Sks Stack

Shikanime Org Stack Isolation

Open a fresh jj workspace for ONE unit of work. This is mandatory for every implementation unit — not only when WIP is present — so an in-flight working folder (full of other editors' WIP you must not touch) never folds your change into the wrong commit, and so the working surface is always isolated and reproducible. This is the single-stream primitive behind sks-async's per-unit fan-out and the isolation lane of sks-dev-workflow.

Mandatory

Every implementation unit runs in a fresh jj workspace created by this skill — never in the cloned checkout. sks-dev-workflow inherits this requirement; the checkout is a read-only reference surface. A unit that skips sks-stack has not entered the dev loop.

When to Use

• Every shikanime implementation unit — even on a clean checkout. This is not an isolation escape hatch for WIP; it is the default working surface (Phase 3 of sks-dev-workflow). The cloned checkout is never where edits are made.
• A checkout holding concurrent uncommitted WIP you must not lose or mix.
• One unit only — for N parallel units, use sks-async.

Procedure

1. Snapshot any WIP you must preserve (outside the isolation dir), then open the workspace off a clean rev:

   cd ~/Source/Repos/github.com/<orga>/<repo>
   mkdir -p /tmp/wip-isolate
   for f in <WIP files>; do
     cp "$f" "/tmp/wip-isolate/$(echo "$f" | tr '/' '__')"
   done
   jj workspace add ../<repo>.<unit> -r 'main@origin' && cd ../<repo>.<unit>
   

   <unit> is a short slug for this work (fix, feat-x). Prefer this over jj restore/jj split to peel subsets — those can drop the sibling WIP.

2. Copy in ONLY your change files, then commit per sks-commit:

   jj add <change files>
   jj describe -m "<subject>" -m "Co-authored-by: Automata
   <automata@shikanime.studio>"
   

3. Bookmark + push (jj does not auto-track — track is mandatory):

   jj bookmark create <branch> -r @
   jj bookmark track <branch> --remote=origin
   jj git push --remote origin -b <branch>
   

4. Hand off to sks-pr-workflow to open the PR (--head <org>:<branch>, base main, Related: full issue URL; run its step 2b duplicate/stack check first — skip the PR if one already exists, stack if yours must sit on top). Do NOT merge here.

Pitfalls

• jj workspace add without -r parents the new workspace on the current @ (possibly dirty) — always pin -r 'main@origin' so the workspace forks from the remote tip, never stale local main.
• Forgetting jj bookmark track makes jj git push reject the bookmark.
• The new dir (../<repo>.<unit>) is a SIBLING of the repo root, not inside it; sks-gc reclaims it after landing.
• Don't rm -rf the isolation dir while it holds uncommitted work — that is WIP loss. Retire via sks-gc.

Verification

jj workspace list                       # new <repo>.<unit> present, clean
jj status && jj log -r @ -T 'bookmarks'
gh pr view <N> --repo <org>/<repo> --json state,headRefName   # after PR step

See also

• sks-dev-workflow — full loop; this skill is its stack isolation lane.
• sks-async — fan-out; each stream uses this same workspace recipe.
• sks-adversarial — disposable sandbox; composes this skill + sks-async.
• sks-investigate — root-cause discipline; use before isolating a fix.
• sks-pr-workflow — open the PR from the pushed bookmark.
• sks-gc — reclaim the workspace/bookmark once landed.