cw-orient

# cw-orient Open every session on live truth, not on a handoff note, a directory name, or what was true last time. Several agents share this one checkout on `main`; the cheapest bug to avoid is committing a live writer's half-written edit. This is stage 1 of the loop: **orient → [cw-slice](../cw-slice/SKILL.md) → [cw-gates](../cw-gates/SKILL.md) → [cw-dogfood](../cw-dogfood/SKILL.md) → [cw-land](../cw-land/SKILL.md) → [cw-handoff](../cw-handoff/SKILL.md)**. ## When to use - Starting a session, resuming one, or taking over from another agent. - A handoff, issue, or plan tells you the state of the repo — verify before trusting it. - You are about to edit and are not certain what is dirty or who is writing. ## Workflow 1. **Locate yourself.** Checkout, branch, dirt, and how far you are from the remote: ```bash git rev-parse --show-toplevel && git branch --show-current git status --short --branch git log --oneline --decorate -10 ``` Agent work happens on `main`. A detached HEAD or another branch here is a state to reconcile (preserve dirt and stranded commits, compare with `origin/main`, return to `main`) before editing; see `AGENTS.md` § Working rules. 2. **Look for stranded work, not lanes.** `git worktree list` and recent branches tell you what may hold unlanded commits. Inventory them; do not start work in one, and do not create one. ```bash git worktree list git branch --sort=-committerdate --format='%(committerdate:short) %(refname:short)' | head -20 ``` 3. **Dirt in this checkout is yours** (`AGENTS.md`, founder 2026-10-22). ```bash git status --porcelain git diff --stat ``` Check mtimes: a file changed in the last 15 minutes, or one a live session is editing, is mid-edit — ask that writer to commit, and commit the rest yourself in coherent verified groups ([cw-land](../cw-land/SKILL.md)). Never stash, `checkout --`, reset or clean it. 4. **Fix which guidance applies.** The nearest scoped `AGENTS.md` wins over the root one, and it is where the per-area rules actually live: ```bash find . -name AGENTS.md -not -path './tmp/*' -not -path '*/node_modules/*' -not -path './target/*' ``` Today: root `AGENTS.md`, `crates/tui/AGENTS.md`, `crates/localization/locales/AGENTS.md`, `web/AGENTS.md`. Read the one that owns the files you are about to touch. 5. **Establish version truth from source, not memory.** ```bash grep -m1 '^version' Cargo.toml ./scripts/release/check-versions.sh ``` `check-versions.sh` is the drift gate across the workspace version, npm, `Cargo.lock`, the changelog, and the README. If it disagrees with what you were told, believe the script. 6. **Only if the task is about the community queue** — issues, PRs, harvesting, credit — pull the live queue with the `gh-*` skills in this directory rather than assuming from memory. When the task is local-only, stay offline and record the missing external receipt instead. ## Red flags / don't - Don't infer the current state from a directory name, a stale handoff, or a `.md` file's confident prose. All three have been wrong here. - Don't treat a plan document as current state. Plans describe intent; `git` describes reality. - Don't clean, stash, reset, or `git checkout --` dirt in the checkout; read it, prove it, and commit it, or hand it to the live writer. - Don't create a branch, worktree or clone to escape dirt or a conflict. - Don't skip step 4 because the root `AGENTS.md` "probably covers it". The scoped files carry the rules that actually get violated. - Don't fetch, browse, or hit GitHub when the task was scoped local-only. ## Output Open with a short status block. Skip fields that are empty or normal — a clean tree on `main` with no stranded work is one line, not five: - checkout path, branch (or detached HEAD), base commit; - dirty files and whether a live writer owns them; - stranded branches or checkouts holding unlanded commits; - workspace version and whether `check-versions.sh` agrees; - which `AGENTS.md` files govern this change.