# Sweep > Use when work may have been dropped between sessions — after a crash, a lockup, parallel-session churn, or on a "did we drop anything?" hunch. Crawls worktrees, local AND remote branches, stashes, deploy targets, and intent docs (handoffs, checklists, plans, coordination journals); triages every item against ground truth (patch-id merge equivalence vs fetched origin/main, live BUILD_SHA/bundle provenance, PR state); presents a ranked loose-end ledger for ONE batch approval; then methodically recovers approved items via playbooks (adopt stray WIP, resume handoffs, rebase→test→push→PR). Never deploys, merges to main, force-pushes, or prunes autonomously. Complements /sitrep (read-only state-of-union) and a live project-board skill if you have one (e.g. /pm); triggers on /sweep, "sweep for dropped work", "what did we lose in the crash", "find stranded work", "recover dropped work", "loose ends sweep". - Skill: `iamneilroberts/sweep` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 4 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add iamneilroberts/sweep` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/iamneilroberts/sweep/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: DevOps & Infra - Author: iamneilroberts (https://skillmd.com/u/iamneilroberts) - Updated: 2026-09-21 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/iamneilroberts/sweep --- # /sweep — dropped-work sweep & recovery Find work stranded between "exists on disk" and "merged + deployed"; recover it methodically after one batch approval. Born from a real multi-session crash recovery (2026-07-09) — every detection below corresponds to a failure mode that actually happened. ## Invocation & scope - `/sweep` — current repo + every `git worktree list` entry of it (default). - `/sweep all` — every repo in the Config table below. - `/sweep ` — a named repo (+ its worktrees). ## Config (edit this table for your repos — this is a template) | Repo | Policy | Deploy provenance | |---|---|---| | `~/dev/my-app` | normal | BUILD_SHA via `/version` endpoint (see Provenance notes) | | `~/dev/my-app-web` | normal | web bundle hash → commit mapping (see Provenance notes) | | `~/dev/my-app-legacy` | report_only | deprecated; findings report-only / port-out | **Provenance notes** (exact commands live here, NOT in the table — markdown tables mangle pipes): ```bash # my-app: prod + staging stamp BUILD_SHA curl -s https:///version # {"sha":...,"env":"production"} curl -s https:///version # {"sha":...,"env":"staging"} # arbiter when HTTP is ambiguous: npx wrangler deployments list (or your platform's equivalent) # my-app-web: bundle hash, mapped to a commit READ-ONLY curl -s https:/// | grep -o 'index-[^"]*\.js' # map via `git log --oneline -- web/` history + your deploy tool's release list. # NEVER run a local build during discovery/triage (a local build writes build # artifacts — violates the non-destructive rule). Unmappable read-only → # report "DATA GAP: bundle-hash unmapped". # a repo with no SHA endpoint: /health proves liveness only — there is NO deployed-SHA source. curl -s https:///health # Deploy-surface comparison for this repo is BY DESIGN a stated limitation, not an # error: record "deploy provenance: liveness-only (no SHA endpoint)" in the ledger's # completeness section. Do not hunt for a SHA; do not mark it DATA GAP. ``` Coordination journals: your coordination/worktree journal (plus any `handoffs/` directory it references). In-repo `docs/worktree-journal.md` may be a tombstone pointing elsewhere — ALWAYS follow the pointer (the active journal is the one that counts for staleness/heartbeats). **Policy semantics:** in a `report_only` repo the only dispositions allowed are `report-only` and `port-out` (recover content INTO a `normal` repo); Phase 4 refuses to execute any mutation inside the repo — enforced at execution time, not just proposal time. Discovery skips `git fetch` there (use existing refs; note their fetch age). ## Ground rules (non-negotiable) 1. **Machinery state is not ground truth.** Journal/handoff/memory lines saying "SHIPPED" or "PENDING" are claims. Verify every claim against the real artifact: git containment, live BUILD_SHA/bundle hash, an HTTP read, `gh pr list`. 2. **Discovery/triage are non-destructive.** Exactly three writes are permitted in Phases 1–3: (a) `git fetch` in `normal` repos (remote-tracking refs only — never checkout/pull/working-tree); (b) the ledger file; (c) nothing else. Use `git fsck --unreachable --no-reflogs`, NEVER `--lost-found` (it writes). 3. **One batch gate; individual re-asks on top.** Recovery runs only after the user approves the ledger. Even inside an approved batch, ALWAYS re-ask individually: prod/staging deploys, ANY push to a shared/protected branch (fast-forward included), merges to main, `--force-with-lease`, branch/worktree deletion, discarding any diff. Recovery stops at PR-opened; deploys are recommendations with the exact gated command, never executed. 4. **Respect other sessions.** Uncommitted WIP you didn't create belongs to someone else until proven stale (file mtimes + ACTIVE journal heartbeats + live sessions — the `orphaned-wip-adopter` staleness test if you have it — otherwise apply the staleness test inline: file mtimes + journal heartbeats + live sessions — but read the ACTIVE journal per Config, overriding that skill's own `docs/worktree-journal.md` reference). Active work is `leave-active` / DO-NOT-TOUCH: never staged, stashed, or built on. 5. **Zero findings in a category is stated explicitly** (silence reads as "not checked"). A source that errors is a DATA GAP — report it, never invent. ## Phase 1 — Discover (read-only) Dispatch one subagent per repo (Agent tool, `model: sonnet` pinned), each prompted: "Read `~/.claude/skills/sweep/references/discovery-protocol.md`. Sweep (policy: ). Deploy-provenance hints: . Coordination journal: . Return the finding list only." The dispatcher COPIES the config context into the prompt — the subagent cannot see this SKILL.md. Dispatch all repos in one message for `/sweep all`. ## Phase 2 — Triage For each finding, run the checks in `~/.claude/skills/sweep/references/triage-rules.md` (main session, or one sonnet subagent per repo for large sweeps — a triage subagent's prompt must ALSO carry the repo's Config row and resolved journal path, since it cannot see this SKILL.md; supersession judgment calls may use `model: opus`). Every surviving item carries: evidence command + output (REDACTED per triage-rules), the claim it contradicts (if any), one-line proposed fix, proposed disposition. ## Phase 3 — Ledger + the single gate Write the ledger (template below) to `docs/digests/YYYY-MM-DD-sweep.md` in the repo /sweep was invoked from — never into a `report_only` repo; if the invoking directory is `report_only` or not a repo, write `~/.claude/coordination/sweep/YYYY-MM-DD--sweep.md` instead. **No-clobber:** if the filename already exists (same-day re-sweep), NEVER overwrite — the existing Recovery log is the checkpoint record of what already executed. Write `YYYY-MM-DD-sweep-2.md` (`-3`, …), link the prior ledger at the top, and carry its executed/blocked items forward so nothing re-runs. Present the compact table in-chat and ask the user to approve/edit/veto the batch — ONE question, listing each item's id, category, one-liner, and proposed disposition. ### Ledger template ```markdown # /sweep — YYYY-MM-DD () **Status:** COMPLETE | DATA GAPS: **Baseline:** origin/main = · prod = · staging = (per repo) ## 1. LOSS-RISK (would vanish on disk death) - [ ] SW-1 — · evidence: `` → `` · fix: · proposed: ## 2. NEEDS MERGE ## 3. NEEDS DEPLOY (commands given, never run) ## 4. NEEDS RECONCILE ## 5. SUSPECT ARTIFACTS ## 6. UNFINISHED INTENT ## 7. HYGIENE (each category: items as above, or "None found — checked.") ## Recovery log - [ ] SW-: ``` ## Phase 4 — Recover (only after approval) Execute approved items in category order, one at a time, via the matching playbook in `~/.claude/skills/sweep/references/recovery-playbooks.md`. After EVERY item update the ledger's Recovery log (`- [x]` + outcome) — a second crash mid-sweep must itself be sweepable. Re-ask individually per ground rule 3. `report_only` repos: refuse in-repo mutation; `port-out` only. ## Non-goals Not a daily-driver digest skill (if you have one), not a live project board (if you have one, e.g. /pm), no issue-tracker sweep (if you have one), no memory/chat-history mining lane (/sitrep's historical lane covers that here, if present). Never merges to main, deploys, force-pushes, or prunes autonomously.