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name: continue-work description: > Resumes a stalled task by resetting its remediation loop counter and relaunching a code agent. A task becomes stalled when the code skill exhausts its loop budget (default 10 iterations) without satisfying all Definition of Done criteria. This skill shows the user the last failing criteria, lets them add optional guidance, resets the counter (with an optional new budget), and triggers a fresh implementation session. Optionally accepts --max-loops N to set a custom loop budget for the new session.

Trigger on: "continue-work TASK-NNN", "/continue-work", "resume TASK-NNN", "retry TASK-NNN", "unblock TASK-NNN", "restart work on TASK-NNN", "reset loops for TASK-NNN", "give TASK-NNN more loops", or any request to resume a task that is in stalled status.

Continue Work

Resume automated implementation for a task whose remediation loop budget was exhausted. This skill resets the counters, optionally accepts new user guidance, and relaunches a fresh code session with the full original context.

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Sentinel — acquire before writing TASK cards

A PreToolUse hook (tasks-folder-guard.py) rejects every Write/Edit/MultiEdit/ NotebookEdit call targeting tasks/<CAP>/TASK-*.md unless the shared task-pipeline sentinel /tmp/.claude-task-pipeline.active is present and ≤30 min old. This skill is on the allowlist (together with /task, /task-refinement, /launch-task, /code, /fix, and /pr-merge-watcher). The code session this skill relaunches acquires its own sentinel inside its session — /continue-work only needs the sentinel for its own counter-reset edits.

Before the first TASK-card write (resetting loop_count, stalled_reason, status):

touch /tmp/.claude-task-pipeline.active

At the very end (success or graceful abort):

rm -f /tmp/.claude-task-pipeline.active

A stale sentinel grants write access to the next agent — explicit rm -f on exit is preferred. The hook treats sentinels older than 30 minutes as expired.

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Usage

/continue-work TASK-NNN
/continue-work TASK-NNN --max-loops 15
/continue-work TASK-NNN --max-loops 20 "Look for #consent-gate not #gate-consentement"

| Argument | Required | Default | Description | |----------|----------|---------|-------------| | TASK-NNN | yes | — | Task identifier to resume | | --max-loops N | no | same as previous max_loops | New loop budget for the session | | "guidance text" | no | — | Optional hint injected into the remediation context |

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Step 1 — Locate and Validate the Task

1. Find the task file at /tasks/{capability-id}/TASK-NNN-*.md. If not found, scan all tasks/*/ directories and report a list of stalled tasks.

2. Verify the task status is stalled:

   • If status: done → tell the user: "TASK-NNN is already done — nothing to resume."
   • If status: in_progress → tell the user: "TASK-NNN is already running."
   • If status: in_review → tell the user: "TASK-NNN is awaiting PR merge, not stalled."
   • If status: todo → tell the user: "TASK-NNN has not been started yet. Use /code TASK-NNN."

3. Read from the task frontmatter:

   • loop_count: number of loops used before stalling
   • max_loops: the budget that was exhausted
   • stalled_reason: multi-line failure summary written by the code skill

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Step 2 — Show the Stall Context

Present the situation clearly before asking the user to confirm:

⚫ TASK-[NNN] — [Title]
Capability: [ID] — [Zone]

Stalled after [loop_count] loop(s) / budget was [max_loops].

Last failing criteria:
  ❌ [Criterion 1]: [failure description from stalled_reason]
  ❌ [Criterion 2]: [failure description from stalled_reason]

Loop budget for new session: [new_max_loops]
  (pass --max-loops N to change — current default: [max_loops])

Optional guidance to inject into the first remediation prompt:
  [guidance if provided, or "(none — will retry with the same context)"]

Shall I reset and relaunch? [yes / no / --max-loops N "guidance"]

Wait for the user's confirmation (or adjustment) before proceeding.

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Step 3 — Reset the Loop Counters

Determine the new max_loops value:

• If --max-loops N was provided: use N
• Otherwise: reuse the previous max_loops value (not 10 — respect the setting already in the file)

Update the task file frontmatter:

status: todo
loop_count: 0
max_loops: [new_max_loops]
# stalled_reason field: keep it for history but prefix with "# (resolved attempt):"

Write the updated frontmatter. Do not touch any other field (preserves depends_on, priority, pr_url history, etc.).

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Step 4 — Notify the Board

Invoke /sort-task to refresh /tasks/BOARD.md and reflect the todo status (→ will transition to in_progress once the code agent starts). /launch-task will pick it up reactively when its Step 6 fires.

Report:

Board updated: TASK-[NNN] moved from ⚫ stalled → 🟢 ready.

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Step 5 — Relaunch via Code Skill

Invoke the code skill for TASK-NNN with the following additional context prepended:

── CONTINUE-WORK CONTEXT ──
This task was previously stalled after [loop_count] remediation loop(s).

Stall reason (last failing criteria):
[stalled_reason content]

[IF guidance provided]:
User guidance for this session:
"[guidance text]"

New loop budget: [new_max_loops] iterations.
Loop counter has been reset to 0.
── END CONTINUE-WORK CONTEXT ──

The code skill will:

• Read the updated loop_count: 0 / max_loops: [new_max_loops] from the frontmatter
• Detect the zone and route to the correct implementation path
• Skip the initial implementation step if artifacts already exist and only re-run tests + remediation (the code skill handles this via the Stall Procedure check in Step 3)
• Run the matching test skill — /test-business-capability for non-CHANNEL tasks (test-business-capability agent) or /test-app for CHANNEL tasks (test-app agent) — and loop up to new_max_loops times

Say:

"Relaunching code skill for TASK-[NNN] with [new_max_loops] loop(s) available..."

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Step 6 — Report

After the code skill completes (pass or new stall):

If all tests pass:

✅ TASK-[NNN] resumed and completed.
All DoD criteria validated after [loop_count] additional loop(s).
PR: [PR_URL]

If the budget is exhausted again:

⚫ TASK-[NNN] stalled again after [new_loop_count] additional loop(s).

Failing criteria (new run):
  ❌ [Criterion 1]
  ❌ [Criterion 2]

Suggestions:
  - Increase the budget: /continue-work TASK-NNN --max-loops [N+10]
  - Add targeted guidance: /continue-work TASK-NNN "specific hint about the failure"
  - Review the FUNC ADR or task definition — the criterion may be ambiguous
  - Run /task-refinement TASK-NNN to clarify the acceptance criteria before retrying

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Skill Boundaries

• This skill only resumes stalled tasks — it does not modify design decisions or task definitions. To change what a task must produce, use /task-refinement TASK-NNN first.
• The stalled_reason written by the code skill is preserved in the file for traceability. Each new /continue-work run annotates it with # (resolved attempt N): prefix rather than deleting it.
• This skill does not create new branches — it resumes work on the existing feat/TASK-NNN-{slug} branch where the previous implementation left off.