status command

Command

Show the project's current state at a glance — stage, open tasks, open questions, overrides since the last checkpoint, current branch. Read-only.

Invoke it

Claude Code/ca:status

Codex$ca-status

Pi/ca-status

Availability is read from each shipped host catalog. Preview-only commands are marked on the page.

What it does

A read-only snapshot of project maturity, pipeline progress, open tasks and questions, override count and Git branch. DONE and historical ACCEPTED contribute to implementation completion, with their labels retained. Verification is reported separately: a completed task does not establish a passing check, review or release. Missing state remains unknown.

Drafts do not create a permission wait. The snapshot shows genuine decisions and blocked tasks with their actual reasons, without resolving them or changing files.

Usage

/ca:status

With no arguments, show the snapshot. /ca:status drift routes to the context audit; refreshing documents requires an explicit scoped selection after its report.

Example

> /ca:status

## Project status — YYYY-MM-DD

Stage:            3
Branch:           feature/export
Pipelines:
  export   implementation 4/12 complete (4 DONE); verification pending — resume with /ca:feature "export"
Open tasks:       2
Open questions:   1 ([CONFIRM-11] unresolved)
Overrides since last checkpoint: 2

When to reach for it

A quick glance at where things stand right now. For a full cross-cutting review, use /ca:checkpoint; for a specific question about the project, ask it directly.

audit
task

Route context

Find this entry in the workflow atlas. Compare its related teaching maps, host spelling and context inputs. The exact procedure below remains the owner.

Source

Source — plugins/ca/commands/status.md (v3.7.0)

---
description: Show the project's current state at a glance — stage, open tasks, open questions, overrides since the last checkpoint, current branch. Read-only.
argument-hint: "(none) | drift"
---

# /ca:status — state snapshot

A read-only summary of `.codearbiter/` state. No skill is routed to; no file is modified.

<!-- catalog-command-modes:start -->
## Drift mode

<!-- command-mode:drift legacy-route:context-check -->
With the exact argument `drift`, load and follow
`${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/context-check/SKILL.md`. The audit begins read-only; re-scout or re-baseline may
write only after the user's explicit selection. In drift mode the `context-check` contract governs;
the opening summary and Hard gate below apply only to the no-argument snapshot. With no argument,
continue with the unchanged read-only snapshot below. Reject other arguments rather than treating
them as drift mode.

An initialized refresh is a separate explicit scoped or full selection handled
by that existing owner after its read-only report. Neither this argument nor an
ordinary status snapshot authorizes a write, a create-context retry or marker
reset.
<!-- catalog-command-modes:end -->

## Flow

The orchestrator reads and presents:

1. **Stage** — the `stage:` maturity value from `${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}/.codearbiter/CONTEXT.md` frontmatter.
2. **Pipelines** — every slug in `${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}/.codearbiter/specs/` and `plans/`, preserving
   its existing representation. For HTML, use the installed engine's bounded structured reads
   (`identity`, `index`, symbol-scoped `read`, or `task-context`) through
   `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/includes/artifacts.md`; do not read rendered markup or execute verification
   to obtain status. For Markdown, read its actual status ledger without creating a counterpart.
   Report a spec with no plan, implementation in progress, or implementation complete. Count
   `DONE` and historical `ACCEPTED` toward implementation completion while retaining their
   distinct labels. Show verification separately: pending, failed, unknown, or the recorded result
   and its applicability when available. Completion alone does not establish a passing check,
   current acceptance, review, or release. Report missing/unreadable state as unknown, not complete.
   A draft spec or plan is not awaiting permission. Show a genuine unresolved product decision,
   explicit user checkpoint, or `BLOCKED` stop with its actual reason; status never clears it.
   An interrupted pipeline is resumable via `/ca:feature` — say so on its line.
3. **Open tasks** — resolve the installed `hooks/work.py` through the installed
   helper card: [helper-invocation.md](../includes/helper-invocation.md).
   When `open-tasks.md` exists,
   run `work.py list --limit 1` to check for conflicting owners, then use the
   board's in-flight count if it reports `owner: legacy`
   (top-level `- ` bullets excluding done `- [x]`; the same `_taskboardlib` count the
   statusline and SessionStart hook use).
   Otherwise page `work.py list --limit 64` with its returned `next_offset` and
   `membership_sha256`, up to 256 entries total. Count `queued` and `active`;
   exclude `complete` and `archived`. If the first page reports more than 256
   entries, or a later page remains after the cap, report the count as unknown
   with the total and suggest `work.py list` for selected pages. Stop on an
   unavailable page, changed membership, or an unsafe store and report the
   count as unknown. This cap avoids repeated full-directory scans for one
   display count.
   This selected read is for the explicit status command, not a new native-engine
   call on every statusline or SessionStart frame.
4. **Open questions** — the count of unresolved `[CONFIRM-NN]` placeholders in
   `${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}/.codearbiter/open-questions.md`.
5. **Overrides since last checkpoint** — entries in `${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}/.codearbiter/overrides.log`
   newer than the marker in `${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}/.codearbiter/last-checkpoint`.
6. **Current branch** — from git.

## Output

```
## Project status — YYYY-MM-DD

Stage:            N
Branch:           <current branch>
Pipelines:
  <slug>          implementation 3/7 complete (2 DONE, 1 historical ACCEPTED); verification unknown — resume with /ca:feature "<slug>"
  <slug>          spec present, no plan
Open tasks:       N
Open questions:   N ([CONFIRM-NN] unresolved)
Overrides since last checkpoint: N
```

No specs and no plans → `Pipelines: none`.

If `[CONFIRM-NN]` placeholders are open, surface them — do not resolve them here.

## When NOT to use

- A full cross-cutting review → `/ca:checkpoint`.
- A specific question → ask it directly; no command needed.

## Hard gate

Read-only. MUST NOT modify any file. MUST NOT resolve a `[CONFIRM-NN]` it surfaces. No skill is routed
to by this command.

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