Work Item Loop

The core orchestration loop that processes work items one at a time.

---

Step 4: Work Item Loop

4.1 Read Design Doc

cat .collab/<name>/documents/design.md

4.2 Parse Work Items

Use

parseWorkItems()

helper to extract items from design doc:

• Find all

  ### Item N:

  sections
• Extract Title, Type, and Status fields
• Return list of work items

See Helper Functions in main collab skill for

parseWorkItems()

implementation.

4.3 Find First Pending Item

pending_item = items.find(i => i.status == "pending")

If no pending items:

All work items documented. Proceeding to validation...

→ Invoke ready-to-implement skill → END (ready-to-implement takes over)

If pending item found: Continue to 4.4

4.4 Update State

Update collab state via MCP:

Tool: mcp__plugin_mermaid-collab_mermaid__update_session_state
Args: {
  "project": "<absolute-path-to-cwd>",
  "session": "<session-name>",
  "currentItem": <item-number>
}

Note:

lastActivity

is automatically updated by the MCP tool.

4.5 Route by Type

If type is

bugfix

:

Processing bugfix: <item-title>
Invoking systematic-debugging for investigation...

→ Invoke skill: collab-compact → Invoke systematic-debugging skill

If type is

task

:

Processing task: <item-title>
Invoking brainstorming for planning...

→ Invoke skill: collab-compact → Invoke brainstorming skill → After brainstorming completes, invoke skill: collab-compact → After collab-compact completes, invoke task-planning skill

If type is

code

:

Processing code: <item-title>
Invoking brainstorming for design...

→ Invoke skill: collab-compact → Invoke brainstorming skill → After brainstorming completes, invoke skill: collab-compact → After collab-compact completes, invoke rough-draft skill (includes feature/refactor/spike work)

4.6 Mark Item Documented

After the invoked skill returns, use patch to update the work item status:

Tool: mcp__plugin_mermaid-collab_mermaid__patch_document
Args: {
  "project": "<cwd>",
  "session": "<name>",
  "id": "design",
  "old_string": "### Item <N>: <title>\n**Type:** <type>\n**Status:** pending",
  "new_string": "### Item <N>: <title>\n**Type:** <type>\n**Status:** documented"
}

This is more efficient than reading and rewriting the entire document.

4.7 Clear Current Item

Update collab state via MCP:

Tool: mcp__plugin_mermaid-collab_mermaid__update_session_state
Args: {
  "project": "<absolute-path-to-cwd>",
  "session": "<session-name>",
  "currentItem": null
}

Note:

lastActivity

is automatically updated by the MCP tool.

4.8 Continue Loop

→ Go back to Step 4.1 (continue processing next pending item)