start-feature
Commit or stash current work, then start a new feature using worktree workflow. Use when beginning work on a new story or feature, ensures clean state before starting new work.
When & Why to Use This Skill
The start-feature skill streamlines the developer workflow by automating Git state management and initializing new feature development. It eliminates the friction of context switching by ensuring a clean working directory—offering options to commit, stash, or discard pending changes—before seamlessly invoking an AI Dev agent to begin a new worktree-based task. This tool is essential for maintaining repository hygiene and preventing accidental data loss during rapid feature iterations.
Use Cases
- Scenario 1: Safely pausing current progress on a bug fix to start a high-priority feature without manually managing Git stashes or branches.
- Scenario 2: Ensuring a standardized, clean environment before triggering AI-driven code generation for new user stories or tasks.
- Scenario 3: Automating the repetitive 'git status', 'git add', and 'git commit' sequence when transitioning between different development workstreams.
- Scenario 4: Reducing manual overhead for developers using worktree workflows by combining state preservation and agent invocation into a single command.
| name | start-feature |
|---|---|
| description | Commit or stash current work, then start a new feature using worktree workflow. Use when beginning work on a new story or feature, ensures clean state before starting new work. |
/start-feature - Commit and Start New Feature
Description
Commits or stashes current work, then invokes the Dev agent to start a new feature using the worktree workflow.
Usage
/start-feature
What It Does
Step 1: Check Git Status
git status --porcelain
Step 2: Handle Uncommitted Changes
If there are uncommitted changes:
Ask user:
⚠️ You have uncommitted changes. What would you like to do?
1. Commit changes
2. Stash changes
3. Discard changes (dangerous!)
4. Cancel
Option 1: Commit Changes
# Show current changes
git status
# Ask for commit message
# User provides: "WIP: feature implementation"
# Stage all changes
git add -A
# Commit
git commit -m "{user_message}"
# Push to current branch
git push origin HEAD
Option 2: Stash Changes
# Ask for stash message (optional)
# User provides: "WIP on gallery feature"
# Stash with message
git stash push -m "{user_message}"
# Confirm
echo "✅ Changes stashed. Use 'git stash pop' to restore."
Option 3: Discard Changes
# Warn user
echo "⚠️ WARNING: This will permanently delete all uncommitted changes!"
echo "Are you sure? (yes/no)"
# If yes:
git reset --hard HEAD
git clean -fd
echo "✅ All changes discarded."
Option 4: Cancel
❌ Operation cancelled. Your changes are untouched.
Step 3: Invoke Dev Agent
After changes are handled (or if there were no changes):
✅ Working directory is clean!
Invoking Dev agent to start new feature...
@dev
*start-work
Then the Dev agent takes over and runs the start-worktree-from-story task.
Benefits
✅ Safe Workflow - Never lose uncommitted work ✅ Clean State - Start new features from clean working directory ✅ One Command - Handles commit + agent invocation ✅ Flexible - Choose commit, stash, or discard ✅ Seamless - Automatically transitions to Dev agent
Notes
- This is a slash command (one-shot operation)
- After handling changes, it invokes the Dev skill (
@dev) - The Dev skill then runs the
*start-workcommand - This creates a smooth transition from current work to new feature