/work

name: work
description: Unified entry point — auto-classifies tasks and routes to appropriate workflow. ALWAYS execute when invoked via slash command.

**NOTE**: This is a multi-step workflow that invokes the task-classifier subagent and orchestrator skills at specific steps. The `<command-name>` tag refers to THIS command only — you MUST still use the Skill tool to invoke those other skills when instructed below. Follow ALL steps in order.

Unified Work Entry Point

Auto-classifies tasks and routes to the appropriate workflow orchestrator. Supports resuming existing tasks or starting new ones.

Usage

/work [task description | task folder path | issue identifier]

Input Types

| Input Type | Example | |------------|---------| | Task folder path | `.maister/tasks/development/2025-10-23-login-timeout` | | Folder name only | `2025-10-26-user-auth` (searches all task types) | | Task description | `"Fix login timeout error on mobile"` | | GitHub issue | `#456`, `GH-456`, `https://github.com/owner/repo/issues/456` | | Jira ticket | `PROJ-456`, `https://company.atlassian.net/browse/PROJ-456` | | Azure DevOps | `AB#123`, `https://dev.azure.com/org/project/_workitems/edit/123` | | No argument | Prompts for input |

Examples

# Resume existing task
/work ".maister/tasks/development/2025-10-23-login-timeout"
/work "2025-10-26-user-auth"

# New task (auto-classifies)
/work "Fix login timeout error on mobile devices"
/work "Add user authentication with email/password"
/work "Improve dashboard loading performance"

# From issue tracker
/work "#456"
/work "PROJ-123"
/work "AB#789"

How It Works

1. **Detect existing task** - If input is a task folder path, route to resume 2. **Classify new task** - Invoke task-classifier subagent to determine workflow type 3. **Route to workflow** - Use Skill tool to invoke appropriate orchestrator skill

Workflow Type Routing

| Classification | Routes To (Skill) | |----------------|-------------------| | development | `maister-development` | | performance | `maister-performance` | | migration | `maister-migration` | | research | `maister-research` | | product-design | `maister-product-design` |

---

Workflow

Step 1: Parse Input and Detect Task Folder

**Check if input is an existing task folder:**

1. Try path as-is (absolute path) 2. Try prepending `.maister/` (relative path) 3. Search `.maister/tasks/*/` for folder name match

**If folder exists AND contains `orchestrator-state.yml`:**

• Go to **Step 2: Resume Existing Task**

**If NOT a task folder:**

• Go to **Step 3: Classify & Route New Task**

**If no argument provided:**

• Prompt user: "What would you like to work on?" with input examples
• Then check if input is task folder or description

Step 2: Resume Existing Task

**When existing task detected:**

1. Read `orchestrator-state.yml` from task folder 2. Determine workflow type from folder path:

| Folder | Workflow Type | |--------|--------------| | `development/` | development | | `performance/` | performance | | `migrations/` | migration | | `research/` | research | | `product-design/` | product-design |

3. Extract status from state file:

• `completed`: null = in-progress, timestamp = finished
• `completed_phases`: derive active phase as first phase not in this list
• `failed_phases`: array of failed attempts

4. Present status to user with ask_user:

**For In-Progress Tasks:**

Options:
1. Resume from next incomplete phase
2. Restart from specific phase
3. Cancel

**For Completed Tasks:**

Options:
1. View task details
2. Create follow-up development task
3. Re-run verification phase
4. Cancel

**For Failed Tasks:**

Options:
1. Resume with fresh attempts (--reset-attempts)
2. Retry failed phase
3. Restart from specific phase
4. Cancel

5. **Route using Skill tool:**

Use Skill tool:
  skill: "maister-[orchestrator-name]"
  args: "[task_path] [flags]"

Examples:

• Resume development: `skill: "maister-development"` with `args: ".maister/tasks/development/2025-10-23-fix"`
• Restart from phase: `skill: "maister-development"` with `args: ".maister/tasks/development/2025-10-26-auth --from=verify"`
• Fresh attempts: `skill: "maister-migration"` with `args: ".maister/tasks/migrations/2025-10-20-redux --reset-attempts"`

Step 3: Classify & Route New Task

**For new task descriptions:**

1. **Invoke task-classifier subagent** to determine workflow type:

Use Task tool:
  subagent_type: "maister-task-classifier"
  description: "Classify task type"
  prompt: "Classify this task into a workflow type: [task description].
           Return structured YAML classification result."

The subagent will:
- Detect issue identifiers (GitHub, Jira)
- Fetch issue details if available
- Analyze codebase context
- Match keywords and calculate confidence
- Confirm with user if needed
- Return classification in YAML format

2. **Parse classification result:**

classification:
  task_type: [development|performance|migration|research|product-design]
  confidence: [percentage]
  reasoning: [explanation]

3. **Route to appropriate workflow using Skill tool:**

Display:
  Task classified as: [task_type] ([confidence]% confidence)
  Routing to [task_type] workflow...

Use Skill tool:
  skill: "maister-[orchestrator-name]"
  args: "[description]"

**Routing examples:**

• development (92%): `skill: "maister-development"` with `args: "Fix login timeout error"`
• development (88%): `skill: "maister-development"` with `args: "Add filtering to user table"`
• performance (95%): `skill: "maister-performance"` with `args: "Optimize slow dashboard queries"`

---

Error Handling

Classification Fails

If task-classifier returns error:

Display:
"Unable to automatically classify this task. Please select manually:"

Use ask_user with options:
1. Development - Fix bugs, improve features, or add new capabilities
2. Performance - Optimize speed/efficiency
3. Mig