flow-next-flow ยท diff
git:20261001.8e26b3f to git:20261009.cfe9a74
80 added, 4 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: flow-next-flow
- description: Conductor for an idea, spec or task id, tracker issue, branch, bug report, or question; --auto runs a ready spec unattended and emits PILOT_VERDICT. Use when no skill is named or to pilot a spec.
+ description: In a project that uses Flow-Next, use first for a spec id to implement, change, bug, slow code or number to move, cleanup, design choice, issue, or what next. Skip for quick questions or direct work.
user-invocable: false
allowed-tools: Read, Bash, Grep, Glob, Write, Edit, Task, Skill
---
# /flow-next:flow - the conductor
Flow chooses the next step so the user does not have to. It reads what it was given, routes from the shared routing reference, runs the routed stage skill, and continues until the next decision that belongs to a human. It re-implements no stage logic: capture, refine, plan, plan-review, work, qa, make-pr, resolve-pr, and land keep their own contracts, receipts, and gates.
**Role:** conductor, inline (no `context: fork`) so `plain-text numbered prompt` stays reachable. On hosts without it, fall back to a plain-text numbered prompt with a final `Other - type your own answer` option.
- **Read [workflow.md](workflow.md) for the hop loop.** Read a reference only at the step that names it.
+ The hop loop is Steps 1 to 5 below. Read a reference only at the step that names it.
## Preamble
- **CRITICAL: flowctl is BUNDLED - NOT installed globally.** `which flowctl` will fail (expected). Define once; subsequent blocks (here and in `workflow.md`) use `$FLOWCTL`:
+ **CRITICAL: flowctl is BUNDLED - NOT installed globally.** `which flowctl` will fail (expected). Define once; subsequent blocks (here and in the steps below) use `$FLOWCTL`:
```bash
FLOWCTL="${CODEX_HOME:-$HOME/.codex}/scripts/flowctl"
[ -x "$FLOWCTL" ] || FLOWCTL="<plugin-root>/scripts/flowctl" # <plugin-root> = the directory two levels above this skill's SKILL.md file (the harness gave you that file's absolute path when the skill loaded); substitute it literally
[ -x "$FLOWCTL" ] || FLOWCTL=".flow/bin/flowctl"
```
## Mode detection
Parse `$ARGUMENTS` as exact tokens (never substrings), before any read or write: `--auto` sets `AUTO=1`; `--tick` sets `AUTO_TICK=1` (one hop, then stop; meaningful only with `--auto`); `--explain` sets `EXPLAIN=1`; `--review=<backend>` sets `REVIEW_OVERRIDE` and is passed through unchanged to every stage it dispatches. The destination parse is shared by both modes:
```bash
FLOW_UNTIL=""
FLOW_DESTINATION_ERROR=0
LAND_AUTHORIZED=0
LAND_SCOPE_SPEC=""
LAND_SCOPE_PR=""
AUTO=0
for ARG in $ARGUMENTS; do
case "$ARG" in
--auto) AUTO=1 ;;
--until=merge) FLOW_UNTIL=merge ;;
--until|--until=*) FLOW_DESTINATION_ERROR=1 ;;
esac
done
if [ "$FLOW_DESTINATION_ERROR" = 1 ]; then
if [ "$AUTO" = 1 ]; then
echo 'PILOT_VERDICT=NEEDS_HUMAN spec=- stage=- reason="invalid destination; use --until=merge"'
else
echo 'NEEDS_HUMAN: invalid destination; use --until=merge'
fi
exit 1
fi
export FLOW_UNTIL
```
`--until=merge` authorizes landing the selected item in this invocation; read `references/tail.md` at that boundary. Consent is current host context, never recovered from an environment variable, old transcript or receipt. Consume destination tokens rather than passing them to a build stage; everything else is the starting point, verbatim.
**`AUTO=1`: read [auto.md](auto.md) and follow it.** Attended runs never load it.
## Autonomy refusal - runs right after the token parse
Attended flow and `flow --auto` are two drivers and are never nested. Without `--auto`, flow is attended: under any autonomy marker (scan the marker namespace: `FLOW_AUTONOMOUS`, `AUTONOMOUS=1`, a `mode:autonomous` token), stop before any read or write:
```
NEEDS_HUMAN: /flow-next:flow is attended - run /flow-next:flow --auto for unattended runs
```
With `--auto` there is no marker refusal, because `--auto` sets `FLOW_AUTONOMOUS` and `mode:autonomous` for the stages it dispatches. A run that routed, dispatched, or asked under a marker it should have refused has broken this.
## Invariants (every run)
- **Read [working-rules.md](../../references/working-rules.md) before the first route step** and follow it on every route.
- **Route on content and context, never on input kind**, from `references/route-matrix.md` at the route step.
- **Ask only on a fork that is material and not observable** (`references/prototype-before-ask.md`); at most one question per hop.
- **Never fabricate a review, QA or completion verdict.** Every stage flow skips is recorded with its reason (`stage: <name> - skipped(<kind>: <detail>)`).
- **Invoke stage skills; never re-implement their steps inline.** Land owns merge (only with current scoped consent, per `references/tail.md`); make-pr owns spec close. Never dispatch another flow or a loop from inside a run, and never force-push.
- **`--explain` writes nothing and dispatches nothing** (`references/explain.md`).
- ## Report shape (every stop)
+ ## The hop loop
+
+ If `.flow/` does not exist, print `No .flow/ directory - run \`$FLOWCTL init\` first.` and stop.
+
+ ## Step 1: Read the starting point
+
+ Read what was given and decide what it is: a spec or task id (`$FLOWCTL show <id> --json`,
+ `$FLOWCTL cat <id>`), a tracker issue (through the access this session already has), a branch
+ (`git log` and the spec whose `branch_name` matches), a path, a pasted bug report, a sentence of
+ intent. With no argument, read [references/no-argument.md](references/no-argument.md).
+
+ ## Step 2: Route
+
+ Read [references/route-matrix.md](references/route-matrix.md). Routing and the QA gate never
+ ask the judge, so a run with a TypeSafe key and one without take the same route.
+
+ Then route once per hop (in auto mode, use the route `pilot snapshot` returned instead). A spec
+ gets the route call, which decides its lifecycle in code and never asks the judge:
+
+ ```bash
+ "$FLOWCTL" judge --preset route --spec <spec-id> --json | jq -c '{available, reason, pr_probe_failed, decision}'
+ ```
+
+ For a spec, code applies lifecycle order: an observed PR goes to landing, a closed spec without a
+ PR to you, all tasks done to QA and make-pr, a `stale` plan review to plan-review, tasks to the
+ recorded work route, a ready zero-task spec to direct or plan. When `decision.met` is true, use `decision.value`, unless the person asked to be interviewed on the spec or passed a refine lens with it (`--biz`, `--tech`, `--scope=<lens>`): that routes to refine (`references/plan-vs-no-plan.md`). Intake without a spec
+ is yours: decide from the matrix. Print one line per hop: `Route: <route> (code)` or
+ `Route: <route> (host)`.
+
+ `EXPLAIN=1`: resolve the route (reading the references below as needed) but record nothing, then
+ read [references/explain.md](references/explain.md) and stop there.
+
+ A ready spec with no tasks and no recorded route: read
+ [references/plan-vs-no-plan.md](references/plan-vs-no-plan.md), resolve the rule, and record it
+ before any stage runs (`$FLOWCTL spec set-no-plan <id> --json` for direct,
+ `$FLOWCTL spec clear-no-plan <id> --json` for a positive plan signal). All tasks done and no PR:
+ read [references/gate-selection.md](references/gate-selection.md) for QA, then make-pr. An
+ existing PR: read [references/tail.md](references/tail.md). Uncaptured intent whose criteria trip
+ the tripwire: read [references/spec-count.md](references/spec-count.md). Two routes that would
+ materially differ with an answer you cannot observe: read
+ [references/prototype-before-ask.md](references/prototype-before-ask.md) before asking, and ask at
+ most one question per hop.
+
+ ## Step 3: Run the routed stage
+
+ Invoke the stage skill by name with its normal arguments, passing `--review=<backend>` through when
+ `REVIEW_OVERRIDE` is set. Never copy a stage's steps inline.
+
+ - **Capture** gets the exact token `from:flow`; it applies plan-vs-no-plan itself and offers the
+ saved spec for review. A request to capture or review only never authorizes work.
+ - **Defect reproduction**, when the report does not say where the problem is and `.flow/features/`
+ exists: read [references/defect-intake.md](references/defect-intake.md) first.
+ - **Work** runs `$flow-next-work <spec-id>`; a recorded `no_plan` pre-answers its fork.
+ Pick the branch rather than letting work ask: `--branch=current` on a branch other than the
+ default, else `--branch=new`, unless the user named one. State the choice in one line.
+ - **QA** follows gate-selection.md; a skip is recorded, never silent.
+ - **Make-pr** runs under `--auto`, or attended when the person asks for the PR (working-rules.md);
+ it ends a run from intent unless `--until=merge` or current explicit consent authorizes landing
+ (tail.md). A PR this run just opened gets no landing question.
+
+ A stage that stops with `NEEDS_HUMAN`, a verdict that needs a person, or an open product question
+ stops flow with the same report; never answer on the user's behalf.
+
+ ## Step 4: Re-evaluate
+
+ Re-read state (`$FLOWCTL show <spec-id> --json`, the PR, the receipts) and return to Step 2.
+ Advance on observed state, never on a stage's narration.
+
+ ## Step 5: Stop and report
+
+ A pick among options a stage produced (prospect's candidates, chart's capture-or-split, refine's
+ choices) is asked inline, one per hop, and the run continues. Otherwise stop at the first of: the PR
+ exists (without landing authority), a decision a stage handed to the person, or a plain-text numbered prompt
+ that is not a pick. A PR this run just opened, without landing authority, ends the run; read
+ tail.md at a PR boundary only otherwise. Print this report: one `stage:` line per stage reached (a
+ skipped stage with its reason), inline picks on the `Route taken` line, then `Next:` in the host's
+ command form.
```
Flow stopped at: <the human decision, "PR exists", or the observed landing outcome>
Route taken: <hop 1> -> <hop 2> -> ... (an inline pick reads `prospect [picked: <candidate>]`)
stage: <name> - ran [<start>..<end>] | skipped(<policy|config|empty|error|reach|signal absent|despite unresolved risk>: <detail>) | failed(<reason>: <detail>) (one line per stage reached)
Next: <natural-language prompt or slash command, or the decision the user must make>
```