Paw Lite

PAW Lite

Execution Context: This skill runs directly in the calling agent's session (not a subagent), preserving interactivity for work shaping Q&A, planning decisions, and review discussion.

Prerequisite: WorkflowContext.md must exist (created by paw-init or manually).

Workflow Stages

[Work Shaping] → [Plan] → [Implement] → [Review] → [PR]
  (optional)     (light)  (fleet-style) (configurable)

Stage 1: Work Shaping (optional)

When to run: User's request is vague, exploratory, or multi-faceted. Skip for clear bug fixes, well-defined tasks, or when the user says to skip.

How: Load the paw-work-shaping skill and follow its instructions. It produces WorkShaping.md in the work directory.

Stage 2: Plan

Create an implementation plan and save it to .paw/work/<work-id>/Plan.md.

Desired end states:

• Plan includes approach summary, work items, and key decisions
• Todos reflected in SQL for fleet coordination:

  INSERT INTO todos (id, title, description, status) VALUES ...;
  INSERT INTO todo_deps (todo_id, depends_on) VALUES ...;  -- if any
  

• Plan committed per artifact lifecycle mode

Guidance:

• Structure todos to minimize dependencies and maximize parallel execution
• If the task is simple enough for a single sequential implementation, skip fleet dispatch in Stage 3 and implement directly

Stage 3: Implement (Fleet-Style)

Implement the plan using parallel task subagents for independent work items.

Getting started:

1. Query ready todos: SELECT * FROM todos WHERE status = 'pending' AND id NOT IN (SELECT todo_id FROM todo_deps td JOIN todos t ON td.depends_on = t.id WHERE t.status != 'done')
2. If multiple independent todos exist, dispatch them as parallel background task subagents
3. If only one todo or all have dependencies, implement sequentially

Parallel execution rules:

• Dispatch independent todos simultaneously via background task subagents
• Never dispatch just a single background subagent — either use sync or dispatch multiple
• Each sub-agent prompt must include the full task context and instruction to update SQL: UPDATE todos SET status = 'done' WHERE id = '<id>'
• If Implementation Model in WorkflowContext.md is not none, pass it as the model parameter to each task subagent
• After sub-agents complete, validate work quality and check todo status in SQL

After implementation:

• Verify all todos are done: SELECT id, status FROM todos WHERE status != 'done'
• Run project verification (tests, lint, build) per repository norms
• Commit changes following selective staging discipline (never git add .)
• Stage .paw/ files per artifact lifecycle mode from WorkflowContext.md

Selective staging: Follow paw-git-operations patterns for selective staging discipline and artifact lifecycle handling.

Stage 4: Review (configurable)

Review the implementation before PR creation. Configuration comes from WorkflowContext.md fields Final Review Mode and related settings.

Review modes:

For SoT invocation, provide the review context:

After review: Present findings to user. Apply fixes if straightforward, discuss trade-offs if not.

Stage 5: PR

Load the paw-pr skill and follow its instructions for final PR creation. It handles pre-flight validation, artifact lifecycle (commit-and-clean scoping to the work directory), and PR description scaling.

Before invoking paw-pr, ensure all todos are complete: SELECT id, status FROM todos WHERE status != 'done'

Artifact Structure

.paw/work/<work-id>/
├── WorkflowContext.md      # Workflow configuration (from paw-init)
├── WorkShaping.md          # Optional: from Stage 1
├── Plan.md                 # From Stage 2
└── reviews/                # From Stage 4 (if SoT)
    ├── REVIEW-*.md         # Per-specialist reviews
    └── REVIEW-SYNTHESIS.md # Synthesized findings

Configuration

All configuration lives in WorkflowContext.md. PAW Lite defaults: