/next kanban board

Install

Install just this, from a clone of the repo. Anything it needs comes with it.

./scripts/install-skills.sh --skill next   # bash, Git Bash, macOS, Linux
.\scripts\install-skills.ps1 -Skill next   # Windows PowerShell

Works on its own.

What it does

Shows the next 1–3 tasks to work on, pulled from the repo's GitHub kanban board, with a size and a suggested model for each.

• Read-only (Edit/Write disallowed).

When to use

• Starting a work session: "what should I work on next?"
• End of update-progress and verifier runs, to surface the following task.

How to invoke

/next, or just ask what's next. Claude can also run it itself.

How it works

1. Find the board (the same lookup the other kanban skills use): gh project list --owner <owner>, filtered to the title <repo> Board or boards linking this repo's issues.
   • One match → use it; several → asks you.
   • None → status:todo / status:in-progress / status:in-review / status:done labels. Whichever skill applies one first creates it (gh label create status:<name> --color <hex> --force); each label has a fixed color, so repeat calls change nothing.
   • None → a roadmap doc (ROADMAP.md, docs/roadmap.md) whose execution order links issues.
   • Nothing → tells you to run /kanban-setup.
2. Failing CI comes first: workflow names come from gh workflow list --json name -q '.[].name'.
   • It checks the most recent completed run on the default branch, which counts as red only if its conclusion is failure.
   • An old, since-fixed failure doesn't count.
   • cancelled/timed_out aren't treated as red.
   • Checked per workflow when there are several.
3. Candidates:
   • In Review items first, tagged "awaiting verification" (Projects: the In Review column; labels: status:in-review).
   • Then Projects Todo/Ready items (it double-checks with gh issue list if gh project item-list, which can lag, returns empty), status:todo issues, or open issues in roadmap order.
   • Issues labelled wayfinder:* are skipped (they belong to /wayfinder).
   • Within each group (In Review, then Todo), sorted by priority:* label (p0 before p1, high before low), else roadmap order, else oldest first.
   • A repo's CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md rules override all of this.
4. Present: top 1–3 with title, number, size (size:* label or "unestimated"), suggested model (a fast one for well-specified work, a strong one for ambiguous or needs-design work).
   • "go" picks the top one.
   • Picking doesn't claim the card; pair or meta-orchestrator moves it to In Progress when it creates the branch, so a Todo card may have been picked but never started.

Flow

Card status flow: todo → in-progress → in-review → done.

• todo: set explicitly by gh project item-edit when an issue is added — item-add alone leaves Status empty.
• in-progress: set by pair or meta-orchestrator when they create the branch (their guarded agents can only read with gh).
• in-review: set by session-handoff.
• done: set by update-progress, once verified and merged; unmerged stays in-review.
• Label-mode status:* labels are created on first use (gh label create --color <hex> --force, colors in next/BOARD.md), not assumed to exist.

Design principles

• Read-only. Edit and Write are disallowed; it only looks. Picking a task doesn't claim the card: whoever creates the branch moves it.
• A red default branch comes first. A failing latest run on the default branch outranks every card.
• One board lookup for every skill. How to find the board and move a card lives in BOARD.md, which the other kanban skills and agents point at.

Shared context for these principles: Matt Pocock's video.

Use cases

• Opening a work session and choosing what to do.
• After update-progress or a verifier run, to surface the following task.
• Inside the planner agent, as the first step of briefing an orchestrated run.
• A repo with no Projects board: it falls back to status:* labels, then a roadmap doc.

Tips

• Say "go" to take the top suggestion.
• A Todo card may have been picked before but never started; only a created branch moves it to In Progress.
• Add size:* and priority labels to issues if you want sizes and ordering rather than "unestimated" and oldest first.
• Your repo's CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md can override the ordering rules.
• "Board is empty" is double-checked against gh issue list, since gh project item-list can lag.

Example

1. #31 Add CSV export (size:M, fast model: narrow, well-specified)
2. #28 Rework auth flow (unestimated, strong model: needs-design)
Say "go" for #31, or pick one.

Related

• kanban-setup creates the board it reads.
• Called by update-progress; preloaded by the planner and verifier agents.
• Board lookup reused by session-handoff, update-progress, kanban-setup.

Prereqs

• gh, authenticated, origin on GitHub (otherwise it stops and says so).
• Projects v2 boards need the project OAuth scope: run gh auth refresh -s project -s read:project once (see kanban/README.md).

Sample workflows

• Close one session, start the next
  session-handoff → you → update-progress → next → you
  Install just this one: ./scripts/install-skills.sh --workflow close-the-loop or .\scripts\install-skills.ps1 -Workflow close-the-loop
• Bootstrap a board from the docs
  you → kanban-setup → you → divide → you → next → find-me-a-skill → you
  Install just this one: ./scripts/install-skills.sh --workflow new-board or .\scripts\install-skills.ps1 -Workflow new-board

Source

• kanban/next/SKILL.md
• kanban/next/README.md