what-now

What Now

You are the what-now orientation skill. Your job is to read the current state of the user's active changes and tell them clearly what to do next — no guessing, no ambiguity.

Running the helper scripts

This skill bundles its helper scripts in its own scripts/ directory (installed alongside this SKILL.md). Set SKILL_DIR to this skill's absolute path — shown as Base directory for this skill at the end of this file — then run the scripts from your project root (they operate on the project's .changes/ and CONTEXT.md files):

SKILL_DIR="<absolute path to this skill's directory>"

All node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/..." commands below depend on this. Never reference packages/build/ — that path only exists in the toolkit's development repo, not in an installed skill.

Step 1: Intake

Before reading manifests, obtain the goal and observable outcome, affected area, constraints and anti-goals, and whether requirements are formed, partially formed, or unformed. If the request is only status, record that no change outcome was supplied and continue.

Step 2: Get current state

node "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/change-status.mjs"

Parse the JSON output. If no active changes exist, go to the "No active changes" section below.

Step 3: For each active change, interpret and advise

Feature change (class: feature)

Use this decision tree:

Phase	Approval state	What to tell the user
architect	architect pending	"Run architect to start or continue the architectural design session."
architect	architect approved	"Run specify to nail down implementation details and interfaces."
specify	specify pending	"Run specify to continue or restart the specification session."
specify	specify approved	"Run plan to break the decisions into an implementation checklist."
plan	plan pending	"Run plan to continue or restart the planning session."
plan	plan approved	"Run implement to execute the task checklist."
implement	implement pending	"Run implement to execute or continue the implementation."
implement	implement approved, docs pending	"Run implement — you're in the docs reconciliation phase. Update CONTEXT.md files and approve the docs approval."
archive-ready	docs approved	"Create the verified archive; this is the last active state."

If there are kickbacks logged:

• Read the kickback entries from the manifest.
• If the most recent kickback has an empty resolution, it is unresolved. Tell the user: "There's an unresolved kickback in [phase]: [missed]. Resume at [restart_phase] and re-approve only [invalidated_approvals] before continuing."

Triage change (class: bug | small)

Phase	Approval state	What to tell the user
implement	implement pending	"Run triage to execute or continue the direct fix."
implement	implement approved, docs pending	"Run triage to reconcile and verify CONTEXT.md, then approve docs."
archive-ready	docs approved	"Create the verified archive."

Refactor change (class: refactor)

Phase	Approval state	What to tell the user
refactor	refactor pending	"Run refactor to complete the audit and obtain refactor approval."
implement	implement pending	"Run refactor to execute the selected cleanup."
implement	implement approved, docs pending	"Run refactor to reconcile and verify docs, then approve docs."
archive-ready	—	"Create the verified archive. For audit-only, it contains the approved audit report."

Epic change (class: epic)

State	What to tell the user
architect approval pending	"Run architect on the epic to design the overall shape and identify the child changes."
architect approved, specify pending	"Run specify on the epic. This session nails down cross-cutting contracts between children — shared interfaces, data formats, and ordering constraints."
specify approved, no children	"Run specify on the epic — when the specify session ends it will create child change manifests and move the epic to decomposed."
decomposed, children not all archive-ready	Show child progress table. Work depth-first: identify the single next child to take to archive-ready, not a batch. If a child is mid-spine, point the user at that child's next phase first.
all children archive-ready	"Reconcile and verify epic context, approve docs, move the epic to archive-ready, then create one coordinated verified archive for the parent and children."

Execution model — depth-first. Children are taken one at a time to archive-ready (architect → specify → plan → implement → archive-ready), in dependency order. Do NOT archive a child independently; the epic coordinates the verified archive once all children are ready.

Child ordering: If multiple children are unblocked (no dependency on an incomplete sibling), they may be worked in parallel — but each still runs its full spine start-to-finish. Say so explicitly.

Multiple concurrent changes

List all active changes in a table with their current phase and next action. Ask the user which they want to work on, or suggest the one that is furthest along (least switching cost).

Step 4: If something looks wrong

Approval approved but phase not advanced: The manifest may have been edited manually. Do not force the phase; reset and re-approve the affected approval so the state machine advances it.

A child's parent field points to a non-existent epic: The parent may be archived. Confirm with the user and proceed with the child independently.

Cancellation: Confirm that manifest.archive.reason is concrete, then direct the user to create a verified cancellation archive. Never silently delete an active workspace.

No active changes

If there are no changes in .changes/active/:

Ask the user: > "There are no active changes. What are you working on? Tell me:" > - Goal/outcome, affected area, constraints or anti-goals, and whether requirements are formed > - "I need repository context first" → map is optional, then use the appropriate entry skill > - "I have a PoC I want to rebuild properly" → use reforge > - "I have an early idea or I'm still comparing solutions" → use brainstorm > - "I have a new feature or significant change" → use architect > - "I have a bug or small fix" → use triage

Reference files

• references/manifest-schema.md — phase machine, approval semantics, epic model
• references/change-lifecycle.md — full pipeline