agile-workflow

Agile Workflow Orchestrator

A skill that guides agents through structured agile development workflows by intelligently invoking commands in sequence. Uses checkpoint-based flow control to auto-progress between steps while pausing at key decision points.

Note: This is a platform-agnostic, git-only workflow. For PR-based workflows with specific platforms, use:

• gitea-workflow for Gitea repositories
• github-agile for GitHub repositories

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Starting work for the day ("run morning standup", "start my day")
• Working on a task ("implement next task", "continue working")
• Completing a development cycle ("finish this task", "prepare PR")
• Running sprint ceremonies ("start sprint", "end sprint", "retrospective")
• Resuming interrupted work ("what's next", "where was I")

Do NOT use this skill when:

• Running a single specific command (use that command directly)
• Just checking status (use /status directly)
• Only doing code review without full cycle (use /review-code directly)
• Researching or planning without implementation

Prerequisites

Before using this skill:

• Git repository initialized with worktree support
• Context network with backlog structure at context-network/backlog/
• Task status files at context-network/backlog/by-status/*.md

Workflow Types Overview

WORKFLOW TYPES
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

TASK CYCLE (Primary)     DAILY                SPRINT
──────────────────────   ──────────────────   ──────────────────
sync                     Morning:             Start:
  ↓                        sync --last 1d       sync --all
next → [CHECKPOINT]        status --brief       groom --all
  ↓                        groom --ready        plan sprint-goals
implement                                       status
  ↓                      Evening:
[CHECKPOINT]               checklist          End:
  ↓                        discovery            sync --sprint
review-code                sync --last 1d       retrospective
review-tests                                    audit --sprint
  ↓                                             maintenance --deep
[CHECKPOINT]
  ↓
apply-recommendations (if issues)
  ↓
merge-prep → [CHECKPOINT]
  ↓
merge-complete
  ↓
update-backlog & status
  ↓
END
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

State Detection

The skill determines current workflow state automatically. No manual tracking needed.

Detection Signals

Signal	How to Check	Indicates
Worktree exists	git worktree list	Task in progress
Task branch active	git branch --show-current matches task/*	Active implementation
Uncommitted changes	git status --porcelain	Active coding
Branch merged	git branch --merged main	Ready for cleanup

State Matrix

STATE DETECTION LOGIC
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Check                           → State           → Next Step
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
No worktree, no in-progress     → IDLE            → sync, next
Worktree exists, uncommitted    → IMPLEMENTING    → continue implement
Worktree exists, all committed  → READY_REVIEW    → review-code
Reviews complete, ready to merge→ MERGE_READY     → merge-prep
Branch merged, worktree exists  → CLEANUP         → merge-complete
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

For detailed detection algorithms, see references/state-detection.md.

Invocation Patterns

# Auto-detect state and continue from where you are
/agile-workflow

# Start specific workflow phase
/agile-workflow --phase task-cycle
/agile-workflow --phase daily-morning
/agile-workflow --phase daily-evening
/agile-workflow --phase sprint-start
/agile-workflow --phase sprint-end

# Resume work on specific task
/agile-workflow --task TASK-123

# Preview what would happen without executing
/agile-workflow --dry-run

Task Cycle Phase

The primary workflow for completing a single task from selection to merge.

Step 1: Sync Reality

Ensure context network matches actual project state.

Run: sync --last 1d --dry-run
Purpose: Detect drift between documented and actual state
Output: Sync report showing completions, partial work, divergences

Step 2: Select Task

Identify the next task to work on.

Run: next
Purpose: Find highest priority ready task
Output: Task ID, title, branch name suggestion

CHECKPOINT: TASK_SELECTED

• Pause to confirm task selection
• User can accept or choose different task
• On accept: continue to implementation

Step 3: Implement

Test-driven development in isolated worktree.

Run: implement [TASK-ID]
Purpose: Create worktree, write tests first, implement, verify
Output: Working implementation with passing tests

CHECKPOINT: IMPL_COMPLETE

• Pause after implementation completes
• Show test results and coverage
• On success: continue to review

Step 4: Review

Quality validation of implementation.

Run: review-code --uncommitted
Run: review-tests --uncommitted
Purpose: Identify quality issues, security concerns, test gaps
Output: Review reports with issues and recommendations

CHECKPOINT: REVIEWS_DONE

• Display combined review results
• If critical issues: must address before continuing
• If no issues: auto-continue to PR prep
• User decides: apply recommendations now or defer

Step 5: Apply Recommendations (Conditional)

Address review findings intelligently.

Run: apply-recommendations [review-output]
Purpose: Apply quick fixes now, defer complex changes to tasks
Output: Applied fixes + created follow-up tasks

Step 6: Prepare Merge

Validate and prepare for merge to main.

Run: merge-prep
Purpose: Validate implementation, run final checks, prepare for merge
Output: Ready to merge to main

CHECKPOINT: MERGE_READY

• Display validation results
• Show files that will be merged
• On all checks pass: continue to merge
• On failure: stop, address issues

Step 7: Complete Merge

Merge to main and cleanup.

Run: merge-complete
Purpose: Merge to main, delete branch, remove worktree, update status
Output: Task marked complete, cleanup done

Step 8: Update Backlog and Project Status

Persist progress to source-of-truth documentation.

Run: Part of merge-complete (Phase 6)
Purpose: Update epic file (task → complete), unblock dependents, update project status
Output: Backlog and project status reflect actual progress

Why this step matters: Without it, completed tasks remain marked "ready" in backlog files and project status stays stale. Internal tracking files are session-scoped; the backlog and status files are the persistent source of truth.

For detailed task-cycle instructions, see references/phases/task-cycle.md.

Daily Phase

Quick sequences for start and end of workday.

Morning Standup (~5 min)

Run sequence:
1. sync --last 1d --dry-run   # What actually happened yesterday
2. status --brief --sprint    # Current sprint health
3. groom --ready-only         # What's ready to work on

Output: Clear picture of today's priorities

Evening Wrap-up (~10 min)

Run sequence:
1. checklist                  # Ensure nothing lost
2. discovery                  # Capture learnings
3. sync --last 1d            # Update task statuses

Output: Knowledge preserved, state synchronized

For detailed daily instructions, see references/phases/daily.md.

Sprint Phase

Ceremonies for sprint boundaries.

Sprint Start (~60 min)

Run sequence:
1. sync --all                 # Full reality alignment
2. groom --all               # Comprehensive grooming
3. plan sprint-goals         # Architecture and goals
4. status --detailed         # Baseline metrics

Output: Sprint plan with groomed, ready backlog

Sprint End (~90 min)

Run sequence:
1. sync --sprint             # Final sprint sync
2. retrospective             # Capture learnings
3. audit --scope sprint      # Quality review
4. status --metrics          # Sprint metrics
5. maintenance --deep        # Context network cleanup

Output: Sprint closed, learnings captured, ready for next

For detailed sprint instructions, see references/phases/sprint.md.

Checkpoint Handling

Checkpoints are pauses for human decision-making.

Checkpoint Behavior

At each checkpoint:

1. Summarize what just completed
2. Show key results and any issues
3. Present next steps
4. Wait for user input

Checkpoint Responses

Response	Action
"continue" / "proceed" / "yes"	Move to next step
"stop" / "pause"	Save state, exit workflow
"back"	Re-run previous step
"skip"	Skip current step (use cautiously)
Custom input	May adjust next step parameters

Auto-Continue Conditions

Some checkpoints can auto-continue when conditions are met:

Checkpoint	Auto-Continue If
IMPL_COMPLETE	All tests pass, build succeeds
REVIEWS_DONE	No critical or high severity issues
MERGE_READY	All validation checks pass

For detailed checkpoint handling, see references/checkpoint-handling.md.

Command Reference

Each workflow step uses embedded command instructions:

Command	Reference	Purpose
sync	references/commands/sync.md	Reality synchronization
groom	references/commands/groom.md	Task refinement
next	references/commands/next.md	Task selection
implement	references/commands/implement.md	TDD implementation
review-code	references/commands/review-code.md	Code quality review
review-tests	references/commands/review-tests.md	Test quality review
apply-recommendations	references/commands/apply-recommendations.md	Triage and apply fixes
merge-prep	references/commands/merge-prep.md	Merge preparation
merge-complete	references/commands/merge-complete.md	Merge and cleanup
discovery	references/commands/discovery.md	Learning capture
retrospective	references/commands/retrospective.md	Post-work analysis
maintenance	references/commands/maintenance.md	Context network cleanup

Example: Complete Task Cycle

Scenario: Start of day, implement next available task

Invocation:

/agile-workflow --phase task-cycle

Flow:

Agent: Detecting current state...
       No worktree found, checking ready tasks...

Agent: Running sync --last 1d --dry-run
       [Sync output: 0 tasks completed but undocumented]

Agent: Running next
       Found: TASK-042 - Add user preferences endpoint
       Priority: High | Size: Small | Branch: task/TASK-042-preferences

       ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════╗
       ║  CHECKPOINT: Task Selection               ║
       ╠═══════════════════════════════════════════╣
       ║  Selected: TASK-042                       ║
       ║  Proceed with implementation?             ║
       ║                                           ║
       ║  [continue] [stop] [other task]           ║
       ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════╝

User: continue

Agent: Creating worktree at .worktrees/TASK-042/
       Running implement TASK-042
       [Implementation proceeds with TDD...]

       Tests: 12 passing
       Coverage: 87%
       Build: Success

       ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════╗
       ║  CHECKPOINT: Implementation Complete      ║
       ╠═══════════════════════════════════════════╣
       ║  All tests passing, ready for review      ║
       ║  Proceed to code review?                  ║
       ║                                           ║
       ║  [continue] [stop]                        ║
       ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════╝

[Flow continues through review, merge...]

Limitations

• Requires context network with specific backlog structure
• Git-only workflow (no PR integration - for PR workflows use gitea-workflow or github-agile)
• Single-task focus (parallel task work not orchestrated)
• Best suited for solo development or trusted team direct-to-main workflows

Related Skills

• gitea-workflow - For Gitea repositories with PR integration
• github-agile - For GitHub repositories with PR integration
• skill-maker - Create new skills following agentskills.io spec
• research-workflow - For research tasks before implementation