There are exactly two narrow exceptions where you MAY skip the Step 1 mode-choice question. Both must be applied conservatively; if you are not certain an exception applies, you MUST ask.

1. No-op since the last check in this conversation. The most recent CI readiness check in the current conversation already ran, and every change since then is obviously/provably outside the scope of any check the skill performs. Examples that qualify: edits only to comments; edits only to repository agent configuration under .github/skills/; edits only to repo-root README.md / CHANGELOG.md; or edits only to top-level docs not in a docs/* package. Watch out: docs/api/ and similar are themselves workspace packages — markdown inside a workspace package does NOT automatically qualify. If you cannot quickly verify the changed files are outside every workspace package, ask.
2. Explicit standing instruction. The user has explicitly told you — in this conversation or in a saved memory entry — to auto-skip the CI readiness check without asking. Inferred preference, prior approvals of past runs, or general "be less interruptive" guidance does NOT qualify.

If either exception applies, treat it as equivalent to the user picking Skip in Step 1: do NOT ask the mode-choice question, do NOT create CI-readiness tasks/todos, and do NOT run the CI script or any other build/test/API-report steps. Stop the skill after reporting the skip.

When you apply an exception, you MUST explicitly report — every single time, with no abbreviation across repeated runs — that (a) you skipped asking the mode-choice question, (b) the CI readiness check itself was skipped, and (c) which exception applied. Silent skipping is forbidden.

When neither exception applies, ask the user and wait for their response. Immediately after they respond, create one task/todo item per applicable step using the available Copilot task-management tooling — before doing any other work. Mark each task in progress when you start it and completed when you finish. This prevents steps from being silently skipped as context grows.

Tasks to create by mode:

• Check: Run CI script → Review output → Report final status
• Build: Run CI script → Review output → Build unbuilt packages → ESLint auto-fix → Regenerate API reports → API changes review → Run build:docs → Regenerate type tests → Report final status
• Test: same as Build, plus Run tests

For Build/Test: if @fluidframework/tree is among the changed packages and its API surface likely changed, add a "Cascade API reports to aggregator packages" task after "Regenerate API reports".

Omit steps that don't apply (e.g. skip "Build unbuilt packages" if everything is already built; skip "Regenerate API reports" and "Regenerate type tests" if the API surface didn't change). </required>

Step 1: Confirm with the user

Before doing anything, ask the user:

I can run a CI readiness check on your branch. Pick a mode (fastest to slowest):

1. Skip — skip the CI readiness check
2. Check (quick) — auto-fix formatting, policy, and syncpack on changed packages
3. Build — Check + build unbuilt packages + ESLint + regenerate API reports and type tests
4. Test (slower) — Build + run the test suite in changed packages

Wait for the user's response. If they say skip (or anything clearly negative), stop here. Otherwise, note their choice and immediately create tasks for all remaining steps as described in the required block above before proceeding.

Step 2: Run the script

Run the bundled script from the repository root:

bash .github/skills/ci-readiness-check/ci-readiness-check.sh [base-branch]

The base branch defaults to main. Pass a different branch if needed (e.g., next).

The script detects changed packages, installs dependencies if needed, runs fluid-build --task checks:fix (auto-fixing formatting, policy, syncpack, and build version consistency), verifies all checks pass, checks for a changeset, and reports uncommitted changes and build status.

Step 3: Review output

Report to the user: packages changed, what was auto-fixed, any checks still failing, and uncommitted files. Check changeset warnings against the release-group guidance. If API reports changed, use the api-changes skill for details.

If you see unexpected generated artifacts unrelated to the branch's changes (especially in *.api.md files), stale build artifacts from a previous session or the incremental TypeScript bug are likely the cause. For @fluidframework/tree or its aggregator (fluid-framework), a scoped per-package clean is not reliable — you must do a full clean build from the repo root:

# From the repo root — no shortcuts
pnpm clean
pnpm build

The full build includes API report generation for all packages (including the fluid-framework aggregator), so no separate regeneration step is needed. Check the reports afterward — if only your intended changes appear, you're good.

For other packages, a scoped clean may suffice:

cd $PKG && pnpm exec fluid-build . --task clean && pnpm exec fluid-build . --task compile

Then re-run the CI readiness check. Never hand-edit *.api.md files — they are generated artifacts. If they're wrong, rebuild and regenerate.

Check mode stops here — skip steps 4–8 entirely. Note what was skipped in the final report.

Step 4: Handle unbuilt packages (Build and Test only)

cd $PKG && pnpm exec fluid-build . --task compile

Step 5: ESLint auto-fix (Build and Test only)

cd $PKG && pnpm exec fluid-build . -t eslint:fix

eslint:fix ensures compilation is current before linting and uses incremental caching so it's fast when the package is already built. If it fails due to non-auto-fixable errors, note them but continue.

Determining if the public API surface changed

Steps 6 and 7 only run if the public API surface changed. Proceed if: src/index.ts or any entry point (src/alpha.ts, src/beta.ts, src/legacy.ts, src/internal.ts) was modified; any exported type/interface/class/function signature changed; or package.json exports changed. Skip if only tests, internal implementation, comments, or function bodies (not signatures) changed.

Running build:api-reports when nothing changed can introduce spurious diffs — specifically for the @fluidframework/tree and fluid-framework packages, which surface a known incremental TypeScript bug that non-deterministically reorders type unions and can cause other phantom changes. If you see any unexpected API report diffs, do a full clean build from the repo root (pnpm clean && pnpm build) and regenerate. Per-package cleans are not reliable for the tree package. See tree-api-checks.md for details.

Step 6: API reports and cross-package cascade (Build and Test only)

If @fluidframework/tree is among the changed packages and its API surface likely changed, read .github/skills/ci-readiness-check/tree-api-checks.md before proceeding with 6a.

6a. Regenerate API reports

cd $PKG && pnpm exec fluid-build . -t build:api-reports

If API Extractor fails with ae-missing-release-tag, add a TSDoc release tag (@alpha, @beta, @public, or @internal) to the new export, rebuild, then retry.

6b. API changes review

After regenerating reports, check whether any api-report files actually changed:

git diff --name-only HEAD -- | grep api-report

If any api-report files changed, run the api-changes skill. It will classify the changes by release tag, determine whether API Council approval is needed, flag any breaking changes that require process steps, and verify changeset and deprecation requirements.

6c. Run build:docs to catch TSDoc errors

build:api-reports suppresses ae-unresolved-link errors; CI catches these via build:docs. Run for each built changed package with a build:docs script, regardless of API surface change:

cd $PKG && pnpm run build:docs

If you see ae-unresolved-link errors, the {@link} or {@inheritdoc} tag references an ambiguous name. Fix by linking to an unambiguous target. The TSDoc :instance/:static selectors are not supported by this version of API Extractor.

Step 7: Type test regeneration (Build and Test only)

For each built changed package with a typetests:gen script and where the public API surface likely changed:

cd $PKG && pnpm run typetests:gen

Step 8: Run tests (Test mode only)

Run whichever test scripts exist in each built changed package:

cd $PKG && pnpm run test:mocha
cd $PKG && pnpm run test:jest

Skip test:benchmark, test:stress, and test:realsvc — too slow and flaky for a pre-push check. Report all results for the final report even if some fail.

Step 9: Final status

Run git status and report:

1. Files auto-fixed — formatting, policy, ESLint fixes (unstaged; user should review and stage)
2. Generated files updated — API reports, type tests (need to be committed with the PR)
3. Test results — if Test mode, pass/fail per package
4. Remaining issues — anything the skill couldn't auto-fix
5. Skipped checks — anything skipped due to mode choice or unbuilt packages

End with a clear statement: "Your branch is ready to push" or "These issues remain: ..."

If further code changes are made after this check, re-run ESLint and — if the API surface changed — regenerate API reports before pushing.