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status skill

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This skill generates a structured project status report by aggregating VCS, PRs, issues, and CI data for quick planning.

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Files (16)
SKILL.md
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---
name: status
description: This skill should be used when checking project status, starting sessions, reviewing activity, or when "sitrep", "status report", or "what's changed" are mentioned.
metadata:
  version: "1.0.0"
---

# Status Reporting

Gather -> aggregate -> present pattern for comprehensive project status across VCS, PRs, issues, CI.

<when_to_use>

- Starting work sessions (context refresh)
- Checking project/team activity
- Understanding PR/stack relationships
- Quick status overview before planning
- Reviewing recent changes across systems
- Understanding blockers

NOT for: deep-dive into specific items, real-time monitoring, single-source queries

</when_to_use>

<core_pattern>

**Three-stage workflow**:

1. **Gather** - collect from multiple sources
2. **Aggregate** - combine, filter, cross-reference by time/stack/status
3. **Present** - format for scanning with actionable insights

Key principles:
- Multi-source integration (VCS + code review + issues + CI)
- Time-aware filtering (natural language -> query params)
- Stack-aware organization (group by branch hierarchy)
- Scannable output (visual indicators, relative times)
- Actionable insights (highlight blockers, failures)

</core_pattern>

<workflow>

**Stage 1: Parse Constraints**

Extract time from natural language:
- "last X hours" -> `-Xh`
- "past X days" / "last X days" -> `-Xd`
- "yesterday" -> `-1d`
- "this morning" / "today" -> `-12h`
- "this week" -> `-7d`
- "since {date}" -> calculate days back

Default: 7 days if unspecified.

**Stage 2: Gather Data**

Run parallel queries for each available source:

1. **VCS State** - branch/stack structure, recent commits, working dir status
2. **Code Review** - open PRs, CI status, review decisions, activity
3. **Issues** - recently updated, status, priority, assignments
4. **CI/CD** - pipeline runs, success/failure, error summaries

Skip unavailable sources gracefully.

**Stage 3: Aggregate**

Cross-reference and organize:
- Group PRs by stack position (if stack-aware)
- Filter all by time constraint
- Correlate issues with PRs/branches
- Identify blockers (failed CI, blocking reviews)
- Calculate relative timestamps

**Stage 4: Present**

Format for scanning:
- Hierarchical sections (VCS -> PRs -> Issues -> CI)
- Visual indicators (`✓` `✗` `⏳` for status)
- Relative timestamps for recency
- Highlight attention-needed items
- Include links for deep-dive

See [templates.md](references/templates.md) for section formats.

</workflow>

<data_sources>

**VCS** - stack visualization, commit history, working dir state
- Stack-aware (Graphite, git-stack): hierarchical branch relationships
- Standard git: branch, log, remote tracking

**Code Review** - PRs/MRs, CI checks, reviews, comments
- Platforms: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Gerrit

**Issues** - recent updates, metadata, repo relationships
- Platforms: Linear, Jira, GitHub Issues, GitLab Issues

**CI/CD** - runs, success/failure, timing, errors
- Platforms: GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, CircleCI, Jenkins

Tool-specific: [graphite.md](references/graphite.md), [github.md](references/github.md), [linear.md](references/linear.md), [beads.md](references/beads.md)

</data_sources>

<aggregation>

**Cross-Referencing**:
1. PRs to branches (by name)
2. Issues to PRs (by ID in title/body)
3. CI runs to PRs (by number/SHA)
4. Issues to repos (by reference)

**Stack-Aware Organization**:
- Group PRs by hierarchy
- Show parent/child relationships
- Indicate current position
- Highlight blockers in stack order

**Filtering**:
- Time: apply to all sources, use most recent update
- Status: prioritize action-needed, open before closed

**Relative Timestamps**:
- < 1 hour: "X minutes ago"
- < 24 hours: "X hours ago"
- < 7 days: "X days ago"
- >= 7 days: "X weeks ago" or absolute

</aggregation>

<presentation>

**Visual Indicators**:
- `✓` success | `✗` failure | `⏳` pending | `⏸` draft | `🔴` blocker
- `▓▓▓░░` progress (3/5)
- `◇` minor | `◆` moderate | `◆◆` severe

**Output Structure**:

```
=== STATUS REPORT: {repo} ===
Generated: {timestamp}
{Time filter if applicable}

{VCS_SECTION}
{PR_SECTION}
{ISSUE_SECTION}
{CI_SECTION}

⚠️ ATTENTION NEEDED
{blockers and action items}
```

See [templates.md](references/templates.md) for detailed section templates.

</presentation>

<scripts>

Use `scripts/sitrep.ts` for automated gathering:

```bash
./scripts/sitrep.ts              # All sources, 24h default
./scripts/sitrep.ts -t 7d        # Last 7 days
./scripts/sitrep.ts -s github    # Specific sources
./scripts/sitrep.ts --format=text
```

Outputs JSON (structured) or text (human-readable). Reduces agent tool calls 80%+.

See [implementation.md](references/implementation.md) for script structure and patterns.

</scripts>

<dependencies>

**Required**: VCS tool (git, gt, jj), shell access

**Optional** (graceful degradation):
- Code review CLI (gh, glab)
- Issue tracker MCP/API
- CI/CD platform API

Works with ANY available subset.

</dependencies>

<rules>

ALWAYS:
- Parse time constraints before queries
- Execute queries in parallel
- Handle missing sources gracefully
- Use relative timestamps
- Highlight actionable items
- Provide links for deep-dive
- Format for scanning

NEVER:
- Fail entirely if one source unavailable
- Block on slow queries (use timeouts)
- Expose credentials
- Dump raw data without organization

</rules>

<integration>

**As session starter**:
1. Generate report (understand state)
2. Identify attention-needed items
3. Plan work (prioritize by blockers)
4. Return periodically (track progress)

**Cross-skill references**:
- Failing CI -> [debugging](../debugging/SKILL.md)
- Before planning -> use report for context
- When blocked -> check dependencies

**Automation**: daily standup, pre-commit hooks, PR creation context

</integration>

<references>

Tool integrations:
- [graphite.md](references/graphite.md) - Graphite stack and PR queries
- [github.md](references/github.md) - GitHub CLI patterns
- [linear.md](references/linear.md) - Linear MCP integration
- [beads.md](references/beads.md) - Local issue tracking

Implementation:
- [templates.md](references/templates.md) - Output templates and formatting
- [implementation.md](references/implementation.md) - Patterns, scripts, anti-patterns

Examples:
- [EXAMPLES.md](EXAMPLES.md) - Usage examples and sample output

Formatting:

</references>

Overview

This skill provides a repeatable status-reporting workflow for project state across VCS, code review, issues, and CI. It summarizes recent activity, highlights blockers, and produces scannable, actionable reports to start sessions or prepare planning. Use it to get a concise sitrep across systems without deep-diving into individual items.

How this skill works

The skill follows a three-stage pattern: gather data from available sources, aggregate and cross-reference by time and stack, then present a formatted report. It parses natural-language time constraints, runs parallel queries across VCS, PRs, issues, and CI, and organizes results into hierarchical sections with visual indicators and relative timestamps. Unavailable sources are skipped gracefully and outputs include links for deep dives.

When to use it

  • Starting a work session to refresh context quickly
  • Checking recent project or team activity across systems
  • Before planning to get a fast snapshot of priorities and blockers
  • Reviewing PR/stack relationships and merged commits
  • Asking “sitrep”, “status report”, or “what's changed”

Best practices

  • Always parse time constraints first; default to the last 7 days when unspecified
  • Run queries in parallel and apply timeouts to avoid blocking
  • Group PRs by stack/branch hierarchy and correlate issues and CI runs
  • Prioritize action-needed items and surface blockers explicitly
  • Format output for scanning: sections, visual indicators, and relative timestamps

Example use cases

  • Generate a pre-meeting summary showing failing CI, blocking reviews, and recent merges
  • Start a coding session by listing your stack position, open PRs, and assigned issues
  • Quickly map which issues are referenced by PRs and whether their pipelines passed
  • Daily standup automation that posts a condensed status report to the team channel
  • Triage after a release: show commits, PRs merged, and any post-release failures

FAQ

What time ranges does the skill understand?

It maps natural language to relative filters (e.g., last X hours -> -Xh, yesterday -> -1d, this week -> -7d) and defaults to 7 days if unspecified.

What happens if a source (e.g., CI or issue tracker) is unavailable?

The skill skips unavailable sources gracefully, notes which sources were omitted, and still presents aggregated results from the remaining systems.