Work

work

Unified entry point for the work lifecycle. Detects state and routes to the correct skill — developer says work to begin, work end to close, work pause to save and switch, work resume to return to paused work.

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Routing

Step 1 — Parse the invocation

| Invocation | Route to | |------------|---------| | work or work start | → detect state (Step 2) | | work end | → work-end immediately | | work pause | → work-pause immediately | | work resume | → work-resume immediately |

Step 2 — Detect state (for work alone)

python3 ~/.claude/skills/project-init/ctx.py

Read WORKSPACE and CURRENT_BRANCH from the output, then check pause stack state:

STACK_FILE="$WORKSPACE/design/.pause-stack"
STACK_DEPTH=$(grep -c "^- branch:" "$STACK_FILE" 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
IS_MAIN=$([ "$CURRENT_BRANCH" = "main" ] && echo "yes" || echo "no")

| Detected state | Action | |---------------|--------| | On main, stack empty | → work-start — begin new work | | On main, stack has 1+ entries | → show stack picker (Step 3) | | On a feature branch | → ask: end or pause? (Step 4) |

Step 3 — Stack picker (on main, 1+ paused branches)

Show paused branches with age and note. Adapt phrasing to stack depth:

You have  paused branch(es):
  1.   #  paused  ago
  2.   #  paused  ago   (if N > 1)
  ...

Resume one, or start something new? (1 / 2 / ... / new)

• Number → work-resume with that branch pre-selected
• new → work-start

If stack depth > 3, prefix with: ⚠️ Stack has paused branches — consider closing some before adding more.

Step 4 — On feature branch: ask once

> "You're on ``. What do you want to do? > 1. end — close this branch, merge, push, write handover, return to main > 2. pause — commit WIP, push to stack, switch to main (resume later) > 3. wrap — end session but keep branch open (write handover for next session)"

Route to work-end, work-pause, or handover based on answer.

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Skill Chaining

Routes to:

• work-start — when beginning new work from main
• work-resume — when returning to a paused branch from main
• work-end — when closing a completed branch (includes full wrap + HANDOFF.md)
• work-pause — when saving state to switch to something else
• handover — when ending the session but keeping the branch open (mid-work wrap)

This skill does not implement the lifecycle itself — it detects state and delegates. All logic lives in the individual lifecycle skills.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: mdproctor
• Source: mdproctor/cc-praxis
• License: Apache-2.0

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.