| name | start-leftover |
| description | Pick one or more open items from `planning/leftover-tasks.md` and spawn a fresh Claude session focused on them. Counterpart to `capture-leftover`. Use when the user says "tackle a leftover", "pick up a parked task", "start on a leftover", "what's in the parking lot", or wants to clear deferred follow-ups without polluting the current session. |
Start Leftover
Picks open entries from planning/leftover-tasks.md, lets the user choose one or a batch to work on, and spawns a clean Claude session focused on just those items. The original session keeps its context untouched.
When to use
- User wants to address a previously-deferred follow-up
- "What's parked?" / "let's clear some leftovers" / "tackle that auth refactor we noted"
- After
context-gate writes a handover, user wants to tackle one parked item rather than resume the main thread
Steps
1. Locate and read
repo_root=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null) || repo_root="$PWD"
target="$repo_root/planning/leftover-tasks.md"
If target doesn't exist, tell the user there are no leftovers to start from and stop. Don't auto-scaffold here — there's nothing to scaffold for.
2. Parse open entries
Each entry begins with ## YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM — <summary>. Read the file and extract entries where Status: open. Skip in-progress and done.
If zero open entries, print:
No open leftovers in planning/leftover-tasks.md. ✓
3. Present the list
Show open entries newest-first by capture timestamp:
Open leftovers (4):
1. 2026-04-27 18:53 — Refactor auth middleware to drop legacy session-token path
Scope: medium | Captured 2h ago
2. 2026-04-26 14:10 — Investigate flaky CI run on linter step
Scope: small | Captured 1d ago
3. 2026-04-25 09:30 — Add OG images to blog posts
Scope: medium | Captured 2d ago
4. 2026-04-23 16:45 — Migrate utils.py to typed module structure
Scope: large | Captured 4d ago
4. User picks
Ask:
Pick one or more (e.g. 1, 1,3, or all). Or cancel.
- Single number → one task focus
- Comma-list → batch mode
all → batch all openscancel → exit cleanly
5. Mark in-progress
For each picked entry, change **Status:** open → **Status:** in-progress in the file. Append a marker line:
- **Started:** 2026-04-27 21:05 (session: <new-session-id-or-cwd-marker>)
This way the original session knows what's been claimed.
6. Build a focused-session prompt
Construct an initial message for the new session that includes:
- Which leftover(s) to tackle (full entry text from the file)
- The original repo context (path, branch)
- A one-line directive: "Tackle the items below. When complete, mark each as
Status: done in planning/leftover-tasks.md and append a one-line outcome note."
Example payload:
Continue from these parked items in this repo:
[paste the full markdown entry blocks here]
Repo: /home/user/repos/myproject
Branch: main
When you finish each, mark `Status: done` in planning/leftover-tasks.md and append a one-line outcome below the entry. If any item turns out larger than the estimated scope, ask before continuing.
7. Spawn
Delegate to new-claude-here (same plugin) with the message pre-loaded. Default form:
If new-claude-here isn't available or the user prefers manual launch, print the command + payload and let the user run it.
8. Return
Print one summary line in the original session:
✓ Started: "Refactor auth middleware..." in new session (1 picked, 3 still open)
Batch behaviour
If the user picked multiple items, the new session gets all picked entries in one prompt. Tell it to handle them sequentially. The original session's leftover-tasks.md reflects all picked items as in-progress.
Cleanup after completion
The new session is responsible for marking Status: done and appending an outcome line per task. If the user reports "I finished those" in the original session and the file still shows in-progress, offer to update it from this side — but the new session should normally do it.
Edge cases
- Same item picked twice across sessions — second pick should detect
Status: in-progress, warn the user, and let them either reclaim it (force) or pick something else.
- Capture-while-in-flight — user might capture new leftovers while the picked-up ones are running. That's fine — file is append-only at the entry level, and
Status updates are line-level.
- No
new-claude-here available — print the manual launch command instead. Don't fail the workflow.
Hard rules
- Don't reorder entries. Newest-first is presentation only; the file stays in capture order.
- Don't auto-pick. Always require user confirmation, even if there's only one open item.
- Don't mark
done from this skill. That's the new session's job — it ensures whoever did the work confirms it landed.
- Don't spawn a session without the explicit prompt payload. A blank new-claude-here loses the focus.
Counterparts
capture-leftover — adds entries that this skill consumesscaffold-planning — creates the filenew-claude-here — actual session-spawning mechanic this delegates to
