triage-work

name	triage-work
description	Triage focus cards before acting. Determines whether each card needs design, a feature session, or inline work. Use when the user says "start work on X" or references one or more focus cards for implementation.

Triage Work

When the user requests work on one or more focus cards, DO NOT jump straight to spawning feature sessions. Run this triage first.

Step 1: Load the cards

For each card ref the user mentioned, run focus show <ref> to get the full card: title, status, contract items, body, files.

Step 2: Triage each card

Apply this decision tree independently per card:

Is the card specced?

A card is specced if it has:

• Contract items (clear definition of done)
• A body with enough detail to act on
• Files or areas of change identified

If NOT specced --> the card needs design work first. Do not spawn a session. Tell the user what's missing and offer to help spec it.

Is it big enough for a feature session?

A feature session means: branch + worktree + PR + Copilot review. That overhead is justified when:

• Changes touch project repo code (not just config/memory)
• Multiple files or non-trivial logic changes
• A PR review adds value

If YES --> feature session. Follow the feature session flow below.

If NO --> inline work. Apply the inline vs. branch rule:

• memory/, learnings/ -- safe to commit directly on main
• Everything else -- requires a feature branch and PR
• When unsure, default to branch

Step 3: Propose the plan

Present a single triage summary to the user:

Triage: <N> card(s)

  #<id> <title>
    Verdict: <feature session | inline | needs design>
    Reason: <one line>

  #<id> <title>
    ...

Proposed action: <what you'll do>

Wait for user approval before taking any action.

Feature session flow

When triage says "feature session" and the user approves:

1. coda feature start <id>-<slug> <project_dir> -- create branch + worktree + session
2. Write IMPLEMENT.md brief to the worktree. The brief MUST start with: "The brief is complete. Do not explore. Build what is described."
3. Prepend AGENTS.md if the project has one
4. Tell the user: session is ready, trigger with "read @IMPLEMENT.md and execute"
5. After PR opens, kick off copilot-review-watcher if available
6. After PR merges: focus done <id> --force, clean up worktree

Multiple cards

When the user requests work on multiple cards at once:

• Triage ALL cards before acting on ANY
• Present one combined proposal
• Wait for approval on the whole plan
• Then execute in order

When to use this skill

• User says "start work on #X" or "implement card X"
• User says "work on these cards" with multiple refs
• User asks to kick off a feature from a focus card
• Any transition from "card exists" to "work begins"