workbench-work-items

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Work item management for Workbench CLI. Use when creating, updating, linking, or closing work items and tracking execution status.

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[Project Management]

When & Why to Use This Skill

The workbench-work-items skill provides a robust framework for managing the lifecycle of development tasks within the Workbench CLI. It streamlines the software development process by enabling developers to create, track, and close work items while maintaining a direct link between code changes and essential planning artifacts like ADRs and specifications, ensuring a well-documented and organized workflow.

Use Cases

  • Task Lifecycle Management: Efficiently create new tasks, update their progress from 'draft' to 'done', and move completed items to archival directories to maintain a clean and organized workspace.
  • Technical Documentation Integration: Link work items directly to Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), product specifications, and Pull Requests to ensure full traceability of technical decisions and implementation details.
  • Workflow Standardization: Enforce project guardrails by requiring work items for every meaningful change, ensuring that status reports and project boards remain accurate, reliable, and synchronized with actual development progress.
nameworkbench-work-items
descriptionWork item management for Workbench CLI. Use when creating, updating, linking, or closing work items and tracking execution status.

Key settings

  • .workbench/config.json: paths.itemsDir, paths.doneDir, ids.width, prefixes, git.branchPattern.
  • Status values: draft, ready, in-progress, blocked, done, dropped.

Core workflows

  1. Ensure planning artifacts exist (specs, ADRs, architecture docs) before major work.
  2. Create a work item and set its initial status.
  3. Link related specs, ADRs, files, PRs, or issues.
  4. Update status and close work items when done.

Commands

Create a task:

workbench item new --type task --title "Do the thing" --status draft --priority medium --owner platform

Update status:

workbench item status TASK-0001 in-progress --note "started implementation"

Close and move to done:

workbench item close TASK-0001 --move

Link docs or PRs:

workbench item link TASK-0001 --spec /docs/10-product/spec.md --adr /docs/40-decisions/ADR-YYYY-MM-DD-title.md --pr https://github.com/org/repo/pull/1

Output

  • Work items in docs/70-work/items (active) and docs/70-work/done (closed).
  • Linked docs and external artifacts tracked in front matter.

Guardrails

  • Use a work item for every meaningful change and link the supporting docs.
  • Keep status accurate so reports and boards stay reliable.
  • If a decision happens during work, update/create the ADR and link it.