comms

name	comms
description	Manage dev_communication inboxes, messages, and issue lifecycle across backend/frontend teams.

Comms Skill

Use this skill when the user asks to check team comms, send a cross-team message, create or move issues, or archive completed message threads.

Team-awareness (required)

Before running actions, resolve active team defaults from:

1. .codex-workflow/config/active-team.json (project-local), else
2. installed pack config/active-team.json.

Use team_profile.default_paths and issue_prefix from that file as defaults. If no active team config exists, ask the user which team context to use.

Project policy:

• Default comms checks are team-only.
• In backend context, check only dev_communication/backend/inbox and backend issue folders unless the user explicitly asks for frontend/cross-team status.

Inputs to resolve

• Action: check, send, issue, status, move, or archive
• Team context: current team (backend or frontend)
• Target team (for cross-team message requests)
• Header normalization (for new messages): use Backend-Dev, Backend-QA, Frontend-Dev, Frontend-QA

Actions

1. Check (default)

1. List:
   • Active team inbox (team_profile.default_paths.inbox)
   • Active team issues queue (team_profile.default_paths.issues_queue)
   • Active team issues active (team_profile.default_paths.issues_active)
2. Summarize pending messages and issue counts for the active team.
3. Only include cross-team inbox/issue status when explicitly requested by the user.

2. Send

1. Collect: target team, subject, priority, content, related issues.
2. Use dev_communication/templates/message-request.md (or response template when replying).
3. Save to target inbox:
   • dev_communication/backend/inbox/ or
   • dev_communication/frontend/inbox/
4. Filename format: YYYY-MM-DD_{subject_slug}.md.

3. Issue

1. Determine next issue number from target team's existing issues.
2. Use dev_communication/templates/issue-template.md.
3. Save to target queue:
   • dev_communication/backend/issues/queue/ for API issues
   • dev_communication/frontend/issues/queue/ for UI issues
4. Initialize issue metadata with Status: QUEUE.
5. Filename format: {TEAM}-ISS-{NNN}_{title_slug}.md.

Guardrail:

• Follow team protocol: messages cross team boundaries; issue ownership is team-local unless user explicitly asks to create across teams.

4. Status

1. Review active issues for the active team by default.
2. Update active team status file:
   • backend: dev_communication/backend/status.md
   • frontend: dev_communication/frontend/status.md
3. Include cross-team status only when explicitly requested by the user.

5. Move

1. Locate issue file.
2. Select target folder: queue/, active/, or completed/.
3. Apply strict folder-status mapping before/with move:
   • queue/ -> Status: QUEUE
   • active/ -> Status: ACTIVE
   • completed/ -> Status: COMPLETE
4. Move file into matching folder in the same action as status update.
5. Do not leave completed work in queue/ or active/.

6. Archive

1. Identify completed thread messages.
2. Create archive folder:
   • dev_communication/archive/YYYY-MM-DD_{thread_subject}/
3. Move related message files into archive folder.

Output expectations

• Always return file paths created/updated/moved.
• For check, provide short, scan-friendly status by team.
• For send or issue, include exact filenames for traceability.
• When issue completion is reported, explicitly confirm both status update and move to completed/.