now-what

The user has lost the thread and asks what is in front of them. Answer in three parts — know, do, decide — from the work itself.

1. Ground

Before writing a line, establish from the thing itself — the tree, or whatever the work produces (a doc, a listing, a setting):

• Where the work stands — the branch, what is committed since the last checkpoint, what is uncommitted, what is mid-flight.
• What the written record says — plan, notes, decision log, handoff. A doc the user named is the target; everything below is scoped to it.
• Which load-bearing claims still hold. A plan, a status line, and whatever either of you said earlier all describe the past; check each against the thing.
• What moved outside the session. If the answer turns on one such fact, ask for that one fact in the reply and answer the rest.