Smart Reopen Detector

Purpose

When you report an issue with recently completed work, I'll automatically:

• 🔍 Scan your recent work (active + completed in last 7 days)

• 🎯 Identify related items using keyword matching

• 💡 Suggest what to reopen with relevance scoring

• ⚠️ Check WIP limits before suggesting reopen

When I Activate

I automatically activate when you mention these keywords:

• Not working: "not working", "broken", "failing", "error", "crash"

• Quality issues: "bug", "issue", "problem", "wrong", "incorrect", "missing"

• Regressions: "still broken", "regression", "broken again", "came back"

How I Help

Example 1: Issue Report

User: "The GitHub sync isn't working, it was just completed yesterday"

I'll respond with:

🔍 Scanning recent work...

Found 2 related item(s) in recent work:

📦 INCREMENT: 0031-external-tool-status-sync Increment: 0031-external-tool-status-sync Completed: 2 days ago Relevance: 15 points Matched: github, sync

✓ TASK: T-003 GitHub Content Sync Increment: 0031-external-tool-status-sync Completed: 1 day ago Relevance: 14 points Matched: github, sync

💡 Suggested action: /sw:reopen 0031-external-tool-status-sync --reason "GitHub sync not working"

Would you like me to:

1. Reopen the entire increment (checks WIP limits)
2. Reopen just task T-003 (targeted fix)
3. Show me the WIP status first

Example 2: Specific Feature Broken

User: "The authentication is broken after the recent deployment"

I'll respond with:

🔍 Scanning recent work...

Found 3 related item(s) in recent work:

✓ TASK: T-012 Authentication Service Increment: 0025-user-auth Completed: 3 days ago Relevance: 10 points Matched: authentication

✓ TASK: T-014 JWT Token Validation Increment: 0025-user-auth Completed: 3 days ago Relevance: 7 points Matched: authentication

💡 Suggested action: /sw:reopen 0025-user-auth --task T-012 --reason "Authentication broken after deployment"

⚠️ Note: Increment 0025 was completed 3 days ago. Consider checking deployment config first.

Example 3: No Recent Work Found

User: "The payment flow is not working"

I'll respond with:

🔍 Scanning recent work...

🔍 No related work found in recent activity (last 7 days)

The payment functionality might be:

1. From an older increment (>7 days ago)
2. Not yet implemented
3. Part of external dependencies

Would you like me to:

1. Search all increments (not just recent)
2. Create a new bug increment for investigation
3. Check the backlog for related work

What I Do

Step 1: Extract Keywords

From your message, I extract relevant keywords:

• Feature names (authentication, github, payment)

• Action words (sync, deploy, validate)

• Component names (api, database, frontend)

Step 2: Scan Recent Work

I scan:

• ✅ Active increments (currently being worked on)

• ✅ Recently completed (last 7 days)

• ✅ All tasks from these increments

Step 3: Score Matches

I assign relevance scores using:

• +10 points: Exact match in title/ID

• +7 points: Partial match in title

• +5 points: Match in increment ID

• +3 points: Match in description/AC

Step 4: Suggest Actions

I provide:

• Top matches (up to 5)

• Relevance scores

• Suggested /sw:reopen command

• WIP limit warnings (if applicable)

Smart Suggestions

For Increments

Reopen entire increment

/sw:reopen 0031-external-tool-status-sync --reason "GitHub sync failing"

Check WIP limits first (recommended)

/sw:status

For Specific Tasks

Reopen single task (surgical fix)

/sw:reopen 0031 --task T-003 --reason "GitHub API 500 error"

Reopen multiple related tasks

/sw:reopen 0031 --user-story US-001 --reason "All GitHub features broken"

Force Reopen (Bypass WIP Limits)

Use --force for critical production issues

/sw:reopen 0031 --force --reason "Production down, critical fix needed"

WIP Limit Awareness

Before suggesting increment reopen, I check:

• ✅ Current active increment count

• ✅ Type-specific limits (feature: 2, refactor: 1, etc.)

• ⚠️ Warn if reopening will exceed limits

Example Warning:

⚠️ WIP LIMIT WARNING: Current active: 2 features Limit: 2 features Reopening 0031-external-tool-status-sync will EXCEED the limit!

Options:

1. Pause another feature first: /sw:pause 0030
2. Complete another feature: /sw:done 0029
3. Force reopen (not recommended): --force

Integration with Commands

I work seamlessly with:

• /sw:reopen

• Execute reopen action

• /sw:status

• Check WIP limits

• /sw:progress

• See increment progress

• /sw:pause

• Pause another increment to make room

When NOT to Use

I don't activate for:

• ❌ General questions about code

• ❌ Feature requests (use /sw:increment )

• ❌ Documentation questions

• ❌ Status inquiries (use /sw:status )

I only activate when you explicitly report something is broken/not working.

Technical Implementation

Core Logic:

• Uses RecentWorkScanner to find matches

• Keyword extraction from user message

• Relevance scoring algorithm

• WIP limit validation before suggestions

Smart Features:

• Deduplication (same increment from active + recent)

• Recency bias (prefer more recent completions)

• Contextual hints (deployment, config, dependencies)

Examples of Activation

✅ Will Activate

• "GitHub sync not working"

• "Authentication is broken"

• "Tests are failing after the last commit"

• "Deployment crashed"

• "API returns 500 error"

• "Still broken after the fix"

❌ Won't Activate

• "How does GitHub sync work?"

• "Can you add authentication?"

• "What's the status of increment 0031?"

• "Show me the progress"

• "Create a new feature for payments"

Success Metrics

I'm successful when:

• ✅ You find the related work quickly (<30 seconds)

• ✅ The suggested reopen command is correct

• ✅ No false positives (only relevant matches)

• ✅ WIP limits are respected

• ✅ Clear next steps provided

Auto-loads when: You report issues with recently completed work Commands: /sw:reopen , /sw:status

Related Skills: increment-planner , tdd-workflow

Project-Specific Learnings

Before starting work, check for project-specific learnings:

Check if skill memory exists for this skill

cat .specweave/skill-memories/smart-reopen-detector.md 2>/dev/null || echo "No project learnings yet"

Project learnings are automatically captured by the reflection system when corrections or patterns are identified during development. These learnings help you understand project-specific conventions and past decisions.