/desk-open

name: desk-open
description: 'Create and open a new desk in the workshop. Sets up the folder structure, initial journal, and desk identity so the next session that sits down finds the trail.'

Open a Desk

Create a new desk in the workshop with the standard structure.

When to use

• The operator wants to start a new workstream
• Work arrives that doesn't belong to any existing desk
• A topic needs its own frame (its own history, its own priors)

What it creates

Given a workshop directory and a desk name, create:

desks/<desk-name>/
  journal.md       # persistent memory — read at start, written at end
  .signals/        # structured signal output (JSON) — dashboard reads this

`desks/` is the default home. A desk can instead live in a group folder: any top-level folder whose name ends in `-desks` (for example `team-desks/<desk-name>/`). Use one only when the operator asks for that group, create the group folder if it doesn't exist, and read `desks/` in the steps below as that group folder.

How to use

1. **Choose a name.** Short, descriptive, kebab-case. The name is how the operator and other desks refer to this desk. Examples: `security-scan`, `api-review`, `ops`, `cloud-workshop`

2. **Check if it already exists.** If `desks/<desk-name>/` already has a `journal.md`, the desk is live — **do not overwrite it.** Instead, resume it: read the journal and continue from where it left off. If the operator explicitly wants a fresh start, they must rename or archive the existing desk first.

3. **Create the structure.** Make the directory, initial journal, and signals folder:

   desks/<desk-name>/journal.md
   desks/<desk-name>/.signals/

4. **Write the first journal entry.** The journal starts with:

• What this desk is for (its focus/purpose)
• What repos or work it covers (if applicable)
• Any initial context the first session needs

5. **Announce it.** Tell the operator what was created and what the desk's focus is.

Session orientation

This skill initializes storage — it does not launch a session. A desk becomes active when a Copilot session references its directory. The session workflow:

1. The operator (or TA) starts a session and says "sit at the `<desk-name>` desk" 2. The session reads the desk's `journal.md` to load priors. To find the desk, look in `desks/<desk-name>/`, then in each `<group>-desks/<desk-name>/`; if more than one has that name, ask which one (refer to it as `<group>-desks/<desk-name>`) 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

The desk identity comes from which journal is read, not from a persistent process. Desks are long-running in *state* (the journal carries forward), not in *runtime* (each session is independent).

Journal format

# <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>

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. Write enough that someone starting from zero finds the way.

• One desk, one focus. If the scope is too broad, open two desks.

Each desk's value comes from its specific frame — dilute the frame and you lose the value.