# Select > Preflight bead work: verify beads are in use, confirm explicit start/continue, identify active bead or select next `bd ready`, clarify done criteria, and scope audit before marking `in_progress`. - Skill: `majiayu000/select` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add majiayu000/select` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/majiayu000/select/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Security - Author: majiayu000 (https://skillmd.com/u/majiayu000) - Updated: 2026-09-09 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/majiayu000/select --- # Select ## Overview Run the preflight for bead-based work: ensure beads apply, pick or confirm the active bead, clarify what "done" means, and contain scope before implementation. ## Workflow 1. Confirm explicit invocation to start or continue bead work; if unclear, ask. 2. Check beads usage: run `rg --files -g '.beads/**' --hidden --no-ignore`. - If no paths, do not use `bd`; stop and ask for the correct workflow. 3. Check active bead: `bd in_progress`. - If exactly one, use it and skip selection. - If multiple, ask which to proceed. 4. If none active, select the next bead using the rubric below and mark `in_progress` (work bead + epic if applicable). 5. Restate "done" in 1-2 sentences from the bead description/acceptance criteria. 6. Clarify requirements until implementable; ask only judgment-call questions. 7. Audit working tree for scope containment (`git status -sb`, `git diff`); ignore unrelated diffs. ## Selection rubric - Feature-first: if any ready items are `feature`, evaluate all ready features (`bd show`). - Type order (fallback): `task` > `bug` > `epic` > `chore`. - Epic rule: only mark an `epic` `in_progress` when you also mark a child bead `in_progress`. - Priority: P0 > P1 > P2 > P3 > P4. - Risk: migrations, auth/security, infra, data loss/consistency, breaking API/CLI, perf regressions, ambiguous acceptance. - Hardness: vague scope, multiple subsystems, unknown deps, heavy verification. - Blast radius: widely used modules, shared config, CI/build pipeline, core user paths. - Parallelism impact (balance with risk): prefer beads that unlock more blocked work or establish a contract/checkpoint when risk is in the same tier. - Soft deps: if a ready bead has `tracks`/`related` pointing to another ready bead, apply a soft penalty and prefer the tracked-first item. - Tie-break: priority -> strongest signals -> earliest in `bd ready`. - Workstream diversity: only as a final tie-break and only if it increases parallelism (never if it reduces ready work). - Readiness gate: never start a bead if required scaffolding or prerequisites are missing; add deps and restart selection. ## Scoring notes (lightweight) - Base score comes from the existing rubric (risk/hardness/blast/priority). - Parallelism nudges (apply only within the same risk tier): - Role: contract/checkpoint +2; integration +1; implementation +0. - Unlock count: +1 per blocked bead unlocked (cap at +3). - Soft deps: -2 if it tracks/relates another ready bead; 0 otherwise. - Unlock count: count outgoing `blocks` edges to non-ready beads. Example rationale comment: ``` Selected first: contract bead in Backend API; unlocks 2 blocked items; lower risk tie with feature P1. ``` ## Selection workflow 1. Run `bd ready` and keep the returned order. 2. If any ready features exist, `bd show ` for each and score (risk/hardness/blast/parallelism). 3. Otherwise, `bd show ` for each ready item and score by type order, priority, and parallelism. 4. Extract from each bead comment (if present): - `Workstream` - `Role` (contract/integration/checkpoint/implementation) - `Parallelism impact` (unlock count) 5. Weigh `tracks`/`related` edges: if a ready bead tracks/relates another ready bead, apply a soft penalty and prefer the tracked-first item. 6. Check readiness for the top candidate (repo-only): - Confirm required scaffolding/infra exists in the repo (app skeleton, build config, migrations, auth setup, etc.). - If something is missing, look for an existing prerequisite bead and link it first: - Link: `bd dep add -t blocks` - Only create a new prerequisite bead if none exists: - Create: `bd create "Scaffold: " --type=task --priority=

` - Link: `bd dep add -t blocks` - Re-run `bd ready` and restart selection if you added any deps. 7. Pick the highest-scored ready bead after the readiness gate passes. 8. If the pick is an `epic`, resolve it to a concrete work bead: - Inspect the epic (`bd show `) and pick a ready child `task`/`bug`/`chore` to work on. - If no child bead is ready, create/unblock one and restart selection (only set the epic `in_progress` alongside a started child bead). 9. Mark the concrete work bead `in_progress`: `bd update --status in_progress`. 10. If `bd show ` lists a parent epic, mark it `in_progress` too: `bd update --status in_progress`. 11. Comment rationale: `bd comments add "Selected first: "`. ## Output - Print: `Selected : ` (include `epic ` if applicable; select a concrete work bead). - If `bd ready` is empty, report "No ready work" and stop. - If deps were added, print: `Blocked on ; re-run selection`. - If an in-progress bead exists, report `Active ` and proceed.