continue

name

continue

description

Continue autonomous Telegram Desktop development from the shared ai-tdesktop repository. Use when the user invokes $continue or /continue, asks Codex to keep working through the AI queue, or wants one command to resume the active task at the head of a frozen startup batch, drain matching queued work, or process the local inbox only when startup has no task work, while including follow-ups discovered from the batch but deferring unrelated tasks added mid-run.

Continue AI Work

Act as the checkout-level scheduler. Choose one invocation mode at startup, freeze its task batch, and keep looping only through that batch and follow-ups discovered from its results. Do not drain unrelated tasks added while the run is in progress. Delegate inbox planning and one-task execution; do not plan or implement Telegram changes in this scheduler session.

This is the default development command and the successor to the old task and implement workflows. Inbox processing may bootstrap an otherwise idle invocation exactly once and owns request splitting and project routing; perform-task owns context, planning, implementation, review, Debug build, test-loop, evidence, and final publication.

Resolve the workspace

Run from a Telegram Desktop checkout. Read AGENTS.md, then use the shared helper with the host's Python 3 command:

python3 .agents/skills/process-inbox/scripts/workspace.py queue

Use python or py -3 when appropriate. Save checkout_tag, ai_main, slot_worktree, and source_root from its JSON. Read ai_main/AGENTS.md.

Stop before mutating anything when violations is nonempty or AI master is dirty. Dirty task-scoped AI files are the active checkout's local resumable phase state and are expected; resume from them, never discard them. Other uncommitted slot changes under tasks/, projects/, or receipts/ are disposable leftovers of an interrupted worker; the ignored inbox snapshot and published task results retain every durable input needed to redo them. Restore those exact tracked paths to the slot branch head, delete their untracked files, and continue. Stop instead of cleaning when any other slot path changed, and never clean the main worktree or stash anywhere. Unpublished clean AI slot commits are incomplete publication; run the helper's publish command before selecting work.

The canonical lifecycle is deliberately small:

• todo with claimed_by: null is ready shared work;
• in-progress with this checkout_tag is this checkout's one active task;
• blocked with this tag is a rare published unfinished boundary;
• approved is the only completed terminal state.

Start atomically assigns an unclaimed task and changes it to in-progress. Normal phase artifacts remain local and uncommitted in the slot worktree. Approve publishes all final AI artifacts and state in one commit. Block is permitted only for a genuine exhausted implementation or verification blocker, not for an interrupted agent session. Never publish Claim, phase checkpoint, or Resume commits. Existing claimed todo records from the older workflow remain startable but do not justify creating new reservations.

Never infer ownership from an inbox receipt. Do not steal work from another checkout. Moving an unfinished task to another checkout is a rare explicit human reassignment that may restart the task and discard checkout-local phase artifacts; it is never automatic scheduler behavior.

Interpret scope hints

Treat text after $continue or /continue as optional natural-language guidance for new shared work. Its own wording decides its strength. A preference such as "payments tasks first" reorders the shared tasks recorded in the startup batch; it does not exclude the others. A restriction such as "only the payments tasks" or "all tasks except projects X and Y" records only matching unclaimed shared tasks. Hints never exclude this checkout's active, blocked, or legacy-reserved work. A restrictive hint that matches no shared task does not make an existing queue look idle or permit inbox processing.

The recorded batch is invocation-local bookkeeping, not a reservation. Start only one shared task at a time, finish or exceptionally block it, refresh canonical state, then select another recorded id. Always resume this checkout's in-progress task and previously blocked work before applying a priority hint to new shared work, unless the user expressly asks to stop or reassign it.

The presence of active work changes ordering, not batch scope. Unless the user expressly asks to run only the current task, freeze the same matching startup queue behind the active task that would have been recorded without active work.

Freeze the invocation batch

Use the first clean, refreshed queue snapshot to choose exactly one mode before starting, retrying, resuming, or performing a task. Create and record these invocation-local values in the scheduler plan:

• invocation_mode;
• ordered initial_batch_task_ids;
• ordered batch_task_ids, initially equal to the initial batch;
• empty discovered_task_ids;
• empty attempted_blocked.

Do not write a batch file, claim the whole batch, or publish reservations. Queue refreshes update task state but never add ordinary task ids to the frozen batch.

Mode 1: resume active work, then drain the selected snapshot

If own_in_progress contains this checkout's active task, choose active mode and record that task id first. Then append the same queue tail that Mode 2 would record from the startup snapshot:

• every own blocked and legacy-reserved task, regardless of the hint;
• every unclaimed task under no hint or a preference, ordered with preferred matches first;
• only matching unclaimed tasks under a restrictive hint.

Record dependency-waiting tasks too. Finish the active task to an approved, genuinely blocked, or global-hard-stop boundary, then continue through ready recorded tasks one at a time. Only an explicit request to run just the active task produces a one-item active batch.

Mode 2: drain the existing queue snapshot

When there is no active task but any own_blocked, own_todo, or unclaimed_todo task exists, choose queue mode. Record:

• every own blocked and legacy-reserved task, regardless of the hint;
• every unclaimed task under no hint or a preference, ordered with preferred matches first;
• only matching unclaimed tasks under a restrictive hint.

Record tasks even when their dependencies are not yet approved. They may become ready as earlier batch members finish. The existence of any queue task selects this mode before a restrictive hint filters unclaimed ids; an empty filtered batch stops normally without processing the inbox.

Never invoke process-inbox in active or queue mode, including after the recorded batch drains.

Mode 3: bootstrap from the inbox

Choose inbox mode only when own_in_progress, own_blocked, own_todo, and unclaimed_todo were all empty in the initial snapshot. Work owned by another checkout is not work this checkout can drain and does not enter its batch.

If inbox_nonempty is false, record an empty batch and proceed to normal stop. If it is true, spawn one inbox worker with fork_turns: "none".

Give the worker the source checkout path and instruct it to read and use .agents/skills/process-inbox/SKILL.md completely. It owns exactly one inbox transaction, may use the bounded planner delegation required by that skill, must not implement tasks, and must return the receipt and created ids.

Wait in intervals no longer than 60 seconds. A timeout is not failure. Inspect the saved target after every wake and validate the receipt plus refreshed queue before proceeding. Record as the initial batch exactly the actionable task ids routed by that receipt, whether newly created or reused. Never launch a second inbox worker in this invocation. If it cannot publish durable AI state, stop with the inbox transaction recoverable.

Inbox content that appears or remains after this startup transaction is left untouched for the next $continue or /continue invocation.

Drain only the frozen batch

Refresh queue JSON after every delegated operation and state transition. A task that appears in a later refresh but is absent from batch_task_ids is not eligible in this invocation. Do not substitute it when a batch task is claimed concurrently, blocked by an external dependency, or otherwise unavailable.

Before publishing any new canonical Start commit, require a startable environment: a clean Telegram source checkout with clean submodules and no unrelated untracked files, plus an existing out/Debug/test_TelegramForcePortable golden account. A failed check is a global hard stop before claiming; never reserve shared work this checkout cannot immediately run. Resuming and retrying already-owned work keeps the performer's own preflight rules instead.

1. Resume active batch work

If this checkout has an in-progress task whose id is in batch_task_ids, select it and spawn one performer. Its task-scoped dirty AI artifacts are the resumption handoff. There must be at most one active task. Stop on an active task outside the batch instead of silently expanding the batch or stealing ownership.

2. Retry recorded blocked work

Otherwise select the first ready task in own_blocked whose id is in batch_task_ids and not in attempted_blocked. Readiness means every dependency is approved. Add its id to the set, then reopen it locally:

python3 .agents/skills/process-inbox/scripts/workspace.py retry \
  --task <YYYY/MM/DD/slug>

This preserves its ownership, source recovery refs, plans, reviews, tests, result, and evidence while changing the slot worktree back to local in-progress. It publishes no Resume commit. Spawn its performer at the first incomplete validated boundary.

If it blocks again, leave the new canonical Block boundary and do not retry it again in this invocation. Independent work may continue; the next invocation gets a fresh retry set.

3. Start recorded reserved work

Otherwise select the first ready legacy todo task already owned by this checkout whose id is in batch_task_ids, and start it:

python3 .agents/skills/process-inbox/scripts/workspace.py start \
  --task <YYYY/MM/DD/slug>

The resulting canonical Start commit changes it to in-progress. Leave legacy reservations with unfinished dependencies untouched and consider later ready batch work.

4. Start recorded shared work

Otherwise select the first ready unclaimed todo task whose id is in batch_task_ids, using the order recorded at startup. Start it with the same helper command. start atomically assigns and activates the task, then publishes its canonical Start commit before source work begins.

A concurrent start may mean another checkout won the task. Never overwrite shared state or replace it with a task outside the batch; refresh and continue with another recorded id.

5. Stop normally

Stop when none of these batch-scoped conditions exist:

• this checkout's active batch task;
• a ready recorded blocked task not attempted in this invocation;
• a ready recorded legacy-reserved task;
• a ready recorded unclaimed task.

Recorded tasks still waiting on dependencies outside the batch, tasks won by another checkout, and a blocked task already attempted in this invocation remain visible in the final summary but do not cause a busy loop. Tasks added by another inbox run, checkout, or user after the startup snapshot are outside the batch and wait for the next invocation.

Do not process or wait for the inbox at this point.

Immediately before this normal stop, run the housekeeping command once:

python3 .agents/skills/process-inbox/scripts/workspace.py archive-stale

It publishes one canonical Archive <slug> commit for every project whose tasks are all approved and whose newest task is older than its threshold, after rewriting the project's relative links for the deeper path. Skip this housekeeping on any global hard stop. Only routing new work to an archived project restores it, through the helper's unarchive command; nothing un-archives on a timer.

Spawn one performer

Spawn exactly one performer for the selected task with fork_turns: "none" and a unique tool-valid name. Tell it:

Use .agents/skills/perform-task/SKILL.md completely.
Source checkout: <source_root>
AI slot worktree: <slot_worktree>
Checkout tag: <checkout_tag>
Task: <task-id>
Own this task until it is approved, genuinely blocked, or reaches a global
hard stop. You may use the bounded leaf delegation required by the skill. Do
not select or start another task.

The performer is stateful. Never duplicate it. Poll at no more than 60-second intervals, distinguish progress from completion using its task artifacts, and follow up with the same target if it becomes idle before a valid boundary.

After it returns, require one of:

• source checkout clean at the recorded run tip and task approved on canonical AI master;
• source checkout clean and task exceptionally blocked on canonical master, with exact unverified behavior;
• a clearly reported global hard stop, leaving the task in-progress and all task-scoped local state recoverable for the next invocation.

An interruption or environment stop never becomes a convenience Block. After a genuine Block, add the task id to attempted_blocked and continue with independent work. A dirty source checkout, a file-lock build failure that remains after perform-task exhausts the shared exact-checkout recovery, missing test account, unsafe publication conflict, or comparable global safety failure stops the loop. The first lock signature never stops the batch.

The missing test_TelegramForcePortable golden account is the only portable-folder global stop. All live/real folder combinations must be reconciled by perform-task according to the shared test-loop protocol. Computer Use being unavailable because macOS is locked is never a scheduler stop; the performer must continue with the in-binary overlay driver and artifact-based assessment.

Route discovered follow-ups

After every canonical Approve or Block, read work/result.md. Route before selecting more shared work whenever it lacks work/discovered-routed.md and either says Discovered: present or carries a non-none Unverified: value. Both are unfinished work leaving the pipeline; the only difference is that Discovered: names work nobody has started and Unverified: names behavior that already shipped without proof. An approved task whose unverified behavior was never routed is exactly how coverage debt becomes invisible, so the marker file gates both.

Spawn one disposable routing worker with fork_turns: "none". Tell it to read the routing, splitting, task-path, artifact, validation, and publication rules in .agents/skills/process-inbox/SKILL.md, but not to call prepare, finalize, or abort. Its immutable input is the result, not the inbox. It must not edit Telegram source, start tasks, or implement work.

The worker must deduplicate existing tasks, create independently testable unclaimed todo tasks and justified project updates, write a discovery receipt, and write the source task's routing marker. It stages only those paths, commits Route follow-ups from <source-task-id>, and publishes with the workspace helper. Retry ordinary concurrent-master races; preserve a semantic conflict or unavailable-remote slot commit and stop.

Project assignment has a strong source-project bias. When the source task has a project, assign each discovered implementation or verification task to that same project by default, add it to the project index, and name the source task in depends_on whenever its shipped code or behavior is a prerequisite, even when it is already approved. State that code-lineage requirement in the new task so it is not attempted on a branch without the project changes.

Detach a discovered task to another project or to project: null only when the worker proves it remains coherent, implementable, and independently testable with the source project's changes absent or reverted. Touching shared code, serving another surface, or having a broader title is not proof: projects record feature and code lineage, not exclusive file ownership. The discovery receipt must record the concrete independence evidence. If the source project is archived, restore it before adding the task. When the source task has no project, apply the ordinary project-selection rules from process-inbox.

First apply the scope filter, before any disposition. A verification exists to prove the source task's own change, so run the revert test on each entry: if reverting that task's diff could not change the outcome, the entry is about pre-existing behavior and no verification is created for it. Untested code the run passed on the way, a neighbouring feature, a parameter range the acceptance never named, a pre-existing bug the performer noticed: record the observation in the receipt and stop there. If it deserves work it must earn its own task on its own merits, through the ordinary discovered-follow-up planner and with its own justification — never as coverage debt attributed to a task that did not create it. This filter is what keeps a codebase far larger than the queue from generating verification work without end.

Entries that survive the filter get exactly one of two dispositions, and the receipt records which and why:

• Routable when the existing test account and checkout could close the gap and the run simply did not cover it. Create a type: verify task naming the exact behavior to prove; its acceptance is that verification, and it carries no implementation work of its own.

  This disposition should now be rare. pipeline.md requires a performer to close any gap its own checkout can measure by adding a test run while it still holds the context, the branch, the overlay and the build, rather than deferring it — so a routable entry means that bar slipped. Route it anyway, because the coverage is genuinely missing and the source run's context is gone, but state plainly in the receipt that the source run could have closed it in context. That sentence is the measurable signal that the pipeline is exporting its own test coverage into the queue; read a run of them as a defect to fix upstream, never as normal throughput.

• Infrastructure-limited when closing it needs something the project does not have — a second account, funded external value, real server-backed cloud state. Record it in the receipt only. Do not create a task that would be unstartable the moment it enters the queue.

Never resolve a surviving entry by deciding the behavior is probably fine. Once an entry is in scope, the disposition is about who can verify it and when, never about whether it is worth verifying. That rule governs the choice between the two dispositions; it does not override the scope filter above, which asks a different question — whether this task is the one that owes the measurement at all.

Write type: verify into that task's state.yaml. It is the only thing that selects the verification profile in perform-task, so a verification created without it silently runs the implementation pipeline against an empty diff. Give it one specific measurable claim: a task that would need a source change to satisfy its own acceptance is misrouted and belongs in an implement task.

Write the source task's diff into it as its scope boundary, naming that task and what it changed, and state that the verification proves that change and nothing around it. A verification inherits its parent's boundary; it does not get a wider one by being about testing. Its acceptance criteria must all pass the revert test against the parent's diff, and it may not enumerate a parameter range the parent's acceptance never named.

A verify task's own follow-ups are always type: implement. When a verification reports Finding: deviation, route the repair as ordinary implementation work naming the measured expected and actual values, and cite the verification as its evidence. Never route a second verification for a gap the first one already measured; the measurement exists, so what is left is the fix.

After validating the discovery receipt, append only the task ids created from that result to discovered_task_ids and batch_task_ids, preserving routing order. This is the only way the frozen batch grows. Apply the same rule transitively when a discovered task later reports its own follow-ups. Deduplicated references to pre-existing tasks and unrelated tasks observed in queue refreshes do not join the batch.

Report

Return one compact summary: invocation mode, initial batch ids, discovered ids added to the batch, inbox receipt if processed, tasks approved, exceptionally blocked tasks with exact unverified behavior and retry status, recorded tasks left queued, unrelated new tasks deferred to the next invocation, routed discoveries, infrastructure-limited coverage gaps recorded but not routed, archived projects, any discarded interrupted-worker leftovers, elapsed time, and why the loop stopped. Make any global hard stop or unsafe state unmistakable. Never include source or AI commit hashes; task ids are the only durable locators.