kickoff-branch

story: e51s03

story: e20s03

Kickoff Branch

HARD GATE — Direct work on main or master is PROHIBITED. Every task MUST start with this skill to create a feature branch or worktree.

HARD GATE — Do NOT proceed with development until Preflight passes on the default branch. Red Preflight blocks branch creation and all forward work — invoke quick-fix or fix-bug per CONVENTIONS § Discovered Defects.

Create an isolated working environment before touching any code. Preflight must be green before you write feature code — solo-default owns the whole tree, not just the current task diff.

Process

1. Confirm task name

Ask if not already known: "What's the name of this feature or task?" Use it as the branch name slug (kebab-case, max 40 chars).

2. Anchor on default branch (main or master)

HARD GATE — Kickoff MUST start from an updated, clean default branch in the primary repository root (not a linked worktree).

# Detect default branch
DEFAULT=$(git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD 2>/dev/null | sed 's@^refs/remotes/origin/@@' || echo main)

git checkout "$DEFAULT"
git pull --ff-only origin "$DEFAULT"   # skip if no remote
git status                             # working tree MUST be clean
git log --oneline -5

Spec-only pre-kickoff — before enforcing the clean-tree gate, check whether dirty files are spec artifacts:

DIRTY=$(git status --porcelain | awk '{print $2}')
NON_SPEC=$(echo "$DIRTY" | grep -v '^specs/' || true)

if [ -z "$DIRTY" ]; then
  : # clean — proceed
elif [ -z "$NON_SPEC" ]; then
  # spec-only dirty tree — offer auto-commit
  echo "Dirty spec artifacts: $(echo $DIRTY | tr '\n' ' ')"
  read -p "Commit spec artifacts before kickoff? [Y/n]: " CONFIRM
  CONFIRM=${CONFIRM:-Y}
  if [[ "$CONFIRM" =~ ^[Yy] ]]; then
    git add specs/
    git commit -m "chore(state): checkpoint before kickoff"
  fi
else
  echo "Dirty tree: $NON_SPEC (not a spec artifact). Stash or commit before proceeding."
  exit 1
fi