ce-work
The facts
Its description
Execute a plan or concrete work prompt end-to-end. Use when implementing from a plan document, a spec path, or a clear build request; use ce-debug for open-ended bugs. Use when an outer orchestrator needs implementation and local verification only, without the shipping tail.
The description the agent reads to decide when to use it.
When it starts
The agent picks this skill when someone wants a plan document, a spec path, or a clear build request actually implemented and locally verified end-to-end, or when an outer orchestrator needs implementation only and will own the shipping tail. Open-ended bug hunts are pointed at ce-debug instead.
Things a person might say (the model's guesses)
- “Implement the plan at docs/plans/2025-03-02-billing.md”
- “Build the CSV export feature we speced out”
- “Proceed with the plan”
A model's summary of when it is used.
What it takes when started
[Plan path, work description, or recovery request with run id; blank uses latest] | [mode:return-to-caller [implementation_engine:<compact-json>] [implementation_run:<safe-id>] <plan path> for outer orchestrators]
What to type after its name when you start it.
Starts other agents
4 lines mention starting other agents
Lines in the file that mention starting another agent. Found by matching words, so treat them as pointers.
Files it mentions
references/input-triage.md, references/return-to-caller.md, references/workspace-setup.md, references/execution-engines.md, references/cross-model-execution.md (first 5 of 9 lines)
Files the text names, such as ones to read or write. Found by matching words, so treat them as pointers.
What it leads to
- hands off to lfg in return-to-caller mode execution-engines.md, line 60
- calls ce-code-review standalone shipping only shipping-workflow.md, line 29
- calls ce-commit when the user prefers to commit without a PR shipping-workflow.md, line 83
- calls ce-commit-push-pr when no project-defined shipping process applies shipping-workflow.md, line 71
- calls ce-pov only when an important, specific choice needs independent assessment review-findings-followup.md, line 49
- calls ce-simplify-code at phase boundaries with >=30 substantive changed lines implementation-loop.md, line 91
- calls ce-worktree only when the user asked for a worktree this session workspace-setup.md, line 21
- an alternative: ce-brainstorm for large cross-cutting work work-intake.md, line 19
- an alternative: ce-debug for open-ended bugs line 3
- an alternative: ce-plan for large cross-cutting work work-intake.md, line 19
Other skills this one hands off to, calls, requires or offers instead, as a model read them.
What leads to it
- ce-doc-review hands off to this only when the user's existing request authorizes it ce-doc-review/synthesis-and-presentation.md, line 346
- ce-plan hands off to this ce-plan/plan-handoff.md, line 71
- ce-babysit-pr calls this when the user asks for the rework ce-babysit-pr/intake.md, line 49
- ce-worktree calls this when the user picks the worktree option ce-worktree, line 16
- lfg calls this on the plan route lfg, line 39
- ce-brainstorm is an alternative to this when the user redirects to a different workflow ce-brainstorm/synthesis-summary.md, line 122
- ce-optimize is an alternative to this when the change is already known ce-optimize/usage-guide.md, line 42
Other skills that hand off to this one, call it, require it or offer it instead, as a model read them.
Licence
MIT, from LICENSE
The terms its author shares it under, which let it be shown here.
Other files in this skill (25) Close
- references/cross-model-execution.md
- references/execution-engines.md
- references/execution-strategy.md
- references/implementation-loop.md
- references/implementation-result-schema.json
- references/input-triage.md
- references/multi-pr-delivery.md
- references/non-code-execution.md
- references/return-to-caller.md
- references/review-findings-followup.md
- references/shipping-workflow.md
- references/tracker-defer.md
- references/work-intake.md
- references/workspace-setup.md
- references/agents/figma-design-sync.md
- references/agents/implementation-worker.md
- scripts/cross-model-work.sh
- scripts/packs-resolve.py
- scripts/unit-workspace.py
- scripts/unit_workspace_ignored.py
- scripts/unit_workspace_integration.py
- scripts/unit_workspace_jobs.py
- scripts/unit_workspace_lifecycle.py
- scripts/unit_workspace_state.py
- scripts/unit_workspace_transaction.py
The text
Most marks come from matching words in the file, so treat them as pointers.
Work Execution Command
Raw lines 1 to 8Outcome
- Result: A fully implemented, locally verified change set from a plan, specification, or concrete work prompt.
- Next consumer: In standalone use, the shipping workflow takes the verified change through review and delivery. In Return-to-Caller Mode, the invoking workflow receives the structured implementation and verification result and owns its remaining gates.
- Done: Every in-scope task is complete, required verification evidence is recorded, relevant checks pass, and the run reaches either its owned shipping handoff (with a code-review receipt or explicit skip phrase — see Phase 3-4), a complete return result, or an explicit blocker.
- Intent: Finish the requested feature without renegotiating the plan or transferring canonical integration authority. Workers receive bounded units; the host orchestrator inspects actual changes and owns authoritative verification and canonical commits.
Execution Workflow
Bundled references must be read, never approximated. Resolve each reference or script path named below from this skill's loaded SKILL.md directory, using the full skill path the harness supplied, and never glob the target repository to find a bundled file. Read each reference when you enter the phase it governs; a read made before that phase does not satisfy it, and a reference this file says to read again is read again at its step even when already in context. If the harness does not expose the skill directory, or a required file cannot be read, stop before the action it governs and report which file is missing. Do not reconstruct its rules from memory; report the missing reference instead of continuing natively.
Phase 0: Input Triage
Recovery activation comes first. Before classifying the input as a plan, a path, a blank, or a bare prompt, recognize requests to resume, inspect, reap, or clean up an existing run. Recovery never dispatches a new worker, selects a new route, discovers another plan, reruns completed verification, or enters either shipping path. If the run id is missing, ask for it; never guess one.
Before any other input decision, read references/input-triage.md. It decides source resolution, control tokens, recovery, read-only discovery, plan readiness, non-code routing, blank input, and bare-prompt sizing. Three rules from it hold here:
- A bare prompt that is Trivial — one or two files, no behavioral change — skips the task list but still resolves its execution engine before writing. A purely mechanical diff also ships without a post-PR watch. When either is uncertain, take the fuller route.
- A bare prompt that
ce-planalready sized in this session is executed, not planned again. A decision the user would weigh is asked as a question, never as a route back toce-planorce-brainstorm. - If that reference cannot be read, stop; never treat control tokens or a non-executable artifact as code work.
When triage selects Return-to-Caller Mode, read references/return-to-caller.md immediately and record that it governs how this run ends. If it cannot be read, stop before any mutation; do not fall back to standalone behavior.
Phase 1: Quick Start
- Establish the workspace. Before moving branches, editing, dispatching, or committing, read
references/workspace-setup.md. It decides the writable checkout, plan clarification, branch placement, the pre-work inventory, already-dirty files, and task setup. Never write without a writable canonical checkout, and never write on the real default branch unless the user explicitly directed that in this session.
Do not commit or publish anything the user did not offer. When a unit needs a file that was already dirty, standalone mode asks once whether to include or exclude that file. Return-to-Caller Mode neither asks nor edits it; it returns blocked, naming the collision and how to recover.
- Resolve the engine, then strategy. After bounded plan intake and task derivation, but before selecting a unit for execution, writing, dispatching, or committing, read
references/execution-engines.mdand complete its route selection. It applies with or without a typed binding; native execution is eligible only when that reference selects it or exhausts an allowed fallback. The engine choice never changes which reference governs how the run ends.
If cross-model execution is selected, read references/cross-model-execution.md before any content or authority crosses to the other model. It defines controller initialization, the post-init engine lock, bounded egress, transactions, recovery, and receipts.
Before choosing inline, serial, or parallel execution, and before dispatching any worker, read references/execution-strategy.md. It decides scheduling, isolation, the packet each worker receives, worker lifecycle, and integration. The host orchestrator keeps authoritative verification and makes the canonical commits.
Phase 2: Execute
Before the first implementation write, including on the Trivial route, read references/implementation-loop.md. It decides how evidence is chosen, verification, when to stop a unit, incremental commits, following existing patterns, continuous testing, where simplification stops, UI work, progress tracking, and settled decisions.
The commit rule from this file stays in force throughout: every implementation commit names only that unit's owned files. A bare git commit can absorb the user's pre-existing index, so it is forbidden.
Phase 3-4: Quality Check and Finishing Work
After the tasks and local verification are complete, standalone mode reads references/shipping-workflow.md before any quality check or delivery. It decides simplification, code-review receipts and fallbacks, leftover findings, final validation, and delivery.
Code-review completion gate (standalone only). Code review must actually happen before shipping. The run is not done, must not call a commit or shipping skill, and must not report that shipping is complete until the shipping reference has recorded either an actual completed ce-code-review receipt or one of its exact authorized skip states. Never substitute a mental self-review or findings already applied earlier. This rule does not apply in Return-to-Caller Mode.
Return-to-Caller Mode
Return-to-Caller Mode performs implementation and local verification only. It must not enter Phase 3-4 or run final simplification, code review, PR creation, CI watching, babysitting, or any other standalone shipping action; the caller owns those steps.
Immediately before emitting the result, read references/return-to-caller.md again. It alone defines the full return result, the check that evidence is complete, the route and model records, recovery semantics, and standalone_shipping_skipped: true. Do not build a complete result from this file.
If that required read fails after planning or implementation created state, preserve every changed file, commit, workspace, and controller record. Return the minimum blocked result from this file: status: blocked, plan_path, run_id when known, changed_state, blockers naming the missing reference, and recovery_path. Do not erase partial state, report success, or fall into the standalone shipping path.
From EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin at 3449230, 2026-10-31. Skills read by DeepSeek V4.1 Flash on 2026-11-04. Summary and techniques by Claude Opus 5.5 on 2026-11-06.