next-action

/next — Next Action Recommender

Dominant Variable

Is the proposed action actually high-impact based on current project state? — it must come from measured files, not guesses.

Purpose

Reads current project state and proposes the top 3 next actions by impact. Different from stepback (direction check) — stepback asks "am I doing the right thing right now", this asks "what should I do next". Different from session-start (handoff load) — session-start restores the prior session, this recommends actions from current state.

Discard if: right after session start (session-start already loaded the handoff + output state). User already gave a specific task.

Key Assumptions

1. Is a git repository — if broken: propose from the handoff, lessons and a filesystem scan alone.
2. Any of the six sources below may be missing — each missing file is skipped, never an error. File formats: https://github.com/AlexZio00/sovereign-skills/blob/master/docs/FILE-CONVENTIONS.md

Trigger

• /next
• "what should I do next"
• "next action"

Workflow

Step 1: Collect State (parallel, 30s cap)

Read the following 6 sources. Skip missing files.

1. memory/session-handoff-LATEST.md — "What to do now" section
2. git status --short — uncommitted changed files. For the age, run this portable one-liner (it prints the days since the oldest changed or untracked file was modified, skips deleted files, and prints none if there are no changes), then add "uncommitted N days" to the rationale:

   { git diff --name-only HEAD -z; git ls-files -o --exclude-standard -z; } | python3 -c "import os,sys,time; ps=[p for p in sys.stdin.read().split(chr(0)) if p and os.path.exists(p)]; print(int((time.time()-min(os.path.getmtime(p) for p in ps))/86400) if ps else 'none')"
   

3. git log --oneline -5 — recent work flow
4. tasks/lessons.md — read it and list the conf≥0.7 lessons whose seen date is 30+ days old (need re-application). Count them from your own list; do not estimate.
5. docs/STATE.md or ~/.claude/STATE.md — PENDING blockers. Use a candidate from the global STATE file only if it relates to this project, and mark it "(global)" in the rationale.
6. python3 "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/handoff_due_check.py" memory/session-handoff-LATEST.md — compares the dates in handoff to-do items with now. Offer a PAST item only as "past schedule — check result", never as unfinished work. STALE rows (carried 14+ days) are not unfinished work either: mention them as "carried N days — move or drop?". The handoff path is relative to the project root. ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR} is this skill's folder; Claude Code fills it in. In other agents, replace it with the path where you installed the skill. Use python instead of python3 where only that exists (common on Windows). If the script cannot run, read the handoff dates yourself and say "dates checked by hand".