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T-SW5E-worktree-init-verifies-clean-checkout

Status: closed/superseded · Impact: medium · Complexity: small

AUTO-DEFINED: this spec was best-effort machine-authored by /sdlc:task-auto-define on 2026-07-18 because the task is autonomy: autonomous/pr. Review the Goal, Approach, Today, Files-to-touch, and Acceptance-criteria carefully before trusting it.

Goal

Section titled “Goal”

A fresh task worktree can arrive dirty, and nothing in task-work Step 4 notices — the dirt surfaces later as a mysterious quality-gate failure the implementer must diagnose mid-task. From the originating post-mortem:

A fresh task worktree arrived with a broken uncommitted block comment (a path/**/*.ts glob whose */ terminated the comment) that failed typecheck; origin unclear. task-work Step 4 should verify the fresh worktree is clean (git status --porcelain empty) right after git worktree add and again after running the worktree_init verbs, failing loud with a diagnostic instead of letting inherited dirt surface later as a mysterious quality-gate failure.

— T-2KK8-capability-kind-grains-and-locations

Today

Section titled “Today”
LocationRole today
apps/sdlc/skills/task-work/SKILL.mdStep 4 (”## 4. Create the worktree” and ”### Initialize the worktree”) runs git worktree add and then the worktree_init verbs via sdlc quality run --key worktree_init --allow-empty. Neither point checks the worktree is clean, so inherited dirt surfaces later as a mysterious Step 7 quality-gate failure.
docs/skills/task-work.mdPer-skill doc; flowchart node S4 describes Step 4 as “Create the worktree + run worktree_init verbs” with no mention of a cleanliness gate.

Proposed

Section titled “Proposed”

Step 4 gains two fail-loud cleanliness verifications: one immediately after git worktree add, one immediately after the worktree_init executor returns. Each runs git status --porcelain in the fresh worktree and, when output is non-empty, stops the run with a diagnostic that prints the dirty paths and names which stage introduced them (present at creation vs. introduced by the init verbs) instead of proceeding to Step 5.

Approach

Section titled “Approach”
  1. In apps/sdlc/skills/task-work/SKILL.md Step 4, immediately after the git worktree add command block, add a short “verify the fresh worktree is clean” instruction: run git -C .sdlc/worktrees/<basename> status --porcelain and expect empty output. Non-empty output is a hard error — print the porcelain lines, state the dirt was present at worktree creation (inherited, e.g. from hooks or copy artifacts), and stop before Step 5.
  2. In ”### Initialize the worktree”, after the executor’s exit-0 outcome, add the second check: re-run the same git status --porcelain probe. Non-empty output now implicates the declared worktree_init verbs — print the porcelain lines plus the verb list from sdlc.yaml, and stop before Step 5.
  3. Word both checks per the house rules in apps/sdlc/skills/CLAUDE.md: gate on the bare command (no pipe that would mask output or exit code), positive framing, and keep each added block to a few constraints so Step 4’s constraint density stays within the S-0006 cap.
  4. Update docs/skills/task-work.md (flowchart node S4 and its Step 4 prose) to mention the two cleanliness verifications so the per-skill doc stays in lockstep with the skill.
  5. Verify: run the repo quality checks from sdlc.yaml (bunx tsc --noEmit and the scoped bun test, which includes the skill-prose contract test apps/sdlc/lib/services/gate/ops/_skill_prose_contract.test.ts) and confirm both new checks appear in Step 4 by re-reading it.

Files to touch

Section titled “Files to touch”
LocationKindChange
apps/sdlc/skills/task-work/SKILL.mdmodifyAdd the two fail-loud git status --porcelain cleanliness checks to Step 4: after git worktree add and after the worktree_init executor.
docs/skills/task-work.mdmodifyReflect the new Step 4 cleanliness gate in flowchart node S4 and the surrounding prose.

Acceptance criteria

Section titled “Acceptance criteria”
  • AC-1: apps/sdlc/skills/task-work/SKILL.md Step 4 instructs a git status --porcelain check immediately after git worktree add, with non-empty output a hard stop that prints the dirty paths.
  • AC-2: Step 4 instructs a second git status --porcelain check after the worktree_init executor returns, and its diagnostic distinguishes dirt introduced by the init verbs from dirt present at creation.
  • AC-3: Neither new check pipes the gated command through a filter (grep -n "porcelain" apps/sdlc/skills/task-work/SKILL.md shows both occurrences unpiped), per “Don’t pipe commands you gate on” in apps/sdlc/skills/CLAUDE.md.
  • AC-4: docs/skills/task-work.md mentions the Step 4 cleanliness verification.
  • AC-5: bunx tsc --noEmit and the scoped bun test from sdlc.yaml pass on the branch.

Out of scope

Section titled “Out of scope”
  • A new sdlc CLI verb or co-located script for the check — two bare git status --porcelain probes in prose don’t warrant deterministic tooling yet.
  • Auto-remediating a dirty worktree (git checkout -- . / git clean) — the step fails loud; remediation stays with the operator.
  • Diagnosing the original broken-block-comment source reported in T-2KK8-capability-kind-grains-and-locations.
  • Changes to worktree_init verb discovery (/sdlc:find-worktree-init) or to the sdlc quality run executor itself.

Dependencies

Section titled “Dependencies”
  • none

Discovery context

Section titled “Discovery context”

Spawned by /sdlc:spawn-task-pr on 2026-07-18 UTC from T-2KK8-capability-kind-grains-and-locations in https://github.com/sksizer/dev.

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