kanban-agent

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• SKILL.md

SKILL.md (first lines)

No-tests policy: `instructions/no-tests.md`; Situation
`no-tests-all-repos-20261009`. Remove stale test and test coverage requirements
from any card or instruction you use. Keep non-test product proof and gates.


## NO REVIEW COLUMN (Tom 2026-07-16 — won't-undo)

There is **no `review` column**. Board columns are only:
`backlog → todo → doing → done`.

- Incomplete work: stay in `todo` or `doing`
- Complete work: `done` only with merge/END-STATE proof
- Intentional holds: `block_status=needs_human|deferred|design_first` + reason
  in **`backlog`** (default `todo` is the pickup claim lane and rejects deferred /
  human-gated holds — see the kanban skill "Default todo is the pickup claim lane")

Never `kanban move <slug> review`. The live board rejects it. Do not invent
a review lane on custom boards either.


# kanban — agent handbook

kanban is a kanban over LastDB (CLI + MCP, `bun run src/cli.ts` in the kanban
repo, board on your LastDB node). It does **not** spawn agents. This skill makes
the agent **own a card through merge**: it implements the card, opens the PR, and
then drives that PR to MERGED before exiting — it does not hand a green-but-
unmerged PR off and walk away. A card reaches `done` only when its PR is verified
merged. **PR/CR opened is not done, and there is no separate background driver
watching it for you.** The WORK-mode agent that opens the review artifact must
record it on the card and keep driving it in this same turn until merged or
genuinely blocked.

> ⚠️ **Route repo review artifacts before opening or reconciling one.** After
> resolving the concrete checkout, run
> `"$last_stack/bin/last-stack-pr-venue" --json <owner/repo> "$target_repo"` and
> branch on `.venue`. Since 2026-09-30 every EdgeVector repo except
> `EdgeVector/lastgit` is on **GitHub** (brain
> `decision-2026-09-29-retire-lastgit-all-repos-to-github`): open PRs with
> `gh pr create`, arm auto-merge with
> `gh pr merge <n> -R EdgeVector/<repo> --auto --squash`, and watch the
> required `ci-required` check with `gh pr checks <n> -R EdgeVector/<repo>`. If
> `gh pr merge` fails with a GraphQL 502, merge with
> `gh api -X PUT repos/EdgeVector/<repo>/pulls/<n>/merge -f merge_method=squash`.
> LastGit is retired. The venue `lastgit` must not occur; if it does, stop and
> file a brain papercut. Store secrets only as LastSecrets locators; never put
> raw secret values in Brain/Kanban/logs/PR text.
>
> ⚠️ **Only `EdgeVector/lastgit` stays on the local Forgejo forge.** For that
> repo, and no other, use the Forgejo API equivalent of each `gh` command
> against `http://localhost:3300`. Full command map and auth:
> `brain get sop-forge-pr-workflow`. Use
> `$HOME/.last-stack/bin/last-stack-forge-api` for the API calls and
> `$HOME/.last-stack/bin/last-stack-forge-git -C <repo> <git-args...>` when
> plain `git fetch` / `push` cannot read credentials. Create a PR with
> `last-stack-forge-api --method POST --data @body.json repos/EdgeVector/lastgit/pulls`.
> Arm auto-merge with
> `last-stack-forge-api --method POST --data '{"Do":"merge","merge_when_checks_succeed":true,"delete_branch_after_merge":true}' repos/EdgeVector/lastgit/pulls/<n>/merge`.
> Read PR state with `last-stack-forge-api repos/EdgeVector/lastgit/pulls/<n>`
> (`.merged`, `.mergeable`, `.draft`) and CI with
> `last-stack-forge-api repos/EdgeVector/lastgit/commits/<head-sha>/status`.
> Update a BEHIND branch with
> `last-stack-forge-pr-update-branch --repo EdgeVector/lastgit --pr <n> --apply`
> (never POST `pulls/<n>/update` raw). If `commits/<sha>/status` is the empty
> envelope and `actions/tasks` has no run for the head, the CI trigger is dead:
> run `last-stack-forge-dead-trigger probe` then `supersede`. Arm auto-merge
> when you open the PR, or write `proof in flight — do not arm` in the body.
> If an armed PR is green but open, run
> `last-stack-pipeline-forge-pr-ledger merge-green --repo EdgeVector/lastgit --pr <n> --apply --wait-sec 900`.
> Keepside_Desktop is GitHub-primary and hands-off.

> **Drive to merge, but never idle-park or sleep-loop.** The rule that prevents
> wedged/runaway agents is **no `sleep`-to-wait, ever**: you wait for CI/the
> merge process only with a *sleepless* foreground watcher (the `/wait-merge`
> skill, or `gh -R <repo> pr checks <n> --watch`), which returns when state actually
> changes and is bounded by GitHub's check timeout. While waiting you take
> *action* on state changes (re-arm dropped auto-merge, update-branch a BEHIND
> PR, rebase a DIRTY one) rather than spinning. You exit when the PR is **MERGED**
> (move card → `done`) or when you hit a **genuine human-only blocker** (move
> card → `review` with a `BLOCKED:`/`STALLED:` note). You do NOT exit just
> because the PR is open and queued — that fire-and-forget hand-off is exactly
> what lets PRs pile up stranded.
>
> **"Spawn a watcher and come to rest" is NOT "drive to merge."** Do not start a
> background CI-watcher process and then end your turn expecting to be re-woken
> when it finishes — that re-wake is not reliable, and it leaves the PR with
> nobody driving it (it strands exactly as before, one step later). Hold THIS
> turn open with a *foreground* sleepless `--watch` until the PR reaches a
> terminal state. Holding one turn on a foreground watcher is the allowed,
> bounded thing; resting while a detached watcher runs is not.

## Columns

`backlog → todo → doing → done`

| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `backlog` / `todo` | not yet picked up |
| `doing` | an agent is implementing, OR is driving its open PR to merge |
| *(no review)* | use `todo` + `block_status` for human gates; never park incomplete work |
| `done` | PR is **merged** AND the card's outcome was validated, or a non-PR card's `DONE-WHEN` predicate is satisfied |

### Outcome validation — at the CARD level, not in PR bodies

**PR-body `## Proof` blocks are NOT required** (Tom removed the requirement and
its `proof-block` CI gate 2026-07-03 — the check failed on ~30% of fleet PRs and
silently stalled auto-merge into rerun churn). Do not write them, and never treat
a missing one as a blocker.

Validation lives on the **card** instead: run the card's `VERIFY:` line before
closing, and honor its `## END STATE`. For user-visible/stateful cards (auth,
passwords, settings, data writes, sync, UI), that still means a real-app
acceptance check: run the real binary/node on a **throwaway** data dir
(`mktemp -d`, `FOLDDB_DISABLE_KEYCHAIN=1`) — NEVER `~/.lastdb`, `~/.folddb`, or the primary
brain/keyring; **cross a process boundary** (restart / re-open) between the write
and the read; include a **negative case**. Anchor it to the user story, not the
diff ("a user can set a password and later unlock with it"). A card whose
merged PR fails its
VERIFY/END STATE goes in `todo` with a `PROOF:` note — not `done`. This is what
stops "password sets but the app won't unlock with it" (incident 2026-06-30) from

From EdgeVector/last-stack, MIT.

More from EdgeVector/last-stack