Pick Next Task

Pick Next Task

The agent's what now? verb. Reads the GitHub Issues queue and returns the next pickable issue with enough context to start work. (Named for the retired tasks/ file queue — the verb survives, the backend is now issues; see tasks/README.md.)

When to use

• Starting a new work session and asking "what's the next thing?"
• Picking up rosetta after a break

What "pickable" means

An issue is pickable when:

1. It is open and labeled agent-ready — acceptance criteria are settled.
2. It is not labeled blocked and its body names no unresolved "blocked on" issue.
3. It is not labeled umbrella — umbrellas track themes; work happens in child issues.

Procedure

1. List candidates.

   gh issue list --state open --label agent-ready --json number,title,labels,updatedAt
   

   If a filter argument was supplied, match it against titles and labels.

2. If none are agent-ready, widen with gh issue list --state open --json number,title,labels,body (the body field is what holds "blocked on" references and umbrella checklists) and report what exists instead: discussion-stage issues (unlabeled — could be settled into readiness), blocked issues (say what each waits on), and umbrella issues (their child checklists show what could be spawned next). Also point at BACKLOG.md Inbox and open briefings/.

3. Surface the top pick. gh issue view <n> --comments, then present: number, title, acceptance criteria, V-* validation rows, and linked briefings or archived tasks/done/T-*.md files — some issues keep their full spec in the archived task file (e.g. #26 → T-0038), so read those too.

4. Remind the close discipline. The eventual PR must say Closes #<n> in its body; partial landings spawn follow-up issues before merge (issue-pr-linking.instructions.md).

What this skill does NOT do

• Assign the issue or open PRs — that happens when work actually starts.
• Create new issues — that's promote-idea.
• Run validation checks — that's verify-task.