complete-task

Run clean-code, stage, and commit an in-progress task — the finalization phase of the development workflow. Whether the bead is closed here depends on the workflow: in a trunk / direct-commit repo the commit is the deliverable, so the bead closes now; in a PR-based repo the bead stays open until /create-pr; on a detached HEAD the commit is not safely owned by a branch, so the bead stays open.

When to Use

• Code changes are verified and ready to commit
• After /verify-task has passed (or verification is not needed)
• Replacing manual Phase 3 (Commit and Close) steps

Prerequisites

Run /verify-task before this skill to confirm requirements are met and test coverage is adequate. If you haven't verified yet, do that first.

Usage

/complete-task              # Auto-detect in-progress bead
/complete-task <bead-id>    # Complete a specific bead

Instructions

1. Identify the Task

Determine which bead is being completed, then prove which store owns it before reading or closing anything. Never infer the owning store from the bead ID or the current directory: at a workspace root the cwd store is the workspace store, not the repository that owns the work.

# Otherwise, find candidate in-progress beads in the active store
bd list --status=in_progress

# Resolve the chosen bead to its owning store (read-only)
~/.agents/skills/next/scripts/next-select resolve <bead-id>

If multiple beads are in progress, ask the user which one to complete. If no beads are in progress, ask the user what to do.

Act on the resolver status:

| status | action | |---|---| | resolved | take directory; every later bd call in this skill uses bd -C <directory> | | ambiguous | show matches[].selector, ask which <repo>:<id> is meant; close nothing | | unavailable | report failures; commit as normal but leave the bead untouched and say why | | not-found | ask the user for the right ID; never guess another store or create a bead |

Then read it in its owning store:

bd -C <directory> show <bead-id>

2. Run Clean Code

make clean-code

If clean-code fails:

• Fix auto-fixable issues
• Re-run to confirm zero warnings and zero errors
• If issues remain that change behavior, ask the user before fixing

3. Select new work or an existing verified commit

Inspect git status --porcelain=v1 --untracked-files=all first. Stop if the status command fails. With task changes, HEAD may be unborn: stage and create the initial commit normally.

Only on the existing-commit path, require git rev-parse HEAD to succeed; stop if it does not. If there is nothing to commit, do not create an empty commit. This includes a rerun after preserving an earlier detached commit on a branch. Confirm that HEAD is the exact task commit, the working tree is clean, and verification evidence applies to that commit; rerun /verify-task if evidence is missing or HEAD changed. Show the SHA and ask Finalize this verified commit or Stop. Only after confirmation, skip staging and committing and continue to §5. If HEAD or task identity is uncertain, leave the bead open; an empty diff is not proof that the task is complete.

Stage changes for a new commit

Stage only the files changed for this task:

git add <specific-files>

Rules:

• Never use git add -A or git add .
• Never stage root folders only (e.g., git add src/)
• Stage specific files or small subdirectories
• Exclude unrelated changes — if unrelated changes exist, leave them unstaged
• Exclude files that likely contain secrets (.env, credentials, etc.)

4. Commit

For staged task changes only, create a commit using conventional commit format:

git commit -m "$(cat <<'EOF'
<type>: <concise description>
EOF
)"

Commit message rules:

• Use conventional commit prefix: feat:, fix:, docs:, chore:, refactor:, perf:, test:
• Infer the type from the bead type (feature → feat:, bug → fix:, task → contextual)
• Keep the message concise (1-2 sentences) focused on the "why"
• Do not push to remote

5. Detect the Workflow Mode

Require either a successful new commit or an explicitly confirmed existing verified commit from §3. Then classify the current checkout to decide whether the bead closes now or later; neither path bypasses detached-HEAD protection or the PR handoff.

# Default branch (origin/HEAD, falling back to local main/master)
default_branch=$(git symbolic-ref --quiet --short refs/remotes/origin/HEAD 2>/dev/null | sed 's#^origin/##')
if [ -z "$default_branch" ]; then
  for c in main master; do git show-ref --verify --quiet "refs/heads/$c" && default_branch=$c && break; done
fi
current_branch=$(git symbolic-ref --quiet --short HEAD 2>/dev/null || true)
head_sha=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
git remote   # empty output = no remote

Classify in this order:

• Detached mode — current_branch is empty. The commit exists at head_sha but no branch owns it, regardless of remotes or default-branch detection.
• Trunk / direct-commit mode — attached current_branch equals default_branch, or there is no remote. The commit itself is the deliverable.
• PR mode — attached feature branch (current_branch differs from default_branch) with a remote. The PR is the next lifecycle step.

6. Finalize the Bead

Never close a bead if the commit failed or changes are still uncommitted.

Trunk mode — close the bead now (the commit is the whole deliverable):

bd -C <directory> close <bead-id> --reason="<brief summary of what was done>"

Detached mode — never close the bead. Report the detached commit SHA, leave the bead in_progress, and offer the exact preservation command without running it automatically:

git switch -c {branch-name}

After the user creates an attached branch, /complete-task may be rerun to classify the workflow and finalize the bead.

PR mode — do not close the bead here. By convention the bead is closed one step later, at the /create-pr stage (and reopened if review demands major changes); closing at commit time would be premature, before the PR even exists. Instead, tell the user a PR workflow was detected (on branch {current_branch}) and the bead is being left in_progress, then offer the next step with AskUserQuestion:

• Create the PR now (recommended) — invoke the /create-pr skill via Skill. It pushes, opens the PR, and closes the bead.
• Not yet — leave the branch committed and the bead in_progress; remind the user to run /create-pr when ready.
• Close the bead anyway — escape hatch for a repo that is actually trunk-based despite the feature branch; close it as in trunk mode.

7. Check for Follow-Up Work

After finalizing:

• If implementation revealed new issues or TODOs, mention them to the user
• Suggest creating follow-up beads if appropriate (but don't auto-create)

8. Report

Summarize what was done:

• Workflow mode (trunk, PR, or detached) and resulting bead state — closed (trunk / close-anyway) or left in_progress (PR or detached)
• If a PR was created via the handoff, its URL
• Commit hash and message
• Files changed count
• Any follow-up items noted

Handling Edge Cases

• No in-progress beads: Ask user if they want to complete uncommitted work without a bead, or create one first
• Multiple in-progress beads: List them and ask user to pick
• Clean-code fails repeatedly: After 2 attempts, ask user for guidance
• No changes to commit: use the existing-commit path in §3, then the same classification in §5 and finalization in §6; never close directly from an empty diff.
• Unrelated unstaged changes: Warn user about them; suggest creating a separate bead/commit
• Commit hook fails: Investigate the hook failure, fix the underlying issue, and create a new commit (never amend, never skip hooks)
• Feature branch but non-PR repo: detection assumes PR mode on any feature branch with a remote. If the user knows the repo is trunk-based, use the Close the bead anyway option in §6.
• Detached HEAD: preserve the reported commit with git switch -c {branch-name}; never close the bead while no branch owns the commit.
• PR already exists for this branch: still leave the bead open; /create-pr (or the user) handles the existing PR. Don't open a duplicate.

Rules

• Never use --no-verify or skip git hooks
• Never push to remote yourself — pushing happens via the /create-pr handoff, not in this skill
• Never amend existing commits
• Never close a bead with uncommitted changes
• Never close a bead from a detached HEAD
• In PR mode, do not close the bead — that happens at /create-pr (reopen later if review demands major changes)
• Always stage specific files, never bulk-add
• If any step fails, stop and inform the user rather than forcing through