Choosing a Workflow
The root router of the workflow family in packages/pi-thinkrail-workflow. It classifies new
workflow-eligible work and names the workflow skill that governs it — nothing more. Work already routed
resumes its active workflow instead. A routed skill's steps live in that skill alone; read it, don't run
it from memory.
Classify
For a new piece of work, read the request and use what is already known to answer three questions:
- Is this project onboarding? No spec graph yet — an empty or effectively empty workspace where
the user brings a raw idea, or an existing codebase being set up or specced for the first time.
- Is this the PR lifecycle? Finished work shipping as a pull request, or an existing PR being
tended — created, brought up to date, given screenshots, its checks watched, or its review comments
addressed. Fixes that flow from a PR's own review comments belong here.
- Does the work change what the product does? A new feature, a change in behavior, or a bug
fix — however small, and even when the request already spells out the design. A detailed request
shortens the interview; it never skips it.
If none applies, no workflow is needed: proceed directly without a workflow announcement. Only work
that changes no behavior belongs here: a non-PR question, explanation, or check; a typo, documentation, or
configuration-only edit; a mechanical refactor such as a rename.
If the route is genuinely ambiguous from the request alone, ask one short clarifying question
(ask_user_question, composed per the asking-user-questions concept skill) rather than guessing.
Route
| Classification | Route |
|---|
| Project onboarding — no spec graph yet | Read and follow setting-up-a-project |
| PR lifecycle work | Read and follow shipping-a-pr |
| A feature, behavior change, or bug fix | Read and follow brainstorming |
| None of the above | No matching workflow; proceed directly without announcing the routing result |
One route per piece of work. If a request bundles unfinished implementation with PR work, route the
implementation first and return to shipping-a-pr only after it lands.
Red flags — stop and re-route
- You started implementing a feature, behavior change, or bug fix without going through
brainstorming.
- "It's small" or "the request is already specific" — neither is a reason to skip; the workflow
scales down, it does not switch off.
- You loaded brainstorming for work that changes no behavior (a rename, a typo, a question).
- You re-entered this router while continuing work already assigned to a workflow.
- You are following a routed skill's steps from memory instead of reading that skill.
Handoff
This skill ends by naming exactly one of: setting-up-a-project, shipping-a-pr,
brainstorming, or no matching workflow (proceed directly). Adding a workflow to the family
adds a row to the table above — see the writing-workflow-skills skill.