/ship

Invoking /ship authorizes every step below unprompted: archive, checkpoint, walk, merge, remote-branch deletion, sync, the pull-in with any save a task needs, and safe picks. Confirm anything else (a force push, --no-verify, git reset --hard, checkout .) in the shared ask format.

The change loop owns the record, the pull-in, and the gate. main means the default branch.

Each command ends with a NEXT: line; follow it:

SHIP="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/.claude/skills/ship/scripts/ship.mjs"
node "$SHIP" prepare --change "$CHANGE_NAME"
node "$SHIP" finish

Step 1 — preflight

Attached review notes → apply them to the existing change first, then keep publishing.

Check preconditions, then run prepare. Uncommitted changes on the default branch go on in the same tree; Step 3's save cuts the feature branch.

The pull-in: nothing to ship yet

Invoke the apply skill, saying it runs inside /ship, then go to Step 2 in the same tree.

• /ship <intent> → pass the intent verbatim.
• No argument → invoke /apply bare when its resolve order lands before sole-active, or the session states clear intent with no change yet.
• The cold stop. Landing on sole-active or nothing → say there is nothing to continue and /ship <intent> starts a new change, then stop: a cold /ship never publishes the only open plan.

/plan pauses, tasks stay pending, or a task-driven /save fails or is unverifiable → report the blocker and stop before Step 2: no verb merges to stop.

Work that changes no repo file finishes in /apply: say so in one line and stop; no git change.

Step 2 — archive the change

Run node .claude/skills/explore/scripts/step-title.mjs set SHIP --task "<plan title>", again after each apply until finish merges, then set DONE. CHANGE_NAME is separate from BRANCH. Pass --change for a change the person or this chat named; without it prepare picks by the rungs. None selects → follow NEXT:; a new change comes from the new-plan fallback.

prepare archives by the CLI contract, which owns --skip-specs, after two stops:

• Other changes the branch adds → rerun with --move-others; --allow-others only if the person asked to ship all.
• Unchecked tasks → invoke apply for that change inside /ship, then rerun; still pending → report and stop.

Step 3 — delegate the checkpoint to /save

prepare numbers the ## Next changelog entry, merging main first when behind, then reruns the local checks: allow 15 minutes. NEXT: carries any repair.

Invoke the save skill once (plus one after Step 4's fix) as ordinary /save inside /ship and follow it verbatim, with prepare's CHANGE and ARCHIVE if any. Proceed only on SUCCESS or NONE. Any other result → stop before merge and report /save's reason; never repeat, bypass, or reinterpret the gate.

Step 4 — verify the preview (evidence, not a gate)

Invoke verify once with Step 3's exact checkpoint receipt, plus one with the fix's receipt, never for a better verdict. No verify skill → say so in one line and go on; never install it.

Any verdict but FAILURE → report it and merge. FAILURE after /verify's own fixes → one fix: apply inside /ship with ARCHIVE and the failures, then /save as in Step 3, and verify. Still FAILURE, or the fix must stop → say what fails and ask: fix more (Recommended), or publish anyway, recorded. If the walk's fixes, or its one /save of kept checks, advanced HEAD, merge that commit only when that /save returns SUCCESS or NONE.

Step 5 — merge and sync

Run finish once; allow 12 minutes. It merges the gated commit, promotes deferred secret edits, closes the plan's Inbox page, and looks at the live app. A skipped sync, a secrets error, or PLAN_PAGE=skipped is one report line, never a failed ship. Not merged → report the error and stop, unless NEXT: gives a recovery; then finish again only on SUCCESS or NONE.

Merge, not rebase, unless asked. Never check out, switch, stash, reset, or force a branch to make the sync succeed, or delete a local branch.

Look at the live app

LIVE_LOOK=ok/unknown → REASON as one report line. failed → say what fails, then invoke apply once with REASON and URL as the request; it ends at its preview and publish it?. No retry or revert.

Step 6 — report

Lead with the outcome in plain words: it is live, what changed for the person, the live link, then the plan's link to the archived review.html. Always add Checks loosened, each Check: bullet in the archived Decision log, and Choices I made, each Assumed line this ship added and each MOVED= plan, one plain line each; omit when none. Only when asked, add finish's and /save's lines, the archive path, the walk's verdict and evidence (a merged-anyway FAILURE says the person chose it), and the secret key names.

Then end by next work. A failed live look, or a /ship that /close invoked, does not close.