work

name: work description: Start working on a beads task (creates worktree, updates status) aliases: [start, begin]

Work Skill

Start working on a beads task - automatically creates a git worktree and updates task status.

Usage

/work TASK-ID
/work search terms for task title

Examples

/work THERAPY-lo7.1
/work modern frontend setup
/work backend models

What This Does

Claude will:

• Search for the task (ask if multiple matches)
• Create a git worktree with descriptive name
• Update beads status to in_progress
• Give you the commands to switch to the worktree

Instructions

When the user invokes this skill:

1. Parse the input to determine if it's a task ID or search term
2. If search term, use bd search to find matching tasks
3. If multiple matches, ask user to select one
4. Get task details with bd show
5. Create a descriptive worktree name from the task title
6. Create git worktree: git worktree add ../PROJECT-NAME-description -b TASK-ID-description
7. Symlink gitignored Claude settings into the new worktree so permissions carry over:

   # From the MAIN repo root (not the new worktree)
   MAIN_REPO="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
   WORKTREE_DIR="../PROJECT-NAME-description"
   # Ensure .claude dir exists in worktree
   mkdir -p "$WORKTREE_DIR/.claude"
   # Symlink settings.local.json (has auto-approve permissions, MCP config, plugins)
   ln -sf "$MAIN_REPO/.claude/settings.local.json" "$WORKTREE_DIR/.claude/settings.local.json"
   

8. Update beads: bd update TASK-ID --status=in_progress
9. Show user the cd command to switch to the worktree

Directory Naming

• Use descriptive name from task title (kebab-case)
• Format: ../therapy-assistant-platform-descriptive-name
• Branch: TASK-ID-descriptive-name

Be friendly and interactive. Ask if anything is unclear.