Project Status

Overview

Get instant project status visibility: active handoffs, recent work, import queue, and git activity.

Use when: Starting a session, returning after time away, checking project state.

Announce at start: "I'm using the project-status skill to show current project status."

What This Skill Does

Aggregates status from multiple sources:

1. Active Handoffs - Work requiring attention (from /docs/handoffs/current/)
2. Recent Sessions - Last 5 work summaries (from /docs/sessions/)
3. Current TODOs - Action items (from /docs/status/TODO-*.md)
4. Import Queue - Files awaiting import (from /imports/)
5. Recent Activity - Last 10 git commits

Operation

Display Project Status

Process:

1. Collect Active Handoffs

   find /Users/anthonybyrnes/PycharmProjects/Python419/docs/handoffs/current -name "*.md" -type f | sort -r
   

   For each handoff:

   • Extract filename
   • Read YAML frontmatter to get creation date
   • Calculate age (days since creation)
   • Extract title from filename

2. List Recent Sessions

   find /Users/anthonybyrnes/PycharmProjects/Python419/docs/sessions -name "SESSION-*.md" -type f | sort -r | head -5
   

   Show last 5 session files

3. Check TODO Files

   ls /Users/anthonybyrnes/PycharmProjects/Python419/docs/status/TODO-*.md 2>/dev/null
   

   Read and display content of TODO files

4. Count Import Queue

   # Inbox
   find /Users/anthonybyrnes/PycharmProjects/Python419/imports/inbox -type f 2>/dev/null | wc -l
   
   # Staged by type
   for type in lbhra ps-lb lbsr08e 419f program-list cota-persistence; do
     find /Users/anthonybyrnes/PycharmProjects/Python419/imports/staged/$type -type f 2>/dev/null | wc -l
   done
   
   # Processing
   find /Users/anthonybyrnes/PycharmProjects/Python419/imports/processing -type f 2>/dev/null | wc -l
   

5. Show Recent Git Activity

   cd /Users/anthonybyrnes/PycharmProjects/Python419
   git log --oneline -10
   

6. Display NEXT_STEPS if exists

   cat /Users/anthonybyrnes/PycharmProjects/Python419/docs/status/NEXT_STEPS.md
   

Output Format

## Project Status - 2025-11-14

### Active Handoffs (2)
- import-coverage-completion
  Created: 2025-11-13 (1 day ago)
  File: docs/handoffs/current/2025-11-13-import-coverage-completion-handoff.md

- formula-correction-audit
  Created: 2025-11-13 (1 day ago)
  File: docs/handoffs/current/2025-11-13-formula-correction-audit-handoff.md

### Recent Sessions (last 5)
- SESSION-2025-11-13-import-coverage-matrix-handoff.md
- SESSION-2025-11-12-import-status-dashboard-mvp.md
- SESSION-2025-11-12-delta-cost-dashboard-mvp.md
- SESSION-2025-11-12-COMPLETE-SUMMARY.md
- SESSION-2025-11-12-autonomous-development.md

### Import Queue
Inbox: 0 files
Staged: 12 files
  - LBHRA: 5
  - PS_LB: 4
  - 419F: 3
Processing: 0 files

### Next Steps
[Content from /docs/status/NEXT_STEPS.md]

### Recent Activity (last 10 commits)
[git log --oneline -10]

Implementation Details

Date Calculation:

from datetime import datetime

def calculate_age(created_date_str: str) -> str:
    """Calculate age in days from YYYY-MM-DD string."""
    created = datetime.strptime(created_date_str, '%Y-%m-%d')
    today = datetime.now()
    delta = today - created
    days = delta.days

    if days == 0:
        return "today"
    elif days == 1:
        return "1 day ago"
    else:
        return f"{days} days ago"

Parse Handoff Filename:

import re

def parse_handoff_filename(filename: str) -> tuple:
    """Extract date and title from handoff filename."""
    # Pattern: YYYY-MM-DD-{title}-handoff.md
    match = re.match(r'(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2})-(.+)-handoff\.md', filename)
    if match:
        date_str = match.group(1)
        title = match.group(2).replace('-', ' ').title()
        return (date_str, title)
    return (None, filename)

Extract YAML Frontmatter:

import re

def extract_frontmatter(content: str) -> dict:
    """Extract YAML frontmatter from markdown file."""
    match = re.match(r'^---\n(.*?)\n---', content, re.DOTALL)
    if match:
        import yaml
        return yaml.safe_load(match.group(1))
    return {}

Usage Example

User: "What's the current project status?"

Assistant: "I'm using the project-status skill to show current project status."

[Runs all collection steps]

Output:

## Project Status - 2025-11-14

### Active Handoffs (2)
- Import Coverage Completion
  Created: 2025-11-13 (1 day ago)
  File: docs/handoffs/current/2025-11-13-import-coverage-completion-handoff.md

- Formula Correction Audit
  Created: 2025-11-13 (1 day ago)
  File: docs/handoffs/current/2025-11-13-formula-correction-audit-handoff.md

### Recent Sessions (last 5)
- SESSION-2025-11-13-import-coverage-matrix-handoff.md
- SESSION-2025-11-12-import-status-dashboard-mvp.md
- SESSION-2025-11-12-delta-cost-dashboard-mvp.md
- SESSION-2025-11-12-COMPLETE-SUMMARY.md
- SESSION-2025-11-12-autonomous-development.md

### Import Queue
Inbox: 0 files
Staged: 12 files
  - LBHRA: 5 files
  - PS_LB: 4 files
  - 419F: 3 files
Processing: 0 files

### Next Steps
[Displays content from NEXT_STEPS.md]

### Recent Activity (last 10 commits)
d5c98fc docs: add comprehensive quick start guide for web UI features
dd025d4 docs: add remaining web UI session summaries and implementation plans
5943b09 docs: add comprehensive session summary for Import Status Dashboard MVP
685f61c feat: complete Task 8 - Import Status Dashboard integration
da09d53 feat: add sortable ImportHistoryTable component
...

Integration

Used by:

• Session startup workflow
• Project handoff preparation
• Status check during development

Depends on:

• /docs/handoffs/current/ - Active handoffs
• /docs/sessions/ - Session summaries
• /docs/status/ - TODO and NEXT_STEPS files
• /imports/ - Import workflow directories
• Git repository - Recent commits

Common Mistakes

Reading deleted files:

• Problem: Try to read files that have been archived
• Fix: Only scan current/ directory, not resolved/ or archive/

Not handling empty directories:

• Problem: Errors when directories are empty
• Fix: Use 2>/dev/null to suppress errors, show "0 files" for empty

Stale git log:

• Problem: Not running from correct directory
• Fix: Always cd to project root before git log

Red Flags

Never:

• Modify any files (read-only operation)
• Run without announcing skill usage
• Skip sections if data is missing (show "0" or "None")
• Cache results (always run fresh)

Always:

• Calculate ages dynamically (not from cache)
• Show absolute file paths
• Handle missing directories gracefully
• Display all sections even if empty