neumie Task Start
Take a task from vague description to execution. Assess complexity autonomously and pick the right approach — no confirmation needed.
Prerequisites
Pre-run on skill load — output replaces the line below:
- Current branch: !
git branch --show-current
If on main or master, warn: "You're on main — consider creating a worktree or feature branch first." Continue anyway (don't block).
Fast-path — Self-evidently trivial tasks
If the task is unambiguously trivial — exact file, line, and change are specified with no exploration needed (e.g. "fix the typo on line 42 of foo.py") — skip the assessment and go straight to implementation. Note: "Skipping assessment — task is self-evidently trivial." Then implement, verify, and report. This fast-path is only for tasks where complexity assessment would add no information.
Step 1 — Understand the task
Read the user's task description. If the task references specific files, errors, or issues, note them.
Step 2 — Explore
Explore the codebase to understand what's involved:
- Grep for terms from the task description
- Read files that are likely relevant
- Understand the current state of the code in this area
This exploration is required — you cannot score complexity accurately without it. This is the single exploration phase for the entire workflow. Later steps (complexity-assess and execution) should build on what was learned here rather than re-exploring from scratch.
Step 3 — Assess complexity
Follow the complexity-assess skill to score the task across 4 dimensions (scope, clarity, risk, novelty) and determine the tier (trivial, moderate, or complex). The exploration from Step 2 has already been done — use those findings directly when scoring.
Output the assessment table as specified by the skill. Do not ask for confirmation. Announce the tier and move to execution.
Step 4 — Name the branch
If the current branch doesn't already match <type>/<description> pattern (e.g. on main, a worktree default name, or a generic branch), follow the branch-name skill to name it. Since no code has been written yet, branch-name will use the task description from this conversation as context instead of diffs.
Step 5 — Execute
Load and follow the reference file for the assessed tier:
- Trivial (4-5):
~/.claude/skills/almanac/task-start/references/trivial-execution.md - Moderate (6-8):
~/.claude/skills/almanac/task-start/references/moderate-execution.md - Complex (9-12):
~/.claude/skills/almanac/task-start/references/complex-execution.md
Tier Upgrade
If at any point during execution you discover the task is more complex than initially assessed, stop and re-assess. Upgrade to the appropriate tier and switch to its execution reference. Announce the upgrade:
Upgrading from TRIVIAL to MODERATE — discovered shared validation logic that needs updating across 6 files.
Rules
- Always explore before scoring — never guess from the description alone
- No confirmation gates — assess and go
- The complexity table is mandatory output — it shows your reasoning
- Prefer reading the codebase over asking the user (per interview-me pattern)
- If the task should be decomposed into separate tasks, say so and propose the split rather than tackling everything at once