The Unfinished Skill
Every skill ships work. This one ships the SHADOW of the work: the honest list of
what is NOT done, NOT proven, and NOT ratified. It exists because finished work
announces itself with receipts, while unfinished work hides in silence — and
silence is where a 10-minute fix becomes a 4-hour one.
The three buckets (exact definitions — sort every item into exactly one)
| Bucket |
Test |
Example |
| UNFINISHED |
Work started, end state not reached |
branch open, PR unmerged, TODO filed, slice mid-flight |
| UNVERIFIED |
Completion CLAIMED, but no command+output+UTC receipt read back from the artifact |
"deployed" with no endpoint fetch; agent-reported result never disk-diffed |
| UNCONFIRMED |
Done and receipted, but the gate is HIS — merge, GO, walk, ruling, or eyes not yet given |
PR green awaiting his merge; walk procedure written, his paste not received |
A claim with a receipt is DONE — it does not appear. Absence is a measurement:
an empty bucket is stated as "swept N sources, bucket empty", never omitted.
The sweep (run ALL, each is a live query — counts from memory are FORBIDDEN)
- This session's own tail. Reread the current conversation for the words
UNVERIFIED, owed, pending, in flight, "will", "after this". Anything you
yourself labeled UNVERIFIED and never closed goes in bucket 2.
- Memory index.
grep -n -iE 'owed|debt|UNVERIFIED|open|pending|HIS call|🔴' ~/.claude/projects/-Users-brentbryson/memory/MEMORY.md
— then open only the files whose hook line still looks live. Memory says what
WAS true: anything actionable gets re-verified live before listing (a stale
"owed" that's since shipped is a candidate supersede, list it as such).
- Repos. For each active repo (bridge, tiger v4-core, others named this
session):
gh pr list --state open · git status --porcelain (untracked/
uncommitted) · git log origin/main..HEAD on any local branch.
- Jumbo. POST /load-context (or memory_search) for "owed OR debt OR
unverified OR pending" scoped to the active projects. Bridge down = say so
loudly and mark the sweep PARTIAL — never silently skip a source.
- Live flags. Logs that hold un-adjudicated events: credential-gate
SUPPRESS lines, memory-load FAIL lines since last review, daily-check REDs.
Output format (a board, not prose)
# UNSKILL BOARD — <UTC of sweep> sources swept: N of M (name any missed)
## UNCONFIRMED — HIS move (list first: these block, cheapest to clear)
- [what] · gate: [merge/GO/walk/ruling] · receipt trail: [where] · ask: [one plain yes/no]
## UNFINISHED — someone's move
- [what] · whose: [mine / lane-X / HIS] · next concrete action · where recorded
## UNVERIFIED — claims needing receipts
- [claim] · claimed by: [who/when] · the verify command to run
## Bucket empty: [name buckets that are empty, with sources-swept receipt]
Rules: every line carries where it is RECORDED (file/PR/log) — an unfinished
item that lives nowhere but this board gets written to memory in the same
breath (no broken windows). One HIS-decision per ask, dead simple. Order
UNCONFIRMED first — clearing his queue unblocks the most for the least.
What this skill never does
- Never fixes anything mid-sweep (flag, don't fix).
- Never states "nothing open" without naming the sources swept and their UTC.
- Never lists a rumor: an item someone mentioned but no artifact records is
listed as "hearsay — needs grounding", not as fact.
- Never counts closed-by-his-ruling items (⚰️) as open — a ruling IS an end state.
1---2name: unfinished3description: Use when Brent says "unskill", "what remains", "what's left", "what's unfinished/unverified/unconfirmed", "open debts", or at session close before a handoff — anything that asks what is still owed rather than what got done. Sweeps ground truth for every item that is UNFINISHED (started, not done), UNVERIFIED (claimed, no receipt), or UNCONFIRMED (awaiting his eyes or word). Session-end family: /closing-ritual runs the whole close and calls the others; /context-keeper writes the raw session record; /truth-keeper reconciles the standing docs. This one lists only the open debts — for the session snapshot use /context-keeper instead.4---56# The Unfinished Skill78Every skill ships work. This one ships the SHADOW of the work: the honest list of9what is NOT done, NOT proven, and NOT ratified. It exists because finished work10announces itself with receipts, while unfinished work hides in silence — and11silence is where a 10-minute fix becomes a 4-hour one.1213## The three buckets (exact definitions — sort every item into exactly one)1415| Bucket | Test | Example |16|---|---|---|17| **UNFINISHED** | Work started, end state not reached | branch open, PR unmerged, TODO filed, slice mid-flight |18| **UNVERIFIED** | Completion CLAIMED, but no command+output+UTC receipt read back from the artifact | "deployed" with no endpoint fetch; agent-reported result never disk-diffed |19| **UNCONFIRMED** | Done and receipted, but the gate is HIS — merge, GO, walk, ruling, or eyes not yet given | PR green awaiting his merge; walk procedure written, his paste not received |2021A claim with a receipt is DONE — it does not appear. Absence is a measurement:22an empty bucket is stated as "swept N sources, bucket empty", never omitted.2324## The sweep (run ALL, each is a live query — counts from memory are FORBIDDEN)25261. **This session's own tail.** Reread the current conversation for the words27 UNVERIFIED, owed, pending, in flight, "will", "after this". Anything you28 yourself labeled UNVERIFIED and never closed goes in bucket 2.292. **Memory index.** `grep -n -iE 'owed|debt|UNVERIFIED|open|pending|HIS call|🔴' ~/.claude/projects/-Users-brentbryson/memory/MEMORY.md`30 — then open only the files whose hook line still looks live. Memory says what31 WAS true: anything actionable gets re-verified live before listing (a stale32 "owed" that's since shipped is a candidate supersede, list it as such).333. **Repos.** For each active repo (bridge, tiger v4-core, others named this34 session): `gh pr list --state open` · `git status --porcelain` (untracked/35 uncommitted) · `git log origin/main..HEAD` on any local branch.364. **Jumbo.** POST /load-context (or memory_search) for "owed OR debt OR37 unverified OR pending" scoped to the active projects. Bridge down = say so38 loudly and mark the sweep PARTIAL — never silently skip a source.395. **Live flags.** Logs that hold un-adjudicated events: credential-gate40 SUPPRESS lines, memory-load FAIL lines since last review, daily-check REDs.4142## Output format (a board, not prose)4344```45# UNSKILL BOARD — <UTC of sweep> sources swept: N of M (name any missed)4647## UNCONFIRMED — HIS move (list first: these block, cheapest to clear)48- [what] · gate: [merge/GO/walk/ruling] · receipt trail: [where] · ask: [one plain yes/no]4950## UNFINISHED — someone's move51- [what] · whose: [mine / lane-X / HIS] · next concrete action · where recorded5253## UNVERIFIED — claims needing receipts54- [claim] · claimed by: [who/when] · the verify command to run5556## Bucket empty: [name buckets that are empty, with sources-swept receipt]57```5859Rules: every line carries where it is RECORDED (file/PR/log) — an unfinished60item that lives nowhere but this board gets written to memory in the same61breath (no broken windows). One HIS-decision per ask, dead simple. Order62UNCONFIRMED first — clearing his queue unblocks the most for the least.6364## What this skill never does6566- Never fixes anything mid-sweep (flag, don't fix).67- Never states "nothing open" without naming the sources swept and their UTC.68- Never lists a rumor: an item someone mentioned but no artifact records is69 listed as "hearsay — needs grounding", not as fact.70- Never counts closed-by-his-ruling items (⚰️) as open — a ruling IS an end state.
bbrysonelite-max