analyze-cycle

Analyze Cycle Command

Generates a comprehensive health report (not just data) for the current Linear cycle.

Reports Include:

• 🟢🟡🔴 Health assessment with overall status
• 📊 Progress metrics with data backing
• 🎯 Actionable takeaways (what needs attention NOW)
• 👥 Team capacity analysis (who can work on what)
• ⚠️ Risk identification (overweight, blocked, at-risk issues)
• 💡 Specific recommendations (what to do about it)

Philosophy: Provide insights and recommendations, not just data dumps. PMs should know exactly what action to take after reading the report.

Prerequisites Check

First, verify all required tools and systems:

# 1. Validate thoughts system (REQUIRED)
if [[ -f "scripts/validate-thoughts-setup.sh" ]]; then
  ./scripts/validate-thoughts-setup.sh || exit 1
else
  # Inline validation if script not found
  if [[ ! -d "thoughts/shared" ]]; then
    echo "❌ ERROR: Thoughts system not configured"
    echo "Run: ./scripts/humanlayer/init-project.sh . {project-name}"
    exit 1
  fi
fi

# 2. Determine script directory with fallback
if [[ -n "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}" ]]; then
  SCRIPT_DIR="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts"
else
  # Fallback: resolve relative to this command file
  SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/.." && pwd)/scripts"
fi

# 3. Check PM plugin prerequisites
if [[ -f "${SCRIPT_DIR}/check-prerequisites.sh" ]]; then
  "${SCRIPT_DIR}/check-prerequisites.sh" || exit 1
else
  echo "⚠️ Prerequisites check skipped (script not found at: ${SCRIPT_DIR})"
fi

Process

Step 1: Gather Configuration

# Determine script directory with fallback (if not already set)
if [[ -z "${SCRIPT_DIR}" ]]; then
  if [[ -n "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}" ]]; then
    SCRIPT_DIR="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts"
  else
    SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/.." && pwd)/scripts"
  fi
fi

source "${SCRIPT_DIR}/pm-utils.sh"

TEAM_KEY=$(get_team_key)
CONFIG_FILE=".catalyst/config.json"
[[ ! -f "$CONFIG_FILE" ]] && CONFIG_FILE=".claude/config.json"

Step 2: Spawn Research Tasks (Parallel)

Spawn multiple research agents in parallel to gather data:

Task 1 - Get Active Cycle:

Use Task tool with catalyst-dev:linear-research agent:

Prompt: "Get the active cycle for team ${TEAM_KEY} with all issues"
Model: haiku (fast data gathering)

Task 2 - Get Team Workload:

Use Task tool with catalyst-dev:linear-research agent:

Prompt: "List all in-progress issues for team ${TEAM_KEY}"
Model: haiku (fast data gathering)

Wait for both tasks to complete

Step 3: Spawn Analysis Agent

Use Task tool with cycle-analyzer agent:

Input:

• Cycle data JSON from Task 1
• In-progress issues from Task 2
• Current date: $(date +%Y-%m-%d)

Agent returns: Structured markdown with health assessment, risks, capacity, recommendations

Step 4: Generate Health Report

Format the agent's analysis into a user-facing health report:

Report Structure:

# Cycle Health Report: [Cycle Name]

## 🟢/🟡/🔴 Health Assessment

**Takeaway**: [One-sentence summary of cycle health and key concern]

**Current State**: [Concise statement with specific numbers]

- Progress: X% complete (Y/Z issues done)
- Time: N days remaining of M total
- Projected completion: X% (based on current velocity)
- Risk level: [Explanation]

---

## 📊 Progress Data

**Cycle**: Sprint 2025-W04 (Jan 20-26) **Progress**: ████████░░ 45% (18/40 issues)

| Status         | Count | Percentage |
| -------------- | ----- | ---------- |
| ✅ Done        | 18    | 45%        |
| 🔄 In Progress | 12    | 30%        |
| 📋 Todo        | 10    | 25%        |

**By Assignee**:

- Alice: 15 issues (8 done, 5 in progress, 2 todo)
- Bob: 12 issues (6 done, 4 in progress, 2 todo)
- Charlie: 8 issues (4 done, 2 in progress, 2 todo)
- Unassigned: 5 issues

---

## 👥 Team Capacity Analysis

**Available for Work**:

- Bob: 2 active issues, can take 1-2 more
- Charlie: 2 active issues, can take 1 more

**At Capacity**:

- Alice: 5 active issues (near max capacity)

**Needs Attention**:

- Dave: No active issues (assign work)

---

## ⚠️ Risks & Blockers

**🚨 Blockers** (2 issues):

- TEAM-461: External API approval (blocked 6 days)
  - Owner: Alice
  - Blocker: Waiting on partner team response
- TEAM-462: Dependency conflict (blocked 4 days)
  - Owner: Bob
  - Blocker: Upstream library bug

**⚠️ At Risk** (3 issues, >5 days in progress):

- TEAM-463: Complex refactor (7 days, Alice)
  - Risk: No commits in 3 days
- TEAM-464: Database migration (6 days, Bob)
  - Risk: Scope increased mid-work
- TEAM-465: API redesign (5 days, Charlie)
  - Risk: Waiting on code review

---

## 💡 Recommendations

**Priority Actions** (do these today):

1. **Escalate TEAM-461** - Partner team blocking for 6 days, needs PM intervention
2. **Pair Bob with senior dev** on TEAM-462 - Dependency issue may need architectural change
3. **Check in with Alice** on TEAM-463 - 3 days no activity, may need help

**Capacity Optimization**:

1. **Assign 2 issues to Dave** from backlog (currently no active work)
2. **Assign 1 issue to Bob** once TEAM-462 unblocked (has capacity)

**Review Needed**:

1. **TEAM-464**: Scope changed mid-cycle, consider moving to next cycle
2. **TEAM-465**: Waiting on review for 2 days, expedite review process

---

## 📈 Velocity Projection

**Current Velocity**: 2.25 issues/day (18 done in 8 days) **Remaining Work**: 22 issues **Days
Left**: 3

**Projection**: At current pace, will complete ~7 more issues = 63% total completion

**To Hit 80%**: Need to complete 14 more issues in 3 days (4.7/day) - requires addressing blockers
immediately

Step 5: Save Report

IMPORTANT: Document Storage Rules

• ALWAYS write to thoughts/shared/pm/reports/
• NEVER write to thoughts/searchable/ — this is a read-only search index

Write report to thoughts/shared/pm/reports/YYYY-MM-DD-cycle-N-status.md

REPORT_DIR="thoughts/shared/pm/reports"
mkdir -p "$REPORT_DIR"

REPORT_FILE="$REPORT_DIR/$(date +%Y-%m-%d)-cycle-${cycle_number}-status.md"

# Write formatted report to file
cat > "$REPORT_FILE" << EOF
# Cycle Status Report - ${cycle_name}

**Generated**: $(date +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M")
**Cycle**: ${cycle_number} (${cycle_starts} → ${cycle_ends})

[... formatted report content ...]
EOF

echo "✅ Report saved: $REPORT_FILE"

# Update workflow context
if [[ -f "${SCRIPT_DIR}/workflow-context.sh" ]]; then
  "${SCRIPT_DIR}/workflow-context.sh" add reports "$REPORT_FILE" "${TICKET_ID:-null}"
fi

Step 6: Display Summary

Present concise summary to user with health assessment:

🟡 Cycle Health: Sprint 2025-W04 - At Risk

Takeaway: Cycle is 45% complete with 3 days remaining. We're tracking
slightly behind (projected 63% completion). Main risks: 2 blocked issues
and Dave has no assigned work.

Progress: ████████░░ 45% (18/40 issues)
Days Remaining: 3 of 10

Priority Actions:
  1. Escalate TEAM-461 blocker (external dependency, 6 days)
  2. Pair Bob with senior dev on TEAM-462 (dependency conflict)
  3. Assign 2 backlog issues to Dave (no active work)

Status:
  ✅ Done: 18  |  🔄 In Progress: 12  |  📋 Todo: 10
  🚨 Blocked: 2  |  ⚠️  At Risk: 3 (>5 days)

Full health report: thoughts/shared/pm/reports/2025-01-27-cycle-4-health.md

Success Criteria

Automated Verification:

• [ ] Prerequisites script passes: ./scripts/check-prerequisites.sh
• [ ] Command executes without errors
• [ ] Report file created in expected location
• [ ] JSON parsing succeeds for all linearis output
• [ ] TodoWrite tracking works correctly
• [ ] Health assessment is data-backed

Manual Verification:

• [ ] Health score accurately reflects cycle state
• [ ] Takeaway is clear and actionable
• [ ] Capacity analysis identifies available team members
• [ ] Recommendations are specific and prioritized
• [ ] Risk identification is meaningful
• [ ] Report guides PM to take specific action