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Answers "What should I do next?" by scanning project state and mapping to the 7-phase pipeline.
How It Works
Scan these sources in order, stop at the first actionable recommendation:
1. Paused Step-File Workflows
Check session-state/*-progress.json for any in-progress step-file workflow.
- Found → "Resume [skill] at step [N]. Run
/mk:[skill]to continue."
2. In-Progress Plans
Check tasks/plans/ for plan files without matching review verdicts.
- Plan exists, no tests → "Plan approved. Next: run tester agent (Phase 2 — RED)"
- Plan exists, tests failing → "Tests failing. Next: run developer agent (Phase 3 — GREEN)"
- Plan exists, tests passing, no review → "Tests green. Next: run reviewer agent (Phase 4 — Review)"
3. Pending Reviews
Check tasks/reviews/ for verdict files with WARN or action items.
- WARN verdict → "Review has warnings. Acknowledge and approve for Gate 2, or fix findings."
- FAIL verdict → "Review failed. Fix required changes, then re-run reviewer."
4. Uncommitted Changes
Check git status for staged/unstaged changes.
- Changes exist + review approved → "Ready to ship. Run
/mk:ship(Phase 5)" - Changes exist, no review → "Changes detected but no review. Run reviewer first."
5. Clean State
No plans, no reviews, no changes.
- "Everything clean. Options: start a new task with planner, run
/mk:retro, or ask me anything."
For skill suggestions based on task type, see mk:agent-detector (its references/lifecycle-routing.md maps task patterns to skills).
State-to-Recommendation Map
Alias:
/mk:planroutes tomk:plan-creator(slash-command wrapper at.claude/commands/meow/plan.md). Subcommandsred-team,validate,archiveare handled by the same skill.
| State | Pipeline Phase | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| No plan | Phase 0 → 1 | "Start with /mk:plan or describe your task" |
| Existing plan — stress-test | Standalone subcommand | "/mk:plan red-team {path} — adversarial review of existing plan" |
| Existing plan — interview | Standalone subcommand | "/mk:plan validate {path} — critical question interview on existing plan" |
| Completed/cancelled plans | Housekeeping | "/mk:plan archive — archive completed or cancelled plans" |
| Plan approved, no tests | Phase 2 (TDD mode only) | "In TDD mode (--tdd / MEOWKIT_TDD=1): run tester agent — write failing tests (RED phase). In default mode: skip Phase 2; run developer directly" |
| Tests written, failing | Phase 3 | "Run developer agent — implement to pass tests (GREEN)" |
| Tests passing, no review | Phase 4 | "Run /mk:review — adversarial code review" |
| Review PASS/WARN | Phase 5 | "Run /mk:ship — commit, PR, deploy" |
| Shipped | Phase 6 | "Run documenter — update docs, then /mk:retro" |
| Paused workflow | Resume | "Resume [skill] at step [N]" |
| Mixed state | Clarify | "Multiple items in progress. Which to focus on?" |
Specialist Skills (surface when domain matches)
| Situation | Skill | When to suggest |
|---|---|---|
| Operations, triage, case management, escalation protocols, billing workflows | /mk:decision-framework | User asks "how should we handle X cases" or is designing any case-routing system |
| "Is everything green?", pre-review check, post-implementation validation | /mk:verify | After implementation completes, before review, or when user wants a quick health check |
| API design, endpoint structure, REST/GraphQL conventions | /mk:api-design | User is planning backend endpoints or asking about API conventions |
Fast Paths (surface these prominently)
Not every task needs the full 7-phase pipeline. Mention these when relevant:
| Situation | Fast Path | What it bypasses |
|---|---|---|
| Simple bug fix, typo, rename, config tweak | /mk:fix | Gate 1 (plan approval) — scope is the plan |
Task flagged as one-shot by scale-routing | Auto Gate 1 bypass | Gate 1 — zero blast radius confirmed |
| Rapid iteration / spike work | MEOW_HOOK_PROFILE=fast | post-write scan, pre-ship, pre-task-check, TDD check |
Quick fix? Use /mk:fix — bypasses Gate 1 for simple changes.
Small config change? Scale-routing may auto-bypass Gate 1 when blast radius is zero.
Hook profiles: Set MEOW_HOOK_PROFILE=fast for rapid iteration (skips non-critical hooks).
Set MEOW_HOOK_PROFILE=strict to enable ALL hooks including post-session capture.
Gotchas
- Multiple in-progress plans create ambiguity — ask user which to focus on, don't guess
session-state/files from previous sessions may be stale — check timestamps, warn if >24h old- Git status can be noisy (untracked IDE files) — focus on files in
src/,lib/,app/,tests/ - Don't recommend skipping phases — even if the user seems impatient, show the full path
- Fast paths are not loopholes — Gate 2 (review) is NEVER bypassed; security hooks are NEVER skipped
Output Format
## Status
**Current phase:** [Phase N — Name]
**State:** [brief description]
### Recommended Next Step
[action] — [why]
### Other Options
- [alternative action]
- [alternative action]
If --verbose flag: also show full state scan results (plan files, review files, test status, git status).