smart-citizen: Command for Claude Code

/begin_work

Bootstrap a work session for a GitHub issue. Resolves which release/X.Y.Z integration branch holds the work — reusing an existing unmerged branch when one fits, otherwise opening a new one by following the /start_release procedure — then creates a feature branch off it for the issue. After setup, drives the work in chunks with checkpoints between each stage so the user stays in the loop.

Work through every step in order. After each step, stop at the CHECKPOINT and wait for the user before proceeding.

Arguments

$ARGUMENTS — two whitespace-separated tokens, both required:

1. issue — a GitHub issue URL (https://github.com/Osiris-DevWorks/smart-citizen/issues/NN) or short form (#NN). The repo is implicit (Osiris-DevWorks/smart-citizen).
2. target release — either an explicit semver X.Y.Z (e.g. 1.4.3) or a bump type (major / minor / patch).

If either argument is missing or malformed, abort with: "/begin_work requires: <issue-url-or-#NN> <X.Y.Z | major | minor | patch>"

1. Parse and validate arguments

• Extract the issue number from URL or #NN shorthand.
• Validate the target release:
  • Matches ^\d+\.\d+\.\d+$ → treat as explicit version.
  • Is major / minor / patch → compute the explicit version from current VERSION.TXT (same math as /start_release).
  • Otherwise abort.

2. Fetch and summarize the issue

gh issue view <NN> --json number,title,body,labels,state,url

• If state is closed, warn the user.
• Present a short summary: number, title, state, labels, and a one-paragraph summary of the body (keep it tight — the full body is in conversation context).

CHECKPOINT — confirm the issue summary captures the work, or correct it. Wait for the user.

3. Resolve the target release branch

Target is release/X.Y.Z (the version from step 1). Check the world in this order:

• Already merged to main: git branch -r --merged origin/main | grep -F "origin/release/X.Y.Z". If matched, abort — "release/X.Y.Z is already merged to main; pick a higher target."
• Exists locally: git rev-parse --verify release/X.Y.Z. If yes, git checkout release/X.Y.Z. Confirm VERSION.TXT on it equals X.Y.Z.
• Exists on origin only: git ls-remote --heads origin release/X.Y.Z. If matched, git fetch origin release/X.Y.Z:release/X.Y.Z, then check out. Confirm VERSION.TXT.
• Does not exist anywhere: open it by following the procedure in .claude/commands/start_release.md. Use the bump type the user passed; if they passed an explicit version, derive the bump type by diffing current VERSION.TXT (on main) against X.Y.Z. The derived bump must be a single step (next patch, next minor, or next major). If the requested version skips ahead (e.g. current 1.4.2 → requested 1.6.0), abort and ask the user to clarify intent.