---
name: pickup
description: Start a work session on a Maven task. Runs task start, reads the brief and the disposable handoff, restates the assumption set, and waits for correction before touching code. Use at the start of any session that continues earlier work, when the user says "pickup", "continue", "resume", or names a Vikunja task id.
---

# Pickup

The point of this skill is the pause in step 5. Every wasted session in this repo
started with an agent that inferred the goal instead of stating it back.

## 0. Get on the branch

```sh
task start <vikunja-id>
```

`~/.local/bin/task` owns the branch, the identity and the PR. It cuts
`task/<id>-<slug>` off `origin/master` and sets the commit author to the `claude`
gitea user. It writes `TASK.md` from the Vikunja task, and pulls any waiting
review comments into `.task/review-comments.md`. Do not hand-roll any of that.

`TASK.md` is the brief and it is immutable. If it says a PR already exists, this
is a review-fix session and not new work. Read the comments first.

## 1. Read the handoff

`HANDOFF.md` at the repo root, if it exists. It is gitignored, it belongs to one
session, and it holds only what is needed to resume. Treat it as a claim from the
previous agent, not as truth. It can be stale or wrong.

If there is no handoff, that is normal. It means the last session closed clean.

## 2. Read the durable state

In this order, and stop as soon as you have enough:

- The Vikunja task, by id. Project Maven is ID 2, MCP at `http://localhost:9100/mcp`.
  The task description and its comments hold the goal, the constraints, and the
  assumption ledger. This outranks the handoff on every conflict.
- `CLAUDE.md`, the section that covers the area you are about to touch.
- The one file under `docs/` that owns the area. Check its `Last verified` line.
  If the sha is behind the code you are reading, say so in step 4 and trust the code.

Do not read the dated files under `docs/evals/`. They are measurements from one day,
never updated. Read one only when you need the number it recorded.

If no task id is known, ask for one before doing anything else. Work without a task
is work nobody can resume.

## 3. Look at the ground

`git status`, `git log --oneline -5`, and the diff on the current branch. What the
repo says beats what any document says.

## 4. Restate, then stop

Write at most five bullets and stop. Do not write code, do not open files to "check
one thing first", do not start with a small safe change.

```
Task:        V-359, one line.
Done:        what is already on the branch.
Next:        the one thing this session does.
Constraints: what would make this wrong.
Assuming:    the beliefs that, if false, waste the session.
```

Then ask: is this right? Wait for the answer.

A corrected assumption goes into the Vikunja task as a comment, not into the handoff.
The handoff dies tonight. The task does not.

## 5. Then begin

- Delete `HANDOFF.md`. It has been consumed and must not outlive this step.
- On master, cut the branch: `scripts/task-branch.sh <id> <slug>`.
- One task per session. When context passes roughly half, run `/wrap` rather than
  pushing on. A compacted session is a session that forgot why it made a choice.