help
Help
Read the current repo state and recommend the next pipeline step. This skill does not do any work itself — it orients the user by pointing to the right next skill, citing the state it observed so the recommendation can be overruled.
This is the front door for users who are returning to a repo after a break, onboarding to Skill Kit for the first time, or stuck mid-pipeline and unsure which skill to invoke next.
Invocation Position
This is a side-route skill. It reconnects to the main pipeline at whichever skill the diagnosis points to.
Use /help when:
- The user is starting a session in a repo that already uses Skill Kit and wants to know where they are in the pipeline
- The user has been away from a feature for a while and needs a refresher on what state the work is in
- A new team member is learning the pipeline and wants guidance rather than reading all of
references/SYSTEM-OVERVIEW.md - The user explicitly asks "what should I do next?" or "where am I?"
Do not use /help:
More from chrislacey89/skills
pre-merge
Primary pipeline review step after verified implementation. Use to create a PR with lineage and run architectural review before merge. Not for QA intake, planning, or implementation work.
22execute
Primary pipeline execution step after /prd-to-issues or for clearly scoped implementation work. Use to build, verify, and commit a concrete slice, delegating to /tdd for backend work and behavior-heavy frontend logic when red-green-refactor will reduce risk. Not for shaping or pre-merge review.
21write-a-prd
Primary pipeline shaping step after /research and before /prd-to-issues. Use when the problem is understood well enough to turn into a bounded PRD issue. May invoke /design-an-interface or /api-design-review when interface or contract uncertainty remains. Not for discovery, decomposition, or implementation-ready work.
14research
Primary pipeline step after /shape and before /write-a-prd. Use to verify current docs, versions, repo patterns, and key unknowns before shaping. Invokes /api-design-review when API contract risk is high. Not for underdefined problems or implementation-ready work.
13prd-to-issues
Primary pipeline decomposition step after /write-a-prd. Use when a shaped PRD is ready to become implementation-ready slices with boundary maps and dependency order. Not for unresolved scope, appetite, or solution direction.
13improve-pipeline
Optional meta-skill for improving `chrislacey89/skills` from real-world friction or breakdowns discovered while using the pipeline in another repo. Use when the main lesson is about the pipeline itself, not the downstream project. Grounds proposals in established software-engineering guidance from `/library`. Produces a GitHub issue in `chrislacey89/skills` and only moves to implementation after review.
12