work

name	work
description	Pick up the next task, execute it, verify it, mark it complete, and commit. Use when the user wants to work through tasks one at a time, or says 'do the next task', 'work on the next item', or invokes /work. Optionally accepts a task ID and/or custom instructions.
allowed-tools	Bash, Read, Glob, Grep, Edit, Write, Agent, Skill

work

Execute one task end-to-end: pick it up, do the work, verify, mark complete, and commit.

Input

Optionally accepts:

• A task ID or name to work on a specific task (e.g. /work 042 or /work auth-refactor).
• A task query to find a task by description or filters. This can be:
  • Natural language — e.g. /work something related to authentication or /work a pending high-priority CLI task.
  • A taskmd CLI command — e.g. /work taskmd search 'auth' --filter status=pending or /work taskmd next --scope cli --filter priority=high.
• Custom instructions after the task identifier that should guide the implementation (e.g. /work 042 use the new API client instead of fetch).

If no task ID or query is provided, the next available task is selected automatically.

Steps

1. Find the task.

   • If the user provided a task ID or name, use that directly.
   • If the user provided a taskmd CLI command (starts with taskmd), run it with --format json appended (if not already present) and --limit 1 (if not already present) to get the top result. Extract the task ID from the output.
   • If the user provided a natural-language query (not a task ID and not a taskmd command), translate it into an appropriate taskmd command:
     • Use taskmd search "<query>" --format json --limit 1 for keyword/topic queries.
     • Add --filter flags for any constraints the user mentioned (e.g. status, priority, scope, tags, effort).
     • Use taskmd next instead of taskmd search when the user's intent is about priority or "what's next" within a filtered set.
     • Run the constructed command and extract the task ID from the output.
   • If no input was provided, run taskmd next --limit 1 --format json to get the highest-priority ready task.
   • If no task is found, tell the user there are no remaining tasks and stop.

2. Do the task. Invoke the /do-task skill with the task ID from step 1. If the user provided custom instructions, incorporate them into the work — they take priority over default approaches where applicable.

3. Verify the task. Once the work is done, invoke the /verify-task skill with the same task ID. If verification fails, fix the issues and re-verify until it passes.

4. Mark the task complete. Invoke the /complete-task skill with the task ID.

5. Commit your changes. Invoke the /commit skill to commit all changes with a conventional commit message.

Notes

• Only work on one task per invocation. If the user wants to continue, they can invoke /work again.
• If a task is blocked by dependencies or cannot be completed, explain why and stop — do not skip to another task.