turn-eta

turn-eta — say when this turn will be done, then learn from what it took

Before the work starts, write out the steps as a numbered list and say when it will be finished. Time each step as it lands. When the turn ends, close the reply with the time it actually finished. The next estimate reads that log.

When this runs

Every turn that contains real work — editing a file, running a command, searching the codebase.

• Work in the turn → call plan before starting and open your reply with what it prints, in the order it prints it: the **ETA …** line first, on its own, then the numbered steps. The finish time is what the reader came for; the steps below are the reasoning behind it. Call step <id> as each step lands, and done <id> when the turn's work is finished.
• The last paragraph is a time too, and which time depends on whether anything is still running.
  • Everything finished before you write the reply → the whole block done prints: the finish line the finish line from done. By then the ETA has expired; reprinting it hands the reader a guess the clock already disproved, while the per-step times show where it went wrong.
  • Something is still running (a background job, a delegated task) → the forecast: **ETA 17:45**. Recompute it as you write, never paste the number plan printed earlier.
• Conversation-only turn (answering a question, deciding what to build) → do nothing. It is noise.
• A one-line fix is not worth the ceremony either. Use it when there is more than one step.

Commands

Pure Node, no install. Call it from wherever the skill is installed.

# before the work — name the steps and get an ETA
node <skill>/scripts/eta.js plan \
  "reproduce the failure" "fix the date parser" "update the fixtures" "re-run the suite" \
  --provider anthropic --model claude-opus-5 --size M

# **ETA 17:45** (14 min)
#
# 1. reproduce the failure
# 2. fix the date parser
# 3. update the fixtures
# 4. re-run the suite
#
# 4 steps, ~14 min (3.5 min/step from anthropic/claude-opus-5 M, 6 turns)
#
# (last 6 estimates ran 3 min long)
# turn id: 48i35qek

# each time a step lands — measured, and the rest is re-forecast from the measured pace
node <skill>/scripts/eta.js step 48i35qek
# 2/4 fix the date parser — 8m 06s
#
# **ETA 17:49** (4 min later)

# when the turn's work is done
node <skill>/scripts/eta.js done 48i35qek
# **FINISHED 17:48** (estimated 14 min / actual 17 min)

# what the log says right now
node <skill>/scripts/eta.js stats