Work Command

Pick the next unblocked story from Linear and implement it using the Ralph Wiggum loop.

Usage

/sal:work [--project-id <LINEAR_PROJECT_ID>] [--story-id <STORY_ID>] [--continue]

Examples

# Pick next unblocked story from project and implement
/sal:work --project-id PROJ-123

# Work on a specific story
/sal:work --story-id STORY-456

# Continue working on current story (after interruption)
/sal:work --continue

Arguments

Argument	Required	Description
--project-id	No*	Linear project to pull stories from
--story-id	No*	Specific story to work on
--continue	No	Resume work on current story

*One of --project-id or --story-id required unless --continue.

What This Command Does

Step 1: Select Story

If --story-id provided:

• Fetch that specific story from Linear

If --project-id provided:

• Query Linear for unblocked stories (no pending blockers)
• Sort by priority, then by layer tag order
• Select the first (highest priority, earliest layer)

Step 2: Create Worktree & Session

IMPORTANT: All work must be done in a git worktree, not the main working directory.

# Get repo info
REPO_ROOT=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
REPO_NAME=$(basename "$REPO_ROOT")
BRANCH="feat/STORY-456-create-subscriptions-table"
BRANCH_SLUG=$(echo "$BRANCH" | sed 's/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/-/g')
WORKTREE_PATH="${REPO_ROOT}/../${REPO_NAME}--${BRANCH_SLUG}"

# Create branch and worktree (as sibling to main repo)
git worktree add -b "$BRANCH" "$WORKTREE_PATH"

# Register work session BEFORE changing directory
mkdir -p "$REPO_ROOT/.claude/session"
cat > "$REPO_ROOT/.claude/session/work-goal" << EOF
branch=$BRANCH
worktree=$WORKTREE_PATH
EOF

# Change to worktree - ALL WORK HAPPENS HERE
cd "$WORKTREE_PATH"

The worktree is created as a sibling directory:

~/dev/
├── my-repo/                                    # Main (stays on main branch)
└── my-repo--feat-STORY-456-create-subscrip...  # Worktree (your work here)

Why worktrees?

• Main directory stays clean on main/master
• Can work on multiple stories in parallel
• Isolated changes prevent accidental commits to wrong branch

Step 3: Understand Context

Read the story description and acceptance criteria. If story references:

• Other stories → Read their descriptions for context
• Existing code → Read relevant files
• PRD → Read the PRD document

Step 4: Implement (Ralph Wiggum Loop)

Execute implementation in a persistent loop until all acceptance criteria are met:

1. Read acceptance criteria
2. Implement next criterion
3. Write tests for the criterion (100% coverage required)
4. Run tests and coverage check
5. If tests fail or coverage < 100% → fix and retry
6. If tests pass with 100% coverage → check next criterion
7. Repeat until all criteria met

Exit conditions:
✓ All acceptance criteria complete with 100% test coverage
✗ Blocked by external dependency
✗ Needs human decision
✗ Max iterations reached

Coverage standard: 100% test coverage is required. Run bun coverage from the repo root to check.

Step 5: Verify Completion

Before creating PR, run these commands from the repo root:

bun lint      # Linting passes
bun check     # Types check
bun coverage  # Tests pass with 100% coverage

Verify:

• All acceptance criteria from story are met
• bun lint passes
• bun check passes
• bun coverage passes with 100% coverage
• No @ts-expect-error or as any introduced

Step 6: Create Pull Request

gh pr create --title "[STORY-456] Create subscriptions table migration" --body "..." --draft

Step 7: Update Linear

• Move story to "In Review" state
• Add PR link to story
• Add comment with implementation notes

Output

## Work Complete

### Story
STORY-456: [db:schema] Create subscriptions table migration

### Worktree
../my-repo--feat-STORY-456-create-subscriptions-table

### Branch
feat/STORY-456-create-subscriptions-table

### Changes
- Created migration: packages/db/migrations/0042_create_subscriptions.sql
- Added schema: packages/db/src/schema/subscriptions.ts
- Added tests: packages/db/test/subscriptions.test.ts

### Verification
- [x] Tests pass (12 tests, 100% coverage)
- [x] Types check
- [x] Lint clean
- [x] All acceptance criteria met

### Pull Request
https://github.com/org/repo/pull/123

### Next Steps
Run `/sal:review` to trigger multi-agent code review.

Integration with Orchestrator

Structured markers for parsing:

[SAL:WORK:START] {"storyId": "STORY-456", "branch": "feat/..."}
[SAL:WORK:PROGRESS] {"criterion": 1, "total": 5, "status": "complete"}
[SAL:WORK:COMPLETE] {"storyId": "STORY-456", "prUrl": "https://..."}
[SAL:WORK:BLOCKED] {"storyId": "STORY-456", "reason": "..."}