next

/next

Orchestrator that handles preflight maintenance, then tries to move the backlog forward. With no argument a direct /next turn ends by either starting the next obvious backlog action or asking the user to clarify what should be next; a looped /next turn must not expect user input, dispatches only unambiguous work, and otherwise idles until the loop-exhausted guard stops it.

When given a count or scope (N, blocked, all, or a group name), /next runs a bounded internal sequence instead: it works several backlog items in one turn, skipping the heavy preflight between steps (see Sequencing). How wide it runs — one worker at a time or a fan-out batch — is the orchestrator's judgment call, sized to how independent the selected work is (see Concurrency). It never waits for user input mid-sequence. For an attended multi-step push, reach for a sequence first — it is cheaper than an external loop (heavy preflight only at the start and end, not every tick) and stays in one turn. /loop /next still works and remains the right tool for genuinely unattended or scheduled runs that span many turns; it benefits from the same preflight cadence.

Project Amendments

At the start of every invocation, check whether docs/rpm/skills/next.md exists in the consuming project. If it does, read it and apply its contents as additional project-specific instructions for this skill. Amendments may add preflight steps, narrow dispatch criteria, add output requirements, or extend the worker contract. They cannot remove or override plugin defaults — on conflict, this SKILL.md wins.

Routing

Parse $ARGUMENTS into a first token and an optional second token:

• empty → run one orchestrator step (the single-step flow below).

• status → run the status formatter and stop:

  !bash ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/status.sh

  Render the output verbatim. Do not interpret, summarize, or add commentary — the user wants the raw view.

• integer N (≥ 1) → run a sequence of up to N cycles (see Sequencing). N = 1 is identical to the single-step flow.

• blocked → run a sequence until a task needs the user, or no actionable task remains.

• all → run a sequence until no actionable task remains, skipping tasks that need the user and continuing with the rest.

• anything else → treat the first token as a * Parent group name in docs/rpm/future/tasks.org (match the heading text exactly, then case-insensitively). An optional second token scopes the run within that group: N, all, or blocked (default: drain the group until it has no actionable task or one needs the user). If no parent matches, print the usage block below and stop.