prioritise

name	prioritise
description	Name the next move live from workflow conformance, the session-prime envelope, and recent memories. One verb, one sentence on why now, a deferred count. Read-only — the author runs the verb.
when_to_use	When the author explicitly runs /orb:prioritise at session start (or mid-session) to compress substrate state into one recommended next move.
user-invocable	true
allowed-tools	Bash Read
created_by	claude
created_at	2026-05-21T00:00:00.000Z

/orb:prioritise

Name the next move live from substrate signals. Returns one imperative verb, one sentence on why-now, and a count of what's deferred. The author runs the verb. The skill never auto-executes.

Usage

/orb:prioritise

No arguments. Invocable at session start or any time mid-session — the output reflects substrate state at the moment of invocation, not a frozen handover.

Why this exists

Session handovers freeze priorities at the moment they're written. By the next session, memos accumulate, cards age, conformance findings change. The author wants one thing: what should I do first? This skill compresses substrate to a single recommended move, surfaced with the pattern that makes it the move (not just one of five).

Pillar 1 (author-level interaction). Distinct from orbit session prime, which produces the raw envelope (handover, open specs, memories) for the agent to bootstrap context. prioritise consumes that envelope and names the move.

Substrate inputs

Read these three sources live — do not extrapolate from git log or filesystem scans.

1. orbit audit conformance --json — findings carry severity (HIGH/MEDIUM/LOW), subsystem, subject, evidence, and remediation.verb.
2. orbit session prime — open specs, recent memories, prior handover distillate.
3. Recent memories (from the session-prime envelope or orbit memory list --recent) — keep only those signalling deferred decisions, calendar deadlines, or unresolved questions.

Ranking algorithm

Pick one deterministically — two consecutive invocations on identical substrate must produce the same move:

1. Conformance severity: HIGH > MEDIUM > LOW
2. Within severity: memo staleness in days, descending (older = higher)
3. Within staleness: open-spec age, descending (older = higher)
4. Ties broken by id ascending

The first-ranked item is the move. Everything else becomes the deferred count.

Next-action verb

For a conformance finding, surface its remediation.verb verbatim — no translation, no paraphrase. The author runs the verb directly.

When a finding lacks remediation.verb (forward-compatible severity-only or info-only findings), surface the finding's evidence field verbatim and tag the move manual action.

For a move drawn from a non-conformance source (memo, open spec, planned-empty card), the next-action is the verb the author would type — e.g. /orb:distill .orbit/memos/<file>.md, /orb:drive <spec-id>, /orb:tabletop <card-id>.

Output shape

Three lines, blank lines between:

<verb verbatim>

<one sentence on why-now — name the pattern that makes this the move, not just the item's own stake>

+ N other items deferred — ask if you want them.

The deferred tail is omitted when N == 0.

Total: ≤5 lines. The why-now is not a restatement of the item's purpose — it's the pattern that promotes this to now (e.g. "older of two MEDIUM conformance findings sat across three sessions", "only open spec, deferred twice", "this memo's 4-line fix unblocks the follow-up cluster").

On request: the full list

If the author asks "what are the others?", "show me the full list", or anything matching that intent, render up to top 5 on the follow-up turn:

N. <one-line what>
   why: <one-line stake>
   effort: <S | M | L>
   next: <verb verbatim>

Effort bands: S ≤15 min, M one session, L multi-session.

Never enumerate beyond 5 in one response. Cite memory keys, conformance subjects, and file paths — do not inline substrate content.

Empty-substrate fallback

When orbit audit conformance --json returns zero findings and recent memos / open specs are exhausted:

1. Pick the oldest planned-empty card — maturity: planned AND specs: [], lowest id. Use orbit overview to list. Recommend /orb:tabletop <card-id>.
2. If no runner-ups exist either, output exactly: no priorities — substrate is clean and the backlog is exhausted.

Never return an empty brief without an explanation.

Algorithm

1. Run orbit audit conformance --json. Collect findings.
2. Run orbit session prime. Collect open specs and recent memories.
3. Filter memories for actionable signals (deferred deadlines, blocked decisions, unresolved questions). Drop status-recap and session-close summaries.
4. Apply the ranking algorithm above.
5. Compose the move — verb, why-now sentence, deferred count.
6. If nothing surfaced, apply the empty-substrate fallback.
7. Return. Do not execute the verb.

What this is NOT

• Not orbit session prime. Prime is the agent-facing raw envelope (handover, open specs, memories) — it bootstraps context. prioritise consumes that envelope and names the move.
• Not orbit overview. Overview produces a status snapshot (cards-by-maturity, orphans, most-connected card). prioritise produces an action recommendation.
• Not auto-executing. Enforcement is via this SKILL.md's prose contract — there is no hook or tool-permission gate. If the author wants the move run, they type the verb themselves.
• Not session-start frozen. Invoke any time. The output is live re-derivation.
• Not a menu. One move. The full list is on request.

Discipline

• Read-only. No orbit task open, no orbit memory remember, no orbit spec note. The skill never writes.
• Pick the move. STYLE.md is the spine: one imperative action, in plain voice. A top-5 list as the default output is a menu — it violates the contract.
• Why-now over why-this. The sentence justifies the timing of the pick, not the item's intrinsic value. "Older of three card gaps that have sat for three sessions" beats "card 0013 is planned with scenarios but no tabletop pass" — the latter is restatement, the former is selection logic.
• Cite, don't paraphrase. Name memory keys, conformance subjects (<subsystem>/<subject>), spec ids, and card slugs verbatim. The author drills down by opening the cited substrate, not by re-reading prose.
• No fanfare. No header. The verb IS the brief.