Workflow Status (the orchestrator's sensor)

One read-only pass that answers, in a single fixed JSON envelope: what exists, what is blocked on what, what is startable right now, and what the recommended next command is. The script is the deterministic producer: scripts/workflow-status.mjs executes the published SENSOR_CORE sequence (steps 1–9 including 6a) and prints the envelope. This skill runs the script, reads the JSON, interprets it against the references below, and prints the human report — it never assembles the envelope by hand.

Turn contract — verify before ending the turn

✓ The script was RUN — `bun scripts/workflow-status.mjs [--json-only]
  [--last-envelope <json|path>] [--compact]` (node is the fallback when bun is
  absent, per the repository's runtime convention); the envelope is the script's
  stdout, never assembled by the model
✓ Nothing was edited, committed, pushed, or created — read-only, always
✓ `next.recommended` is non-bare (carries the unit's slug/NN, never a bare
  `/unit-lane`) AND the script computed it from the unit's resolved status:
  `idea`/`defined` → `/unit-lane <slug>` (or `/unit-lane --fix <n>` for a fix);
  `planned`/`in-progress` → `/execute-phase <NN>` (its triage block is the
  authority; no separate plan-receipt currency check, step 6a)
✓ `detail.crash_recovery` carries a verdict from the decision table and the
  envelope `state` matches it (CLEAN→OK, RESUMABLE→CONTINUE,
  AMBIGUOUS→NEEDS_INPUT)
✓ Every `detail.design_candidates[].next` begins with `/unit-lane `
✓ Every degraded dimension is named in `detail.degradations` as
  `unavailable-<source>-<cause>` — and, when `--last-envelope` was supplied, the
  no-progress guard's `workflow_observations` note is present (never a silently
  repeated bland recommendation)
✓ The envelope is emitted on **every** invocation, including a same-session
  natural-language follow-up about state — never replaced by prose
✓ The human-readable summary is printed, then the machine envelope (the script's
  JSON) is the ABSOLUTE last output

With --json-only, skip the human-readable summary: print the envelope alone.

Compact mode — --compact

--compact emits the same envelope with repository history dropped (~half the bytes on a mature repo); the exact keep/drop set is in envelope fields.

When to use

• Between orchestration steps: an external driver runs it to decide the next command and model tier without parsing prose.
• Before picking work manually: "what can I start right now?"
• Not for judging quality (review-change/audit-pr) or product health (product-audit) — this skill reports state, it never judges.

Step 0 — Discover the project (always first)

Per the agent guide's Workflow conventions + documentation map. The script reads what THIS skill needs (the location index docs/ROADMAP.md — its ## Features and ## Fixes tables — every in-flight feature folder's TASKS.md + progress.md and its findings carrier — SPEC.md ## Findings + ## Log for a migrated unit (issue #308), review-findings.md for a legacy one — and docs/workflow/REPOSITORY_STATE.md); read them yourself only to interpret a field the script emitted.

Progressive loading — fixed sensor route

The reference allowlist is exactly the seven linked paths below. Never invent or read another references/ path. This skill is a read-only sensor.

1. sensor core — the sequence the script executes
2. crash recovery
3. envelope core
4. envelope fields
5. pre-execution evidence
6. guardrails

Add sensor signals only when a unit, issue, finding, or recommendation exists; an empty project skips that file but still emits the empty shapes defined by envelope fields. Add portability only when the platform actually lacks a named primitive. --json-only does not skip any baseline file.

Portability

The sensor uses repository and forge commands only. When a named agent feature is unavailable, follow portability without changing the JSON contract.

Relationship to other skills

• The sensor counterpart to advance's conductor: an external orchestrator (or advance itself) calls workflow-status → routes on the envelope → invokes unit-lane / execute-phase / review-change / audit-pr / triage-issue directly, choosing the model per step — the same loop without the in-agent autopilot.
• Read-only sibling of audit-docs (which judges coherence and can fix) and product-audit (which judges health): this one only reports state.
• Schema owner: orchestration-envelope (internal).

Done when

• The script ran and every claim in the report comes from its envelope — nothing inferred from memory, nothing assembled by hand.
• detail.design_candidates, detail.features, detail.fixes, detail.startable_now, detail.blocked_units, detail.open_prs, detail.untriaged_issues, detail.urgent, detail.degradations, and detail.crash_recovery were read from the envelope, and the envelope state matches the crash-recovery verdict.
• With --last-envelope supplied: the no-progress guard ran — a stalled /unit-lane hint surfaces as a workflow_observations note, never a silent bland repeat, with no new write path introduced.
• The human summary (unless --json-only) and the envelope are printed, envelope last.
• Nothing was modified anywhere.
• When the envelope carries next.continuation, the next-command echo quotes the emitted next.continuation (rendering for display), never author exact command tokens; the human-facing prose → Next: block below stays.

→ Next: the envelope's next.recommended command — it is computed from the actual state, so it IS the recommendation · a human overview → read the printed table · orchestrating programmatically → parse the script's JSON