Auto Ship

auto-ship

Orchestrates a full plan execution loop. Delegates each section to a section subagent (references/section-subagent.md) that handles the complete lifecycle: branch → implement → review → changelog → commit → PR → CI → merge.

Entry Check

git branch --show-current

Must be on develop. If on main or any feature branch: stop and tell the user.

Step 1: Read the Plan

Ask for the implementation plan path if not provided. Read it. Extract all unchecked - [ ] sections. For each, record:

• Branch name (e.g., feature/foo from the - [ ] PR N: line)
• One-line description
• Any explicit dependency markers in the text ("requires PR N", "depends on", "after PR N")

If all sections are [x]: report "Plan complete — nothing to ship." and stop.

Step 2: Baseline Check

devtools::test()
devtools::check()

Both must pass before dispatching any subagent. If either fails: stop and report the failure. Do not proceed.

Step 3: Build Execution Order

Group the unchecked sections into batches using topological sort:

1. Batch 1 — all sections with no dependencies on other unchecked sections
2. Batch 2 — sections whose only dependencies are fully in Batch 1
3. Continue until all sections are placed

Sections with no dependency markers are assumed independent.

Parallel safety check — before placing two sections in the same batch, verify they don't both modify the same shared files. A section will modify a shared file if its spec or plan text mentions:

• New error or warning classes → modifies plans/error-messages.md
• New exported functions → modifies _pkgdown.yml

If two sections in the same batch would both modify the same shared file, move the one with fewer dependencies to the next batch. Err on the side of sequential — a false "conflict" costs one extra round; a false "safe" causes a merge conflict that blocks both PRs.

Report the execution plan to the user before dispatching:

"Found N unchecked sections. Execution order:

• Batch 1 (parallel): feature/foo, feature/bar
• Batch 2 (sequential): feature/baz (requires feature/foo)

Starting Batch 1 now."

Step 4: Dispatch Batch

For each section in the current batch, spawn a section subagent (see references/section-subagent.md). Dispatch all sections in the batch simultaneously using run_in_background: true.

Provide each subagent with:

• Full section text (copy it; do not make the subagent re-read the file)
• Branch name to create
• Spec file path(s) relevant to this section (from the plan text)
• Implementation plan file path
• Paths to rule files: code-style.md, testing-surveycore.md, plans/error-messages.md
• Today's date

Step 5: Handle Results

Each subagent returns one of:

Marking [x] in the plan: after a section returns COMPLETE, check out develop, pull, edit the plan file to change that section's - [ ] to - [x], and commit directly to develop:

git checkout develop
git pull origin develop
# edit plan file
git add <plan-file>
git commit -m "chore(plan): mark feature/X complete"

Do NOT include the [x] mark in the feature branch commit — doing it here avoids merge conflicts when parallel subagents both modify the plan file.

When all sections in a batch are resolved (COMPLETE or BLOCKED-and-stopped), advance to the next batch. Report any BLOCKED sections and continue — don't let one stuck section hold up independent work.

Step 6: Advance

Repeat Steps 4–5 for each remaining batch. Pull develop before each new batch starts so subagents branch from the latest state.

Step 7: Done

When all batches are resolved:

"Plan complete."

"Merged: [list of PR URLs]"

If any sections were BLOCKED: "Blocked (needs attention): [list of section names and reasons]"

Spec Ambiguity Protocol

When a subagent returns BLOCKED: spec — [question]:

1. Show the user the exact question, attributed to the section
2. Wait for the answer
3. Re-dispatch the same section subagent with the answer appended to the section text
4. The subagent resumes from pre-implementation checks, not from scratch