Skill

kata-inbox

Use to drain human-owned kata inbox states (`inbox:hold` and `inbox:needs-review`). Grounds each item, recommends a disposition, asks the human to choose/approve, then applies tracker-only state transitions. Trigger for review/unblock/clear/triage held or needs-review katas.

Invocation

How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both

Slash command

/kata-flight:kata-inbox

User invocable

Model invocable

Inline context

Default effort

Context Preview

The summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill

Drain `inbox:*` kata states in the same style that `rdr-seed-triage` drains

Supporting Files

agents/openai.yaml

SKILL.md

255 lines · ~2.7k tokens

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Last CommitJul 1, 2026

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kata-inbox

Drain inbox:* kata states in the same style that rdr-seed-triage drains kind:rdr-seed. The invariant is simple: any open kata excluded from flight must name the skill that owns its next move.

lifecycle:reviewed -> /kata-flight
kind:rdr-seed -> /rdr-seed-triage
inbox:hold / inbox:needs-review -> /kata-inbox

This skill mutates only the kata tracker. It never edits code, creates a worktree, or commits. It grounds enough source/context to make a recommendation, then asks the human to choose a legal disposition before acting.

Usage

/kata-inbox <short-id> [<short-id> ...]
/kata-inbox --label inbox:hold
/kata-inbox --label inbox:needs-review
/kata-inbox --all
/kata-inbox --confirm

No arguments -> print Usage and stop. --all is the explicit whole-inbox selector (inbox:hold plus inbox:needs-review). Multiple selectors union and dedupe. A selector resolving empty -> refuse.

Posture

Human-gated by default. Always present the issue summary, current inbox reason, grounding, and recommended disposition before mutation. The human must approve or choose another disposition. --confirm is mandatory before close, parent closure, bulk split creation, or other destructive/fan-out actions.
Orchestrator is the single writer. Sub-agents may ground one kata and propose a disposition, but this skill applies all label/link/comment/close changes from the parent session.
Conservative bias. If evidence is weak, keep the kata open and either KEEP-HELD or RESCOPE; never close or silently clear an inbox label.
Exactly one terminal disposition per kata. Record it in the report and in a kata comment.

Verdict taxonomy

Verdict	Meaning	Route
`READY`	The hold/review concern is resolved; the kata is flight-shippable with an embedded plan.	clear `inbox:*`, add `lifecycle:reviewed`, comment `reviewed-at:<HEAD>`
`KEEP-HELD`	The blocker/parking reason is still valid or intentionally deferred.	keep/add `inbox:hold`, comment `held-at:<YYYY-MM-DD>`
`RESCOPE`	The inbox item is real but needs a corrected problem statement/plan before shipping.	clear `inbox:*`, comment/body/title update, then `lifecycle:reviewed` or `inbox:hold` depending on readiness
`SPLIT`	The kata bundles multiple independently shippable or reviewable units.	create/reparent children; parent stays `inbox:hold` unless explicitly closed
`TO-SEED`	The item is actually a design fork, not an inbox hold.	clear `inbox:*`, add `kind:rdr-seed`, comment the fork
`CLOSE`	The work is duplicate, superseded, adjudicated, or otherwise no longer valid.	dependent guard, then `kata close` with typed evidence
`REHOME`	The issue is valid but assigned to the wrong parent/batch/label lane.	parent/batch/label cleanup; optionally combine with another verdict

REHOME may be paired with READY, KEEP-HELD, or TO-SEED; it is listed as a separate action because transcript history shows it is a common inbox task.

Phase 0 - Locate & resolve

Use the same worktree-safe root derivation as kata-scope-review:

PRIMARY_ROOT=$(dirname "$(cd "$(git rev-parse --git-common-dir)" && pwd -P)")
[ -f "$PRIMARY_ROOT/.kata-flight/env" ] && . "$PRIMARY_ROOT/.kata-flight/env"
EXPECTED_REPO_BASENAME="${KATA_FLIGHT_EXPECTED_REPO_BASENAME:-$(basename "$PRIMARY_ROOT")}"
[ "$(basename "$PRIMARY_ROOT")" = "$EXPECTED_REPO_BASENAME" ] || { echo "stopped:wrong-repo:$PRIMARY_ROOT" >&2; exit 1; }
WS=$(dirname "$PRIMARY_ROOT")
KATA_FLIGHT_CONTEXT_ROOT="${KATA_FLIGHT_CONTEXT_ROOT:-$PRIMARY_ROOT}"
[ -d "$KATA_FLIGHT_CONTEXT_ROOT" ] || { echo "stopped:context-root-not-found:$KATA_FLIGHT_CONTEXT_ROOT" >&2; exit 1; }

Resolve candidates:

Explicit ids -> trust, but verify open status and labels.
--label X -> kata list --status open --json, filter .issues[].labels[] for X (bare strings on list output).
--all -> open katas carrying inbox:hold or inbox:needs-review.

Skip owned katas unless the owner is the current human and the user explicitly named the id. Skip kind:rdr-seed unless it also carries inbox:*; if both are present, the recommended disposition is usually TO-SEED cleanup or KEEP-HELD with a comment explaining why it is not ready for rdr-seed-triage.

Phase 1 - Summarize

For each candidate, read kata show <id> --json and summarize:

title, status, owner, priority
labels, especially all inbox:*, kind:*, lifecycle:*, batch:*, area:*
parent/child/blocking links
latest held-at:, reviewed-at:, seed-triaged:, and relevant inbox comments
why the item entered inbox, in one or two lines

Also run cheap grounding for likely stale holds:

grep named code symbols/files from the kata body/comments
check referenced parent/umbrella children for open/closed status
check referenced RDR status when the hold cites an RDR or design decision
compare current labels/batches/parents to the stated parking reason

For batches larger than 3, use one sub-agent per kata only for the grounding summary and proposed verdict. Sub-agents must output verdict blocks only and make no mutations.

Phase 2 - Recommend & ask

Present a compact decision table before acting:

kata-inbox: <selector>  items: N

<id> - <title>
state: <inbox labels> since <held-at/comment date if known>
reason: <why it is in inbox>
grounding: <current evidence, one paragraph max>
recommendation: <VERDICT> - <why>
actions: <labels/comments/links/closes that would happen>

Ask the human to approve the recommended verdicts or choose alternatives. Do not ask an open-ended question when the valid state-machine moves are known. For a single kata, ask one direct question ("Proceed with READY for p6mf?"). For a batch, ask one row per kata.

If the harness lacks a structured AskUserQuestion tool, stop after the decision table and ask the user for the chosen disposition(s). Do not mutate until the human answers.

Phase 3 - Apply

Before every mutation, re-read kata show / kata list for the row being changed; do not act on stale state.

READY

Comment with reviewed-at: <HEAD-sha> first line, followed by the confirmed plan and the inbox-unblock rationale.
Remove every inbox:* label.
Add lifecycle:reviewed.
Strip batch:* only if the kata no longer fits the batch. Otherwise leave the standing batch so /kata-flight --label <batch> can pick it up.

KEEP-HELD

Comment with first line held-at: <YYYY-MM-DD> using the harness current date, not wall-clock shell time.
Ensure inbox:hold is present.
Remove inbox:needs-review only if the human chose a known parked state rather than an unresolved decision.
Strip lifecycle:reviewed and batch:* if the kata is not flight-drainable.

RESCOPE

Comment or edit the body/title with the corrected scope and plan.
If now shippable, perform READY.
If still parked, perform KEEP-HELD.
If it is a design fork, perform TO-SEED.

SPLIT

Under --confirm, create child katas for each named unit, carrying appropriate area:*, severity:*, and provenance labels. Parent handling:

parent remains inbox:hold with a held-at: comment until children exist and links are correct;
close the parent only when the human explicitly chose close and the dependent guard passes.

TO-SEED

Comment the load-bearing design fork.
Add kind:rdr-seed.
Remove every inbox:*.
Strip lifecycle:reviewed and batch:* unless the batch is deliberately tracking the seed as visible but non-flight-shippable.

CLOSE

Run the dependent guard first. If the kata blocks open dependents, either re-point them to the replacement/survivor or stop and ask; never strand a dependent.

Then close with typed evidence:

kata close <id> --reason <done|wontfix|duplicate|superseded|audit-no-change> \
  --message "<substantive message>" \
  --evidence "<typed-evidence>"

Pace sibling closes to respect the kata close throttle. After close, verify status == closed, owner clear, and no active lifecycle labels.

Dependent guard means reading top-level .links[] from kata show <id> --json and checking type=="blocks" edges where this kata is the blocker and the dependent is still open. For merge/duplicate closes, re-point dependents to the survivor. For no-replacement closes, stop and ask unless the human already approved removing or re-pointing the relationship.

REHOME

Use kata edit and kata label to fix parent, batch, area, severity, or title. If removing the last open child from an umbrella, check whether the old umbrella now has zero open children; only close it under --confirm and after reading its children.

Phase 4 - Verify & report

Read back every changed issue. Report from actual state, not command success. Write a scratch report at:

$KATA_FLIGHT_CONTEXT_ROOT/_scope-review/kata-inbox-<selector-slug>.md

Report format:

kata-inbox: <selector>  items: N
  ready:      <id> ...
  held:       <id> ...
  rescoped:   <id> ...
  split:      <parent>-><child>+<child> ...
  to-seed:    <id> ...
  closed:     <id>=<reason> ...
  rehomed:    <id> ...
  surfaced:   <id> ... (needed human answer / dependent guard / ambiguity)
  next: /kata-flight --label <X> | /rdr-seed-triage <id> | none

Failure modes

Condition	Action
No selector	Print Usage and stop.
Selector resolves no open inbox items	Refuse with a short explanation.
Human declines all recommended moves	Leave state unchanged; comment only if explicitly requested.
Evidence cannot settle stale hold	`KEEP-HELD` with a refreshed `held-at:` rationale.
Close would strand dependents	Stop or re-point with explicit human approval.
A kata has both `inbox:*` and `kind:rdr-seed`	Prefer cleanup to one owner; usually `TO-SEED` or `KEEP-HELD` with reason.
Label/link command exits 0 but state did not change	Treat read-back as authoritative; retry once, then surface.

kata-inbox

Invocation

Context Preview

Supporting Files

SKILL.md

kata-inbox

Invocation

Context Preview

Supporting Files

SKILL.md

kata-inbox

Usage

Posture

Verdict taxonomy

Phase 0 - Locate & resolve

Phase 1 - Summarize

Phase 2 - Recommend & ask

Phase 3 - Apply

READY

KEEP-HELD

RESCOPE

SPLIT

TO-SEED

CLOSE

REHOME

Phase 4 - Verify & report

Failure modes

See also

Similar Skills

kata-inbox

Usage

Posture

Verdict taxonomy

Phase 0 - Locate & resolve

Phase 1 - Summarize

Phase 2 - Recommend & ask

Phase 3 - Apply

READY

KEEP-HELD

RESCOPE

SPLIT

TO-SEED

CLOSE

REHOME

Phase 4 - Verify & report

Failure modes

See also

Similar Skills