| name | work-item-workflow |
| description | Work item workflow for implementation. Use when starting work on a GitHub issue or Azure DevOps work item to verify assignee, dependencies, priority, and capacity. Do not use for creating new work items (use work-item-creation), for suggesting the next task (use next-task), or when the work source is only tasks.md without an issue/work item. |
Work Item Workflow
Work Source Detection
Classify the work source before any other action. Resolve in this priority order:
- GitHub Issue or Azure DevOps Work Item if a numeric ID is referenced anywhere in the user's message, the recent conversation, or the tasks.md being implemented (e.g., "implement issue #42", "#15", "work item 1234", "task 5678", or a tasks.md row that links to
#1690). Any such reference activates board mode for the entire implementation, even if the user phrases the request as "implement the Terraform task" or "continue the work".
- tasks.md only if no issue or work item ID is reachable from the current context. Skip this skill.
When in doubt between the two, choose board mode and read the work item. Reading is read-only and cheap; silently skipping board updates is the failure this skill exists to prevent.
Reading the Work Item
- Identify platform: Read
.memory/board-config.md or detect from remote (git config --get remote.origin.url)
- Get current user:
- GitHub:
gh api user --jq '.login'
- Azure DevOps:
az account show --query user.name -o tsv or ask the user
- Read work item via MCP: Extract title, description, assignee, acceptance criteria, state, and tags/labels
Required Checks
Execute in order. If any check blocks, STOP and inform the user.
1. Assignee check
| Situation | Action |
|---|
| Assigned to another dev | STOP: "Work item already assigned to [name]." |
| No assignee | Assign current user (see below), then inform: "Assigned this task to you." |
| Assigned to the current user | Proceed |
When the work item has no assignee, do not skip this step. Execute the assignment before moving to the State update check:
- GitHub: Call
github/issue_write with method: "update", the issue number, and assignees: ["<current-user-login>"] (the login obtained in step "Get current user").
- Azure DevOps: Call
ado/wit_update_work_item to set the System.AssignedTo field to the current user.
If the assignment call fails (permission error, user lookup empty, API error), STOP and report the failure rather than silently proceeding to later checks. The downstream flow (state update, branch creation, PR linkage) assumes the work item is owned by the current user.
2. State update
State transitions are mandatory, not advisory. If the board MCP is unreachable, surface a blocking error rather than skipping the transition.
- Move the task to the active state:
- GitHub: Add label
status:in-progress
- Azure DevOps: Change State per process template (invoke
board-config skill for details; typical: New to Active)
- Check the parent User Story:
- If the parent is not yet in the active state, update it as well
- Inform: "User Story #[ID] moved to In Progress."
- Confirm the transition succeeded by re-reading the work item and verifying the new state. If the read shows the old state, retry once and then surface the failure to the user before any code is written.
3. Dependency check
4. Priority check
5. Capacity check
tasks.md (when no issue/work item is mentioned)
- Identify the current feature by checking the
docs/features/ directory. If the user specified a feature, use it.
- Read tasks.md for the task list and execution plan
- Proceed with the implementation flow
Main Execution Rule
Developers should work on only one task at a time. Work happens at the task level, not at the feature, user story, or epic level directly.
Board Synchronization
When synchronizing with the board, the agent should:
- List ALL issues/work items in the repository/project
- Identify feature-related issues using multiple strategies:
- By label/tag:
feature:<name>, type:user-story, type:task
- By title: contains the feature name or keywords
- By content: mentions files or concepts from the plan
- Classify found issues:
- With copilot-generated label: Issues created by the agent (managed)
- Without labels, related: Manual issues that appear related
- Without labels, unrelated: Issues from other features/contexts
- For unlabeled issues that appear related, ask the user:
- Add labels and incorporate into the plan
- Ignore (not from this feature)
- Mark as duplicate of a planned task
- Map current state: User Stories and Tasks (open, in progress, closed)
- Present summary to user with comparison between board and plan
Cascade Closure
When synchronizing with the board, check and propose cascade closures:
| Condition | Action |
|---|
| All tasks of a User Story closed | Propose closing the User Story |
| All User Stories of a Feature closed | Propose closing the Feature |
| All Features of an Epic closed | Propose closing the Epic |
Closure Rules
- Always ask before closing (do not close automatically)
- Show summary of what will be closed
- Validate that there are no orphan tasks/US before closing
Work Item Hierarchy
GitHub
- Use sub-issues for parent-child hierarchy
- For dependencies between tasks, use the "Dependencies" section in the body:
Depends on: #123
Azure DevOps
- Parent-Child: use
ado/wit_add_child_work_items
- Dependencies: use
ado/wit_work_items_link with link type Predecessor/Successor
