Desk Open

Open a desk

Create a workshop desk by making its folder, persistent journal, and structured signal directory so a future independent GitHub Copilot session can sit down, read the trail, and continue the workstream.

When to invoke

• "Open a new desk for this workstream."
• "This topic needs its own desk and journal."
• "Create a desk for the security scan."
• "Start a separate frame for ops work."

Desk model

A desk is long-running in state, not runtime. The journal carries history forward; each GitHub Copilot session is independent and becomes associated with a desk only by reading and writing that desk's files.

Procedure

1. Choose a short, descriptive kebab-case name such as security-scan, api-review, ops, or cloud-workshop.
2. Check whether desks/<desk-name>/journal.md already exists.
3. If the journal exists, do not overwrite it. Resume the desk by reading the journal, unless the operator explicitly renames or archives the existing desk first.
4. If the desk is new, create desks/<desk-name>/journal.md and desks/<desk-name>/.signals/.
5. Write the first journal entry with purpose, scope, initial context, and next step.
6. Announce the created paths and the desk focus.

Journal requirements

The first entry must be useful to a session starting from zero.

When migrating older notes, map any focus/purpose wording into the Purpose field.

Use this exact starting shape:

# <Desk Name> — Journal

## <date> — Desk opened
- **Purpose:** <what this desk focuses on>
- **Scope:** <repos, areas, or work this desk covers>
- **Next step:** <what the first session should do>

Session orientation

1. The operator or TA starts a session and says "sit at the <desk-name> desk".
2. The session reads desks/<desk-name>/journal.md to load priors.
3. Work happens; the session uses signal-write to emit signals and desk-journal to persist state at the end.
4. The next session repeats from step 2.

Principles

• A desk is a peer, not a sub-agent. It has equal standing to disagree with other desks.
• The journal is the memory. Without it, the next session starts blind.
• One desk, one focus. If the scope is too broad, open two desks.
• The desk identity comes from the journal that was read, not from a persistent process.

Gotchas

• Never overwrite a live desk: an existing journal.md means the desk already has state.
• Do not use vague names: misc and work make future routing worse; use a topic or system name.
• Do not create runtime expectations: opening a desk initializes storage only; it does not launch or keep a process alive.

Output template

## Desk opened

**Status:** created | resumed | blocked
**Desk:** `desks/<desk-name>/`
**Journal:** `desks/<desk-name>/journal.md`
**Signals:** `desks/<desk-name>/.signals/`

### Focus
- Purpose: <desk purpose>
- Scope: <repos, systems, or topics>
- Next step: <first action>

### Notes
- <existing desk handling, archive requirement, or other important detail>

Quality gate

• The desk name is short, descriptive, and kebab-case.
• Existing desks/<desk-name>/journal.md was checked before writing.
• A live desk was not overwritten.
• New desks include both journal.md and .signals/.
• The first journal entry records purpose, scope, and next step.
• The final response states whether the desk was created, resumed, or blocked.