/next-actions — Find Next Actions from KB Database
CRITICAL EXECUTION RULE: Do NOT spawn sub-agents (Task tool) for this skill. Call all MCP tools directly in the main conversation using the mcp__knowledge-base__ prefix. Sub-agents do not have reliable access to the knowledge-base MCP server and will waste time exploring the filesystem instead of making tool calls.Usage
/next-actions [N] [--tag=TAG] [--plan-status=STATUS]Examples:
# Show the next 5 actionable items (default)
/next-actions
# Show the next 3 actionable items
/next-actions 3
# Show the next 10 actionable items
/next-actions 10
# Show next actions for plans that improve testing
/next-actions --tag=testing
# Show next actions for lego-ui plans only
/next-actions --tag=lego-ui
# Show next actions from in-progress plans
/next-actions --plan-status=in-progress
# Combine: next 3 elaboration items from in-progress plans
/next-actions 3 --tag=elaboration --plan-status=in-progressWhat It Does
Queries the KB database (single source of truth) for stories that need action, resolves dependencies at query time, and maps each story's state to the appropriate workflow command.
Inflight work always appears before new work. Stories being actively worked by an agent (active worktree in DB) are excluded entirely.
Parameters
| Parameter | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
N | No | Number of items to return (default: 5) |
--tag=TAG | No | Filter to stories linked to plans with this tag (e.g., testing, lego-ui, elaboration, development, agent-tooling) |
--plan-status=STATUS | No | Filter to stories linked to plans with this status (draft, accepted, stories-created, in-progress, implemented, superseded, archived) |
Priority Order (non-negotiable)
| Rank | Category | States | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Needs QA | ready_for_qa, in_qa | Closest to done — unblock the pipeline first |
| 2 | Needs Fix | failed_qa, failed_code_review, in_review | Something was rejected — fix before starting new work |
| 3 | Needs Code Review | ready_for_review | Dev complete, waiting on review |
| 4 | Needs Dev | ready, in_progress (no active worktree) | Elaborated and ready to implement |
| 5 | Needs Elaboration | backlog (story file exists) | Story seed exists, not yet elaborated |
| 6 | Needs Story Creation | backlog (no story file) | Only a seed — story not yet generated |
Within each rank, sort by priority: critical > high > medium > low.
Execution Steps
Step 1 — Get Active Worktrees
Call mcp__knowledge-base__worktree_list_active directly (no sub-agent):
mcp__knowledge-base__worktree_list_active({})
→ extract list of story_ids where status = 'active' → call these ACTIVE_IDSIf the tool is unavailable, set ACTIVE_IDS = [].
Step 2 — Query the KB Database
Call mcp__knowledge-base__kb_list_stories directly. If --tag or --plan-status were provided, pass them as plan_tag and plan_status:
mcp__knowledge-base__kb_list_stories({
epic: "platform",
states: ["ready_for_qa", "in_qa", "failed_qa", "failed_code_review", "in_review",
"ready_for_review", "ready", "in_progress", "backlog",
"completed", "cancelled", "deferred"],
limit: N,
...(TAG ? { plan_tag: TAG } : {}),
...(PLAN_STATUS ? { plan_status: PLAN_STATUS } : {})
})If the result contains 0 stories, go to Step 6.
Step 3 — Collect N Candidates via mcp__knowledge-base__kb_get_next_story
Call mcp__knowledge-base__kb_get_next_story up to N times directly (no sub-agent), accumulating excluded IDs. Pass plan_tag and plan_status if provided:
# First call — exclude all active worktrees
mcp__knowledge-base__kb_get_next_story({
epic: "platform", include_backlog: true, exclude_story_ids: ACTIVE_IDS,
...(TAG ? { plan_tag: TAG } : {}),
...(PLAN_STATUS ? { plan_status: PLAN_STATUS } : {})
})
→ returns STORY_A
# Second call — exclude active + first result
mcp__knowledge-base__kb_get_next_story({
epic: "platform", include_backlog: true, exclude_story_ids: [...ACTIVE_IDS, "STORY_A"],
...(TAG ? { plan_tag: TAG } : {}),
...(PLAN_STATUS ? { plan_status: PLAN_STATUS } : {})
})
→ returns STORY_B
# ... repeat until N items or no more candidatesStop when mcp__knowledge-base__kb_get_next_story returns story: null or you have N items.
Step 4 — Re-sort by Priority Rank
After collecting candidates, re-sort by the rank table above (QA > Fix > Review > Dev > Elaboration > Creation), then by story priority within each rank:
priority order: critical (1) > high (2) > medium (3) > low (4) > null (5)Important: kb_get_next_story only returns stories in ready or backlog state. Stories in other actionable states (ready_for_qa, failed_qa, failed_code_review, in_review, ready_for_review) must be pulled from the Step 2 kb_list_stories result and added to the candidates list before sorting.
To build the full candidate set:
- From the
kb_list_storiesresult, take all stories in inflight states:ready_for_qa,in_qa,failed_qa,failed_code_review,in_review,ready_for_review - From
kb_get_next_storycalls, collect up to N stories inreadyorbacklogstate - Remove any ACTIVE_IDS from the combined list
- Sort the combined list by rank, then by priority within rank
- Take the top N
Step 5 — Map State to Command
For each story in the sorted list, determine the command based on its state field:
| State | Category | Command Template |
|---|---|---|
ready_for_qa | Needs QA | /qa-verify-story {FEATURE_DIR} {STORY_ID} |
in_qa | Needs QA | /qa-verify-story {FEATURE_DIR} {STORY_ID} |
in_review | Needs Fix | /dev-fix-story {FEATURE_DIR} {STORY_ID} |
failed_code_review | Needs Fix | /dev-fix-story {FEATURE_DIR} {STORY_ID} |
failed_qa | Needs Fix | /dev-fix-story {FEATURE_DIR} {STORY_ID} |
ready_for_review | Needs Code Review | /dev-code-review {FEATURE_DIR} {STORY_ID} |
ready or in_progress | Needs Dev | /dev-implement-story {FEATURE_DIR} {STORY_ID} |
backlog (elaborated) | Needs Elaboration | /elab-story {FEATURE_DIR} {STORY_ID} |
backlog (no story) | Needs Story Creation | /pm-story generate {FEATURE_DIR} {STORY_ID} |
Distinguishing elaborated vs. not: A backlog story is "elaborated" if it has an elaboration artifact in KB. If no elaboration artifact exists, it needs story creation.
Feature directory derivation from story ID prefix:
| Prefix | Feature Directory |
|---|---|
WINT | plans/future/platform/wint |
KBAR | plans/future/platform/kb-artifact-migration |
AUDT | plans/future/platform/code-audit |
TELE | plans/future/platform/telemetry |
INFR | plans/future/platform/infrastructure |
LNGG | plans/future/platform/langgraph-update |
MODL | plans/future/platform/model-experimentation |
LERN | plans/future/platform/learning-loop |
SDLC | plans/future/platform/sdlc-agents |
AUTO | plans/future/platform/autonomous-dev |
WKFL | plans/future/platform/workflow-learning |
If the story record has a story_dir field, use that to derive the feature directory (strip the story ID segment). If the prefix is not found in the table above, use plans/future/platform as the feature directory.
Step 6 — Empty Result
If Step 2 returned 0 stories, report that the KB has no stories:
No stories found in KB database.
Run `/pm-bootstrap-workflow <plan-slug>` to seed stories from a plan.Step 7 — Output
Format the results as a table. If filters were applied, show them in the header. Inflight work appears first (per the rank order):
Next actions (N items):
Filters: tag=testing, plan-status=in-progress ← only if filters were used
| # | Category | Story | Priority | Command |
|---|-------------------|------------------------------------|----------|---------|
| 1 | Needs QA | WKFL-002 — Story title | high | /qa-verify-story plans/future/platform/workflow-learning WKFL-002 |
| 2 | Needs Fix | WINT-0030 — Story title | high | /dev-fix-story plans/future/platform/wint WINT-0030 |
| 3 | Needs Code Review | WKFL-007 — Story title | medium | /dev-code-review plans/future/platform/workflow-learning WKFL-007 |
| 4 | Needs Dev | WKFL-010 — Story title | medium | /dev-implement-story plans/future/platform/workflow-learning WKFL-010 |
| 5 | Needs Elaboration | WKFL-008 — Story title | low | /elab-story plans/future/platform/workflow-learning WKFL-008 |If stories were excluded due to active worktrees, note them below the table:
Excluded (active worktree): WKFL-006, WINT-0100If no unblocked stories exist:
No actionable stories found.
All remaining stories are blocked by unresolved dependencies.
Use `kb_list_stories` to inspect blocked stories.Edge Cases
| Scenario | Behavior |
|---|---|
| DB returns 0 stories | Report KB empty, suggest bootstrap |
| All stories blocked | Report "no actionable stories" with count of blocked |
| Story has no feature prefix match | Use plans/future/platform as feature dir |
| N > available unblocked stories | Return all available (less than N) |
| MCP tools unavailable | Report error and suggest retrying |
mcp__knowledge-base__worktree_list_active fails | Treat ACTIVE_IDS as empty, proceed without exclusion |
Story in in_progress with no active worktree | Treat as Needs Dev (rank 4) |