He Work

he-work Entry

Use when implementation is expected from an approved plan, todo list, or tightly scoped low-risk spec.

Context disposition: Apply the context-disposition policy: move important still-valid context to references and index it when meaningful; intentionally discard stale, duplicated, unsafe, superseded, or low-signal text.

Philosophy

• Ship small verified slices.
• Keep code, artifact state, Linear state, and validation evidence aligned.

When to use

Use he-work when the user wants approved Harness Engineering work implemented with traceable progress and validation evidence.

Required inputs

• An approved plan, todo list, scoped spec, or explicitly low-risk direct implementation request.
• Active Linear issue for non-trivial tracked work, plus branch and PR context when available.
• Governing acceptance IDs, validation commands, invariants, non-goals, and scope boundaries.

Deliverables

• Implemented slices tied to plan/spec/todo IDs.
• Updated task state and handoff evidence covering validation, deviations, blockers, and PR or pending-PR status.
• Linear update or explicit blocker when tracker mutation is requested or required.

Core Contract

• Choose plan-led, todo-led, or narrow small-spec-direct before editing.
• Read linked artifacts completely and restate active IDs, invariants, non-goals, validation gates, and scope boundaries.
• Resolve the active Linear work item before coding; stop when non-trivial tracked work has no issue.
• Keep markdown task state, code state, Linear status/comment state, and validation evidence synchronized.
• Implement in small verified slices and stop on contract drift, hidden scope, domain drift, or failed gates.

Procedure

1. Choose the execution lane and read the governing artifact.
2. Resolve Linear, branch, PR, IDs, and validation gates.
3. Implement one verified slice at a time.
4. Update handoff evidence and stop on drift or failed gates.

Traceability

Final handoff must record completed IDs, validation evidence, PR link or pending-PR blocker, and Linear update/comment result. Do not ship tracked work with only a PR link; tie PR evidence back to Linear and the governing plan/spec.

Validation

• Verify each delivered increment.
• Document any deviation from plan.
• Confirm branch, PR, plan/spec, and Linear identifiers align before handoff.
• For tracked handoff artifacts, run python3 Infrastructure/scripts/validation-and-linting/he_linear_traceability_lint.py <artifact-path> before claiming completion.
• Reflect contract drift in the governing artifact before off-plan implementation continues.
• Stop at the first failed gate.

Constraints

• Redact secrets, credentials, tokens, and sensitive data by default.
• Do not expand scope beyond approved artifacts.
• Do not claim completion without validation evidence.

Anti-patterns

• Letting code become the only record of a changed decision.
• Finishing tracked work without Linear/spec/plan/PR traceability.
• Marking checklist state complete before validation exists.

Examples

• "Implement this approved plan and keep task state aligned."
• "Work through this todo artifact in verified slices."

Failure mode

If the governing artifact is missing, Linear context is required but absent, or validation cannot prove the delivered slice, stop and report the blocker before continuing.

Gotchas

• Do not expand scope beyond approved IDs without updating the governing artifact.
• Do not claim completion without validation evidence.
• Keep PR links as delivery evidence tied back to Linear, not a substitute for tracker state.

References

• Full guide: Plugins/harness-engineering/fixtures/preserved-context/skills/he-work/SKILL.full.md
• Handoff and shipping: Plugins/harness-engineering/fixtures/preserved-context/skills/he-work/references/handoff-and-shipping.md
• Execution modes: Plugins/harness-engineering/fixtures/preserved-context/skills/he-work/references/execution-modes.md
• Approval flow: repo:Plugins/harness-engineering/skills/shared/references/approval-flow.md
• Session evidence contract: Plugins/harness-engineering/references/session-evidence-contract.md
• Subagent routing: Plugins/harness-engineering/references/subagent-routing.md
• Domain routing: Plugins/harness-engineering/references/domain-model-routing.md