 9 ultraqa classes) and how each is probed.
7. Required artifact path and cleanup receipt.

Apply ultraqa's 9 adversarial classes where relevant to each checkbox: malformed input, prompt injection, cancel/resume, stale state, dirty worktree, hung or long commands, flaky tests, misleading success output, repeated interruptions. A checkbox whose behavior is user-visible MUST probe every class that plausibly applies; record which classes were exercised and which were ruled not-applicable with a one-line reason.

Phase 4: Verify and record evidence

For each checkbox, complete all five gates before marking it done:

1. Plan reread: confirm the checkbox and acceptance criteria.
2. Automated verification: run tests, typecheck, lint, build, or the plan-specific equivalent.
3. Manual-QA channel: capture a real artifact, not a dry-run claim.
4. Adversarial QA: exercise every applicable ultraqa class (malformed input, prompt injection, cancel/resume, stale state, dirty worktree, hung or long commands, flaky tests, misleading success output, repeated interruptions) and capture the observable result for each. "Tests pass" and a clean happy-path artifact are NOT sufficient when an adversarial class applies and was not probed.
5. Cleanup: register every QA resource teardown as its own todo the moment it is spawned (QA scripts, tmux assets, browser / agent-browser sessions, PIDs, ports, containers, temp dirs), then execute each and capture the receipt. No QA asset is left running.

Append evidence to .omo/start-work/ledger.jsonl using one JSON object per line. Include at least event, plan, task, session_id, commands, artifact, adversarial_classes, and cleanup fields. adversarial_classes lists each probed class with its observable result and each ruled-out class with a one-line reason.

Sisyphus-style completion contract

A worker done claim is never final. Each implementation sub-task returns a DoneClaim, then a different context runs AdversarialVerify, then the verifier probes or reproduces the claim, then failures loop back to the executor, and only a confirmed verifier verdict becomes FullyDone.

{
  "DoneClaim": {
    "task": "<task id/title>",
    "changed_files": ["path"],
    "tests": ["exact command + result"],
    "manual_qa": ["artifact path"],
    "cleanup": ["receipt"],
    "risks": ["known risk or none"]
  },
  "AdversarialVerify": {
    "verdict": "confirmed | false-positive | needs-fix | needs-human-review",
    "evidence": ["file path, command, log, artifact, or explicit not inspected"],
    "repro": "exact command or manual steps when available",
    "confidence": 0.0
  }
}

Rules:

• confirmed is the only pass verdict. false-positive, needs-fix, and needs-human-review all block checkbox completion.
• The verifier must be independent from the executor: use codex-ultrawork-reviewer, a scoped worker reviewer, or root only when root did not implement or materially rewrite that task.
• A worker done claim must be independently verified before it can become checkbox completion.
• On any non-confirmed verdict, append the feedback to the ledger, reset the checkbox work to in-progress, and re-dispatch the executor with the exact failure.
• The verifier must probe the applicable adversarial keys, including stale_state, dirty_worktree, and misleading_success_output, before allowing FullyDone.
• In prose evidence, name the same risks as stale state, dirty worktree, and misleading success output so reviewers can search for both key and human forms.
• Tests passing, green builds, or a worker DoneClaim without independent verification are not enough to mark a checkbox complete.

Phase 5: Mark progress

Only after verification passes:

1. Edit the plan checkbox from - [ ] to - [x].
2. Re-read the plan and confirm the remaining count decreased.
3. Append a task-completed ledger entry.
4. Continue with the next checkbox. Do not ask whether to continue.

Completion

When all top-level checkboxes in ## TODOs and ## Final Verification Wave are complete:

1. Run the plan's final verification commands.
2. Complete the Global Review and Debugging Gate before any completion claim, PR handoff, or branch handoff:
   • Invoke the review-work skill with the final diff, changed files, user goal, constraints, run command, and verification evidence. All five review lanes must return PASS. A timeout, missing deliverable, ack-only child, BLOCKED:, or inconclusive lane is a gate failure, not approval.
   • Run a debugging-oriented runtime audit even when the review passes: name at least three plausible failure hypotheses for the changed surface, run the distinguishing checks against the actual artifact, and append the ruled-out or confirmed result to .omo/start-work/ledger.jsonl.
   • If any review lane or debugging hypothesis fails, invoke the debugging skill, confirm root cause with runtime evidence, add the minimal failing test or reproduction, fix it, rerun the affected verification, then rerun the Global Review and Debugging Gate.
   • Evidence hygiene is mandatory: redact or mask secrets and sensitive user data before writing .omo/start-work/ledger.jsonl, a PR body, or a handoff. Never include raw tokens, credentials, auth headers, cookies, API keys, env dumps, private logs, or PII; use concise summaries, lengths, hashes, or short non-sensitive prefixes instead.
   • If the work includes creating, updating, or handing off a PR, refresh git status and the PR/branch state after the gate, and include only redacted review/debugging evidence in the PR body or handoff.
3. If worktree mode was used, sync .omo/ state back to the main repo, merge or hand off exactly as requested, and remove the worktree only after successful merge or explicit handoff.
4. Remove or mark the Boulder work as completed.
5. Print an ORCHESTRATION COMPLETE block with the plan path, verification commands, Global Review and Debugging Gate verdict, artifacts, and cleanup receipts.

Hard rules

• No production change before a failing test or reproduction exists, and no change to existing behavior before a baseline characterization test pins the current behavior and passes on the unchanged code.
• No --dry-run as completion evidence.
• No tests-only completion claim. A Manual-QA artifact is required.
• No completion claim while an applicable ultraqa adversarial class was never probed. Each applicable class needs a captured observable result; each skipped class needs a one-line not-applicable reason in the ledger.
• No ORCHESTRATION COMPLETE, final response, PR creation, or PR handoff before the Global Review and Debugging Gate passes with recorded evidence.
• No unprefixed session ids in Boulder state. Codex sessions are always codex:<session_id>.
• No stale-memory execution. The plan and ledger are the durable source of truth.