| name | athena-pause |
| description | Use when the user wants to temporarily disable Athena workflow routing and gates — pauses all auto-triggers and skill checks until /athena-resume is invoked |
Athena Pause — Circuit Breaker
Temporarily disables all Athena workflow enforcement. Hooks stop firing, athena-init stops routing, gates stop blocking. Use when the user needs to do quick ad-hoc work without ceremony.
Process
Step 1: Confirm
Ask once:
"Pausing Athena — skill routing, verification gates, and auto-triggers will be disabled. Resume with /athena-resume. Pause now?"
If the user confirms (or invoked /athena-pause directly), proceed.
Step 2: Update State
Write to .athena-state.json in the project root:
{
"paused": true,
"pausedAt": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z",
"pausedBy": "user"
}
Preserve any existing fields in the state file — only set paused, pausedAt, and pausedBy.
Step 3: Report
Athena PAUSED
══════════════
Disabled: skill routing, verification gates, auto-trigger hooks
Resume: /athena-resume
What Gets Disabled
- athena-init — stops checking for matching skills before responses
- Auto-trigger hooks — PostToolUse and PreToolUse hooks exit early when paused
- athena-ship gates — warns about paused state but doesn't hard-block
- Edit burst tracking — stops counting edits
What Stays Active
- Skills invoked directly — if the user explicitly calls
/athena-verify, it still works
- State file —
.athena-state.json continues tracking (so resume knows where you left off)
- Git operations — nothing changes about git behavior
State Reset
If the user asks to reset Athena state (e.g., "reset athena", "clear athena state", "start fresh"), or if state appears wedged (stuck in a phase that no longer applies):
- Confirm: "This will clear all pipeline state (phase, wave progress, verification history). Proceed?"
- Back up the current state to
.athena-state.pre-reset.json
- Write a fresh
.athena-state.json with only {} (or { "paused": true } if also pausing)
- Delete
.athena-edit-burst.json if it exists
- Report:
Athena State RESET
════════════════════
Previous state backed up to .athena-state.pre-reset.json
Pipeline: cleared
Phase: none
Ready for: /athena-plan or /athena-brainstorm
Rules
- Always confirm before pausing — even if the user seems sure
- Never auto-pause — only the user can trigger this
- Preserve existing state — don't wipe pipeline progress when pausing (unless explicit reset requested)
- Remind about resume — always mention
/athena-resume in the confirmation
