detect-task

Detect Active Task

Parse current git branch to find the active beads task ID. Used by commands that need to know which task is in progress.

IMPORTANT: If the spec below invokes any deferred tool (e.g. AskUserQuestion), you MUST load and call it as specified. Never skip the call, never substitute a default answer of your own — the tool invocation is part of the contract. This is critical.

Why This Exists

10+ commands need to detect the active task from branch name. This skill centralizes the logic so branch format changes are updated in one place.

Detection Flow

Step 1: Parse Branch Name

BRANCH=$(git branch --show-current)

Extract beads task ID from branch name. Formats:

• feature/<task-id>-<slug> - standard LETS branches
• worktree-<task-id>-<slug> - worktree branches
• worktree-<custom-name> - no task ID, use fallback

Beads ID pattern: <prefix>-<alphanum>[.<number>] Examples: lets-abc, lets-abc.1, proj-xyz.42

Step 2: Fallback

If branch parse finds no ID:

bd list --status=in_progress --format=ids 2>/dev/null | head -1

Step 3: Multiple Tasks

If fallback returns multiple tasks - behavior depends on the caller:

• commit: AskUserQuestion to pick task or "None"
• done: AskUserQuestion to pick task to close
• review/check/opinion/ask: skip beads comment if ambiguous
• note: AskUserQuestion to pick task to add note to

The calling command specifies what to do when ambiguous.

Output

Returns one of:

• Task ID (string) - found active task
• None - no task detected, caller decides how to handle

Integration

Internal skill used by most commands that need task detection. See: grep -r "detect-task" commands/ for current usage.