cw-orient

Open every session on live truth, not on a handoff note, a directory name, or what was true last time. Several agents share this one checkout on main; the cheapest bug to avoid is committing a live writer's half-written edit.

This is stage 1 of the loop: orient → cw-slice → cw-gates → cw-dogfood → cw-land → cw-handoff.

When to use

• Starting a session, resuming one, or taking over from another agent.
• A handoff, issue, or plan tells you the state of the repo, verify before trusting it.
• You are about to edit and are not certain what is dirty or who is writing.

Workflow

1. Locate yourself. Checkout, branch, dirt, and how far you are from the remote:

   git rev-parse --show-toplevel && git branch --show-current
   git status --short --branch
   git log --oneline --decorate -10
   

   Agent work happens on main. A detached HEAD or another branch here is a state to reconcile (preserve dirt and stranded commits, compare with origin/main, return to main) before editing; see AGENTS.md § Working rules.

2. Look for stranded work, not lanes. git worktree list and recent branches tell you what may hold unlanded commits. Inventory them; do not start work in one, and do not create one.

   git worktree list
   git branch --sort=-committerdate --format='%(committerdate:short) %(refname:short)' | head -20
   

3. Dirt in this checkout is yours (AGENTS.md, founder 2026-10-22).

   git status --porcelain
   git diff --stat
   

   Check mtimes: a file changed in the last 15 minutes, or one a live session is editing, is mid-edit, ask that writer to commit, and commit the rest yourself in coherent verified groups (cw-land). Never stash, checkout --, reset or clean it.