start-ticket

Start Ticket

Initialize work on a Jira ticket by looking up the ticket details and creating an appropriately named branch.

Usage

/start-ticket AB-123

Instructions

1. Look Up the Jira Ticket

Use the /jira-ticket skill or the Jira MCP tools directly to fetch the ticket details:

mcp__jira__jira_get with:
  path: /rest/api/3/issue/{ticketNumber}
  jq: "{key: key, summary: fields.summary, type: fields.issuetype.name}"

2. Determine the Branch Prefix

Map the Jira issue type to a conventional commit prefix:

Issue Type	Branch Prefix
Story	feat
Task	feat
Bug	fix
Spike	chore
Sub-task	inherit from parent, or feat
Improvement	feat
Technical Debt	refactor
Documentation	docs
Default	feat

3. Generate Branch Name

Format: {prefix}/{TICKET-NUMBER}-{kebab-case-summary}

Rules:

• Convert summary to kebab-case (lowercase, hyphens instead of spaces)
• Remove special characters except hyphens
• Truncate to reasonable length (max ~50 chars for the summary portion)
• Keep the ticket number uppercase

Example: For ticket AB-123 with summary "Sanitize Input":

feat/AB-123-sanitize-input

3b. Resume awareness — check for a prior handoff

Before creating a fresh branch, check whether a previous session already worked this ticket and left a /wrap-up handoff. "Start ticket" is the new-work entry point, but the same ticket sometimes comes back — and a handoff means there's likely an existing branch plus open threads you'd otherwise re-create from scratch.

Two-step so the usual case (a genuinely new ticket) stays network-free:

1. Cheap pass (no network):

   ~/.agents/skills/handoffs/scripts/list.sh --ticket {TICKET-NUMBER}
   

   Read ---MATCHED-HANDOFFS--- (current-repo, supersede-filtered, newest first). Empty → skip to step 4 and create the branch normally. This is the usual path.
2. Confirm live (only if step 1 matched):

   ~/.agents/skills/handoffs/scripts/list.sh --check-branches --ticket {TICKET-NUMBER}
   

   Still empty → the earlier work shipped; create a fresh branch (step 4). Otherwise take the newest matched line: {filename}|{date}|{time}|{slug}|{branch}|{exists}|{pr-state}|{pr-number}|{pr-url}.