next-feature

Prompt file imported from dougis-org/dnd-tracker (.github/prompts/next-feature.prompt.md). Copyright stays with the author.

Overview

This command selects the next eligible feature marked "Planned" in docs/Feature-Roadmap.md, confirms with the user, changes its status to "In Progress", creates a single feature branch, and returns instructions to run /speckit.specify.

PRECONDITIONS (MANDATORY)

1. Prepare the working directory:
   • Stash any uncommitted work on current branch: git stash
     • Only run the stash if you have unsaved work
   • Checkout main: git checkout main
   • Pull latest from remote: git pull origin main
   • This ensures agent is working with the latest roadmap

EXECUTION WORKFLOW

1. Read Feature Roadmap Table:

   • Open docs/Feature-Roadmap.md
   • Scan the feature table from top to bottom
   • Identify rows where Status = "Planned"

2. Check Dependencies (CRITICAL):

   • For each "Planned" feature found, read its Dependencies column
   • Verify ALL listed dependencies have Status = "Complete" or "Shipped"
   • If any dependency is not complete, skip this feature and continue scanning
   • The first "Planned" feature with ALL dependencies satisfied is the candidate

3. Present Feature for Confirmation:

   • Extract from candidate row:

     • FEATURE_NUMBER (roadmap feature #)
     • Feature description/title
     • Generate BRANCH_NAME: feature/[NUMBER]-[short-name] (2-4 word hyphenated name)

   • Display to user:

     Selected next feature:
     
     Feature #[NUMBER]: [Title]
     Description: [feature description from roadmap]
     Branch: [BRANCH_NAME]
     Short Name: [short-name]
     
     Proceed? (yes/no)
     

   • Wait for user confirmation

   • If user says "no" or "wait", stop and ask what they prefer

   • If user says "yes" or "proceed", continue to step 4

4. Update Roadmap Status (CRITICAL - TWO PLACES):

   PART A: Update the Feature Summary Table (top of roadmap):

   • Find the row for Feature [NUMBER] in the "Feature Summary" table
   • Change the Status cell from "Planned" to "In Progress"
   • Keep all other columns unchanged

   PART B: Update the Feature Detail Section (body of roadmap):

   • Find the "### Feature [NUMBER]: [Title]" section matching the selected feature
   • Update the Status line: Change from "Status: Planned" to "Status: In Progress"
   • Add the Branch line: **Branch**: [BRANCH_NAME]
   • Add the Spec Location line: **Spec Location**: specs/[FEATURE_NUMBER]-[short-name]/

   Example - Before:

   ### Feature 003: Landing Page & Marketing Components
   
   **Depends on**: Feature 001, Feature 002
   **Duration**: Day 2
   

   Example - After:

   ### Feature 003: Landing Page & Marketing Components
   
   **Status**: In Progress
   **Branch**: feature/003-landing-page
   **Spec Location**: specs/003-landing-page/
   **Depends on**: Feature 001, Feature 002
   **Duration**: Day 2
   

   • Save docs/Feature-Roadmap.md
   • Stage and commit both changes: git add docs/Feature-Roadmap.md && git commit -m "docs: mark feature #[NUMBER] as In Progress with branch [BRANCH_NAME]"

5. Push Roadmap Update (MANDATORY):

   • Push to origin/main: git push origin HEAD:main
   • Verify push succeeded by running:

     git fetch origin main
     git show origin/main:docs/Feature-Roadmap.md | grep -n "In Progress" | grep "\[NUMBER\]" || true

   • If the update is NOT visible on origin/main, abort with: ERROR: roadmap not pushed to origin/main; aborting.

6. Create Feature Branch (MANDATORY RULES):

   • Branch name format: feature/[NUMBER]-[short-name]
   • Create and push: git checkout -b [BRANCH_NAME] && git push -u origin [BRANCH_NAME]
   • Do NOT create additional branches
   • If branch already exists on remote, abort: ERROR: branch already exists on remote: [BRANCH_NAME]

7. Return Output:

   • BRANCH_NAME: the created feature branch name

   • FEATURE_NUMBER: roadmap feature number

   • SHORT_NAME: the hyphenated short name used in branch

   • Next command to run: /speckit.specify.md FEATURE_NUMBER=$FEATURE_NUMBER BRANCH_NAME=$BRANCH_NAME SHORT_NAME=$SHORT_NAME

   • Display to user:

     Feature #[NUMBER]: [Title]
     Description: [feature description from roadmap]
     Branch: [BRANCH_NAME]
     Short Name: [SHORT_NAME]
     
     Please now run
     /speckit.specify FEATURE_NUMBER=[FEATURE_NUMBER] BRANCH_NAME=[BRANCH_NAME] SHORT_NAME=[SHORT_NAME]