k Workflow Plugin for Claude Code

k is a structured workflow plugin for longer-lived coding work. It gives Claude a task lifecycle (init, start-task, brainstorm, plan, work, verify, end-task) plus supporting skills for research, commit hygiene, doc review, and language-specific guidance.

Task state lives under .k/, including:

• .k/current_task.json
• .k/tasks/<task_id>/brainstorm.md
• .k/tasks/<task_id>/plan.md
• .k/tasks/<task_id>/research/*.md

Install

claude plugin marketplace add kkestell/skills
claude plugin install k@kkestell

Update:

claude plugin marketplace update kkestell
claude plugin update k@kkestell

Uninstall:

claude plugin uninstall k@kkestell
claude plugin marketplace remove kkestell

Workflow Skills

Skill	What it does
init	Initialize .k/ directory (once per repo)
start-task	Create a task branch and task context for new work
brainstorm	Explore a fuzzy problem before committing to a plan
research	Research one topic and save a reusable task note
plan	Write a concrete plan from an idea, bug report, or brainstorm
work	Execute the plan on the active task branch
verify	Check the work against the plan
end-task	Merge the task branch back to main

Supporting Skills

Skill	What it does
commit	Clean, deliberate commits
deslop	Audit user-facing docs for AI slop
go-lang	Go-specific guidelines (required before editing .go files)
rust-lang	Rust-specific guidelines (required before editing .rs files)

Usage

Run init once per repo, then use start-task to choose whether the task should run in a sibling worktree or in-place on a task branch. brainstorm is optional; research can be used from brainstorm, plan, or work whenever the task needs evidence.

Claude currently exposes these as plain slash commands like /init and /start-task, with (k) shown in the picker. /k:init is not a valid invocation.

/init
/start-task <topic>    # asks whether to create a worktree
# -- if you chose a worktree, continue in the new Claude terminal session there --
/brainstorm <description>
/research <topic>      # optional, repeat during brainstorm/plan/work
/plan <@brainstorm | description>
/work <@plan>
/verify
/end-task

Use /commit during /work whenever a tested logical chunk is ready to checkpoint.

Workflow Notes

• start-task can create either a sibling worktree or an in-place task branch.
• In worktree mode, the script tries to open Claude in a terminal rooted at that worktree.
• On macOS, terminal auto-launch currently supports iTerm2.
• On Linux, terminal auto-launch uses xdg-terminal-exec, then x-terminal-emulator, then xterm.
• If auto-launch is unavailable, the script falls back to a manual cd <worktree> && claude instruction.
• end-task retains a separate worktree after merging so post-merge validation can still run cleanly on main.
• Supporting skills like /commit, /deslop, /go-lang, and /rust-lang are usually invoked from /work or /verify, not used as the main workflow spine.

Skill Matrix

Skill	Reads	Writes / effects	Runs / uses	Invokes / hands off
/init	repo root	.k/tasks/, .k/.gitignore, .k/tasks/.gitkeep	init/scripts/init.sh	optional /commit for new .k/
/start-task	task description, .k/, worktree preference	optional sibling worktree, feature branch, .k/current_task.json, .k/tasks/<task_id>/	start-task/scripts/start-task.sh	current session or new Claude terminal session, then /brainstorm, /plan, or /work
/brainstorm	.k/current_task.json, feature description, CLAUDE.md, similar repo code, optional research/*.md	<docs_path>/brainstorm.md	brainstorm/assets/brainstorm-template.md	/research, loops on itself, or proceeds to /plan
/research	.k/current_task.json, one research topic, repo code, local docs, optional web sources	<docs_path>/research/<topic-slug>.md	research/assets/research-template.md	reused by /brainstorm, /plan, and /work
/plan	.k/current_task.json, feature description, CLAUDE.md, similar code, issues, PRs, optional brainstorm.md, optional research/*.md, optional external docs	<docs_path>/plan.md	plan/assets/plan-template.md	/research, then /work
/work	.k/current_task.json, input doc or plan.md, linked references, optional research/*.md, CLAUDE.md	code, tests, config, docs, plan checkboxes, todo state	repo quality commands	/research, /commit, /go-lang, /rust-lang, then /verify or /end-task
/verify	.k/current_task.json, plan/brainstorm, git status, git log main..HEAD, git diff main...HEAD, CLAUDE.md	verification report to the user	verify/scripts/find_intent_docs.sh, verify/assets/verification-report-template.md	/rust-lang, /deslop, back to /work, /commit, or onward to /end-task
/end-task	.k/current_task.json, original repo main when using a worktree, CLAUDE.md	merge to main, retain optional worktree for post-merge validation, delete branch only when safe	end-task/scripts/end-task.sh	none
/commit	CLAUDE.md, git status, git diff, git diff --staged	checkpoint commit on the feature branch	repo quality commands	none
/deslop	audit target(s), user-facing docs	audit findings reported to the user	repo markdown scan, deslop/references/slop_tells.md, deslop/assets/audit-report-template.md	usually from /verify
/go-lang	relevant .go files	none	relevant guidance files under go-lang/resources/	usually from /work
/rust-lang	relevant .rs files	optional compliance comment in Rust files	relevant guidance files under rust-lang/resources/	from /work and /verify

Files Written

Command	Main files written
/init	.k/, .k/tasks/, .k/.gitignore, .k/tasks/.gitkeep
/start-task	optional sibling worktree, .k/current_task.json, .k/tasks/<task_id>/
/brainstorm	.k/tasks/<task_id>/brainstorm.md
/research	.k/tasks/<task_id>/research/<topic-slug>.md
/plan	.k/tasks/<task_id>/plan.md
/work	code/tests/config/docs as needed, plus plan checkbox updates
/end-task	merges into main, retains any optional worktree for post-merge validation, deletes branch only when safe