Start Work

Start Work

Assign a Jira issue to yourself and convert it into an OpenSpec proposal. Hands off to the OPSX workflow once the proposal exists.

When to use

• The user wants to start work on a specific Jira issue they've named.
• The user wants to pick up the next available issue from the board ("start work", "next ticket").
• The user is beginning a new unit of work and needs both the Jira and OpenSpec side set up.

Examples:

• "start work" — takes the topmost issue from the board after confirming.
• "start work PROJ-123" — uses the specified issue.

Steps

0. If no issue-key is provided, fetch the topmost issue from the board:

   1. Detect project key by running af jira projects --json
      • If single project: use it
      • If multiple projects: ask the user to choose
   2. Fetch the topmost backlog issue using:

      af jira search "project = <PROJECT> AND status = 'Selected for Development' ORDER BY Rank ASC" --limit 1 --json
      

   3. Display the issue summary and ask the user for confirmation before proceeding
   4. If no backlog issues found: inform the user the Selected for Development column is empty and stop

1. Fetch the issue details using af jira get <issue-key>.

2. Assign the issue to yourself using af jira assign <issue-key> --to "$ATLASSIAN_EMAIL". af authenticates as the account in ATLASSIAN_EMAIL (legacy: JIRA_EMAIL), so that is "yourself" — do not derive an assignee from the issue's reporter field.

3. Transition the issue to "In Progress" using af jira transition <issue-key> --to "In Progress". If this fails, run af jira transitions <issue-key> to find the correct status name.

4. Create an OpenSpec change using the OPSX workflow:

   • Derive a change-id from the issue key and summary (kebab-case, verb-led)
   • Invoke the openspec-new-change skill (Skill tool) with the change-id
     • This scaffolds the change directory, shows artifact status, and provides the first artifact template
   • Then invoke the openspec-continue-change skill (Skill tool) to create the proposal artifact, enriching with Jira context:
     • Jira issue link: **Jira**: [ISSUE-KEY](jira-url)
     • Why section derived from Jira issue description
     • What Changes derived from issue details
   • Show the updated status

5. STOP and hand off to OPSX workflow

   Suggest: "Proposal created. Run /opsx:continue to create the next artifact, or /opsx:ff to generate all remaining artifacts."

Project Defaults

If the project instructions specify a default Jira project key (e.g., Jira project: PROJ), use it as the default for --project, list, types, and JQL queries. Explicit user input always overrides the default.

Reference

• See openspec/AGENTS.md for OpenSpec conventions
• See the jira skill, or run bare af jira (not af jira --help, which is only a stub) for the full CLI reference
• See /opsx:new and /opsx:ff for the full artifact workflow